PUUUUULEASE stop using our youth as an excuse for stupidity on the court!!! The players making the worst mistakes the most often are our vaunted "VETERAN" backcourt duo of Stevie and Cat with 3 and 4 years in the league respectively. Add in Rice and Taylor and we have NO BUSINESS turning the ball over like it's a f#@*ing yo-yo!!!! Now, having said that, if Rudy wants to get Steve and Cat to pull their heads out, he has GOT to give each of them a DNP-CD sometime in the immediate future, because clearly, either they don't get it, or he doesn't get it!!! Also, Yao has got to average as many shots as Cat and Steve. That he does not is an absolute travesty!!! (Ask ANY OTHER HEAD COACH IN THE FRICKING LEAGUE!!!) For all of you Rudy lovers, why do you not at least hold the man accountable for what he says? He's been talking about ball movement, and "getting out and running" for years!!!!!! Yet, he could not design "ball movement" if his life depended on it. This team could easily be 3rd (and hold it) going into the playoffs instead of fighting it out for 7th or 8th (and an early exit). With this much talent, I expect (read: DEMAND) that they PLAY AND DO BETTER than they have on average!! Of course, none of these opinions will stop me from enjoying the half season tickets I got for a Christmas present!! Go Rockets!! The up and down crap is making me sea-sick!!
I am just wondering who is the youngest team in the league if we are the second youngest. Anybody knows? Of course being one of the youngest team will affect Rocket's performance. Rockets have two new main players this year Yao and J Po. Yao did not go through the summer camps and practiced with the rest of the team mates. You can only expect that team chemistry is not that good. Sac Kings or Dallas Mavericks did not suddendly become a very good team with good talents, did they? Clippers have a lot of talents: Miller, Odom, Brand. But their records are poor. I'd like to use the same argument to say: Just because your team has a lot of great talents does not mean you can achieve anything. You may not even go to the playoff at all, which is my expectation of Rockets this season.
cmellon - Chemistry has NOTHING to do with throwing the ball away and taking ill-advised shots OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!
Actually stupidity on the court happens to alot of teams. Just look at tonight. Phoenix, San Antonio and Utah all lost to bad teams - Miami, Memphis and the Clippers. I'm sure the Suns, Spurs and Jazz fans are all b****ing about their teams right now also. So even though I would like to see a coaching change, I'm sure that whoever the Rockets bring in, we will b**** about them too. But regardless, Rudy has got to go. I've been saying this since 1999. Who wants to bet me $10 that the Rockets will lose to the Grizzlies next week?
Chemistry has something to do with how well the team moves the ball. Good chemistry means: You trust your team mate, you can read your team mate's mind, you develop some sense of understanding on how you would play the game together. Just being together, practicing and playing together more will develop better chemistry, and in turn more consistency. It doesn't develop overnight.
a quick google news search reveals... the Cavs... http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/sports/5002856.htm http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/sean_deveney/20030117.html
Cleveland is the youngest team in the league. I agree, we need to stop using that lame excuse. Yao is young -- but plays w/ a very high basketball IQ. We need a backup point and a pure 3pt shooter w/ high basketball IQ's.
other relevent facts.... for kicks...i highlighted all the west teams who would be in the playoffs now... http://www.nba.com/features/survey2002_experience.html AVERAGE EXPERIENCE BY TEAM NBA YEARS 10+ R Denver 2.40 0 5 Houston 2.80 1 5 Memphis 2.80 1 5 L.A. Clippers 3.20 1 3 Chicago 3.33 0 3 Golden State 3.33 0 2 Cleveland 3.77 2 3 Miami 3.80 2 4 Indiana 4.00 1 1 Seattle 4.00 2 1 Boston 4.42 0 1 Atlanta 4.64 0 1 Milwaukee 4.71 1 4 Phoenix 4.86 3 2 Philadelphia 4.87 2 3 Washington 5.00 3 2 New Jersey 5.07 1 1 Orlando 5.07 2 2 Detroit 5.36 3 2 Toronto 5.53 1 2 Sacramento 5.57 3 0 L.A. Lakers 5.71 5 2 Dallas 5.80 2 1 Portland 5.93 3 1 Utah 5.93 3 2 New York 6.00 2 1 Minnesota 6.20 4 1 New Orleans 6.29 3 0 San Antonio 6.92 5 1 http://www.nba.com/features/survey2002_age.html AVERAGE AGE BY TEAM TEAM AGE 30+ Denver 24.63 1 Cleveland 24.84 2 Chicago 25.36 3 Golden State 25.45 1 Indiana 25.53 1 Memphis 25.60 2 L.A. Clippers 25.66 3 Houston 25.76 1 Seattle 26.61 3 Phoenix 26.63 5 Boston 26.66 2 Miami 27.24 5 Washington 27.33 4 Orlando 27.36 4 Milwaukee 27.55 4 Atlanta 27.59 2 Los Angeles 27.75 5 Sacramento 28.06 4 New Jersey 28.06 5 Philadelphia 28.08 5 Utah 28.47 5 Toronto 28.72 4 New York 28.78 6 Detroit 28.79 5 Dallas 28.79 5 Minnesota 28.91 5 New Orleans 29.04 6 Portland 29.05 4 San Antonio 30.14 6
Losing to a bad team doesn't define a coach or a team. Chicago got blown out several times by "low" teams in MJ's prime. It's the consistency of losing to bad teams while pretending to be a good team that reinforces the statistical rules and defines a team's characters. And that shall make a fan wonder.
Despite driving us nuts with their inconsistency, and Steve and Cat not "getting it" (Doc Rocket thread this morning), we're only TWO games back in the loss column from being 3rd in the West. Not bad.
