It wasn't just that Francis made the mindless turnover with a chance to steal the game, IT WAS THAT WE JUST MADE A 9-40 TEAM LOOK LIKE WORLDBEATERS! Rox deserved to lose this one. I've started to just get numb, but have come to the conclusion that my expectations are just too high for this collection of players that is NOT YET A TEAM. Winning in the road is all about effort, discipline and mental toughness. Loose balls, tough defense, playing together, smart decisions. THE ROAD SIMPLY EXPOSES ALL THAT WE ARE NOT. My heart says that we should be better...much better, but my mind sends me a different message. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT WE ARE. On paper we have a lot of attrative pieces, but each has flaws: ** Yao will be league MVP one day, but he's still a rookie and still fighting the wall and learning the NBA game. And his teammates are the anti-Yao when it comes to sharing and making teammates look better. ** EG sometimes looks like the college junior that he really is, and other times looks all-world. His inconsitency and lack of court presence are painful and his progress is slow. Down the line, I think he's still gonna be very good. ** MoT is slowly coming around but still inconsistent, not really in shape, and still a defensive liability. That being said, he's much further along than I thought he would be coming off a devastating injury. ** SF still doesn't "get it" enough to be the leader the team needs. Witness tonight, and witness his pathetic defensive ole's too many nights. He is a microcosm of our team - lots of flash and not enough substance. ** Somehow our hip hop flashy players think they are better than most teams, even Dallas, and haven't learned to bring it night in and night out. The toughness and discipline is not there. And we get revealed mostly on defense. ** And RT still has not shown me that he can exert the discipline, and has the imagination to win in the "new era." He's a plodder and gets outcoached often - like tonite. ** And Cuttino is simply a "me" player. He needs to sit until he learns to play within the framework of the offense. ** James Posey never quits hustling but is still trying to figure out his role. And he is still undisciplined at teams...especially on offense. He's a great ++ but the fit is not yet there. So although the pieces look good from a distance, THEIR IS LESS TO OUR TEAM THAN MEETS THE EYE. I for one am going to have to expect a little less........until I see a lot more. Dallas Rocket
the rocks are like a rough draft of a term paper... last year was the brainstorming...this year is the rough draft...blah blah blah
Good analysis. We amy all have high expectations for the Rox. When they beat the Kings the way they did, I thought they are capable of winning it all this year. But the reality is right there when they could not even beat the lowly Cavs. I am sure Lakers, TWolves, Suns and Jazz are all smiling right now. It is sad. I guess we all need to stay humble for a while.
...And next year will be the final draft But for now, we need one more trade(PLEASE BRAND!) to push us over the top for next year. Giving the ball to Yao and performing brain surgery on Cuttino wouldnt be all that bad either.
The sad part is that we do not have a first round pick in this upcoming draft. I hope we make the draft or else ....... the summer will be long.
Screw patience. Trade now. Fire RT. They'll never change. May as well give that serial killer "another chance". Chumps.
What I don't understand is when Yao plays when the game is not on the line (when Rox are blowing out the other team or vice versa). Shouldn't he be resting then? Yet, Yao sits on the bench when the game is on the line. Strange coaching decisions.
In my opinion, all of your bullet points are pretty accurate. But these three items jump out to me as bullseye accurate. <I>[Francis] is a microcosm of our team - lots of flash and not enough substance. Somehow our hip hop flashy players think they are better than most teams, even Dallas, and haven't learned to bring it night in and night out. The toughness and discipline is not there. Cuttino is simply a "me" player.</I> Right now, the Houston Rockets are severely overrated. They are much more hype than substance - this is an underachieving team. Painful, but true. We are way, way, way beyond the point in the rebuilding plan where losing to a 9-40 team is acceptable.
Rox are are like prototyes of a sports car, u need crashes and burns and other stuff to make it work. Hopefully they wouldnt search for long determining their flaws which are pretty obvious: 1. INCONSISTENT PERIMETER DEFENSE 2. RAGGEDY OFFENSE (iso stuff is just an eye-sore!!) 3. SELFISH PLAYS FROM THE GUARDS _____________________ If you cant trade Mobley, shuffle the rotation
Clutch, Thanks for your comments. I've decided that the only way to keep from killing the dog or destroying my TV is to reset my expectations. Don't know quite what it is, maybe just a combination of lots of things, but this group is simply underachieving...and it's maddening. Imagine what Jerry Sloan could do with this talent. Don't think for a minute that Rudy will get another mulligan if this charade continues. D R
Steve Francis: He can't run team offense effectively and efficiently. He's an average passer. He's the king of turnovers. His defense is horrible (how many opposing PGs have their season highs against us?). How can he be called an elite PG?
Let's be realistic, if the Rockets make the playoffs in the 8 hole (a big "if"), they would be embarassed by the Mavs in the first round. That would be hard to watch for three games. We as fans should be patient and see what happens over the rest of the season and reserve judgement on Rudy T, Cat, Eddie, and the rest of the team until after the season. Maybe we will see some improvement. Posey is new to the team, Eddie is just starting to see some significant minutes, Mo T is finally in shape, Yao has hit the rookie wall, and Rice is still hurt. I would hate to see a bad trade in an attempt to improve playoff position this year because this team is going nowhere in the playoffs in '03.
My feelings EXACTLY. There is a lot of flash and very little substance in the NBA anymore. Is it due to bad coaching? Uncoachable players? Why are players from overseas so much farther along in the fundamentals of the game? Just some things to think about.
Here's a real good post also. Tough for me to agree with, but I think your cool approach is probably the best one. I think the Rockets will probably be in the best position to make decisions in the offseason, however, it's just tough since, in my opinion, a player or two needs to be moved sooner rather than later. This offseason will most definitely be a busy one in the NBA. It's also looking more and more like before the February trade deadline, teams with players in the final years of their contracts are the ones with all the chips at the dealing table. Suddenly teams want to give away top talent like Shareef and Eddie Jones because they have cap-killing contracts for the likes of Steve Smith? That's funny, but that's what the league and trading has become. So this year may not be our year pre-deadline, but it makes me think the Rockets will be in a much better position this time next year when Glen Rice at some $9 million a season (ending in 2004) will be a nice carrot to dangle in the market.
I would feel better if we didn't own our pick to Memphis. Could you imagine if we win the Lebron James lottory for them?
Hey, Dallas, much as I hate to say it you may be right to lower expectations. Realistically this season can't help but be an overwhleming success. The big gamble of Yao paid off superbly. He's the real deal. Nothing else that can happen this season, amounts to a hill of beans compared to this wonderful event.. In our starting 5 we have a 22 year old rookie from China, a 20 year old near rookie in Eddie, a new guy in Posey and Steve and Cuttino. If anyone said in the abstract that such a team should be a solid steady contender you would almost laugh. Being content with occasional bursts of brilliance is probably more realistic. Aside from Posey on defense, Steve and Cuttino, the dynamic duo, are by far and away our most consistent players. . I know it is hard to remember this with all the ups and downs, but these guys are relatively consistent establishd players. Yes Stockton and few other veterans are much steadier, but that is the exception. However, they still need to make some changes and get it. Some of these stupid losses will make them get it or one or both will be gone. To be fair it is tough for Steve and Cuttino to know what to do. On nights when both Yao and Eddie are erratic, and that is common, it still has to be the Steve and Cuttino show if we are to win. When both the erratic Yao and Eddie are hitting on all cylinders it is a thing of beauty as the first Minnesota and Sacramento games showed this. If Steve and Cuttino every night never varied, but kept feeding it in to an exhausted Yao for turnovers and kept feeding Eddie for missed outside shots, you would be criticizing them for being rigid and stupid also. I don't think that it is realistic to expect consistency until till our headiest player, Yao, has gained strength and experience to post up and play consitently hard every night. As seen tonight Maurice may get together some consistency at power forward. When these two positions get some more constent play then I think Steve and Cuttino won't be so confused as they can execute the same game plan most nights. (get it in to Yao). Steve and Cuttino deserve some criticism, but they are getting some undue ***t due to the inconsistencies of Yao, Eddie, Taylor and others who aren't close to the consistency level of the dynamic duo.
And yet we won't play Boki. First of all, if he's a bust that we should sit on the bench all the time then why did we pick him 15th overall? Secondly, can he really be that bad? Can he really jack up 3's like EG and Cat, or turnover the ball like Moochie or ISO on every possession? I heard he's a good slasher and thought gee that would be useful when Yao gets double/triple teamed but guess I was wrong. I guess I'm also wrong in thinking that extra pass Boki will make (instead of dribble dribble dribble by Moochie and Cat) would help.
Bravo Glynch! I was about to post on this page and burn the Rockets. I am still p*ssed but I just realized in so many ways the huge strides and successes this team has made from last year. When our season ended mercifully in 02 I could never have imagined the incredible fortune the Rockets would be blessed with this season. To have not one but two all star starters, and be the team who many consider the next dominant dynasty after the Lakers is tremendous. We are the most watched team on earth, and we have everything in the world to be hopeful for. Although there have been incredible heartbreaks and painful letdowns, I would rather be a Rockets fan right now at the start of something huge, than any other fan in the NBA right now. All that being said, I can't believe we lost to the CAVS!!!!
Damn, I have to agree with this post. Make no mistake, the Rockets will be a great team a few years down the road, but right now they are just not ready. The reason for that is fairly simple. Just look at our two best players. Stevie Francis is a great talent, but he lacks basketball intelligence and leadership abilities to be the man on a contending team. Although Yao Ming shows tons of promises and has a great future, he is a foreign rookie who has his fair shares of ups and downs. The truth is that our two best players just can not bring it night in and night out against the best in the league. A team only gets where its best players lead it to. As a result, we are still a mediocre team this year. Most likely we are going to miss playoffs because the stars on the other contending teams are all more consistent than ours (Garnett (Minnesota), Stockton and Malone (UTah), Shaq and Kobe (LA), and Marbury and Marion (Phoenix) ).
