Is it too early for lottery talk?

not to bash you, but this has been brought up quite often. There is no protection on the pick. This is supposedly the reason of bringing Nachbar along so slowly. He will be considered next years draft pick....

 

I don't think the pick is protected at all. So it goes to Memphis period.

 

Ahmad Rashad, "And the number one pick goes to the Rockets, who will give the pick to Memphis. Congratulations, Memphis. You've landed Lebron."

 

I think we'll still make it. The Spurs are red hot right now. Although we were never really in it, I thought we did ok. IMO Francis and Ming were working a decent 2 man game for a stretch there. Hopefully we can build on that in the upcoming games which are very winnable. Mobley and Griffin played poorly though. Mo Taylor looked a much better fit but he still made some really silly errors down the stretch(2 ofensive fouls and another TO if I remember rightly)

I'm not gonna quit on my team. Go Rockets!!

 

montel, in a previous post you wrote...

i can no longer respect your comments, but can you blame me? why are you still posting? it's not october yet. and i'm annoyed that you've given up so early on the rox.

oh, and just to stay on topic....i hope the rox make the playoffs. and i hope they get a good pick too.

 

Not yet. They still have a game with Phoenix here and if they beat Phoenix than they will have the tie breaker advantage by winning 3-1. So if Houston and Phoenix play and end up with the same record in all the other games then we are in assuming Golden State doesn't go on fire. But they need to change things around fast. I think it all come down to the phrase "make one extra pass" in order for them to win.

 

Please. The season is over. Start planning your offseason now. Rox should go to player development now. Run Eg and Boki out there on developmental plays. Scrimmage. Try Yao and Cato for big minutes. Who cares if we're last or 14th - it's still a big, fat, zero unless you develop your players. Running Steve & Cat 41 minutes and Moochie on a stupid weave won't develop $8!t.

 

Now the WARRIORS are just one game in back of us right now and we have a tough game at Detriot and then the Raptors on a back-to-back. I didn't really expect us to win today given the Spurs' momentum, but we didn't start out with a fired-up intensity. Instead we started out like we were flamed by the Spurs' fired intensity and while we did try to make it remotely interesting, you have to play a full 48 mintues to have a chance while playing these top notched games. Sounded like the assists' factor was an issue in this game based on the posts in the game thread. The Franchise in one or two game posts stated that there was a wide open Glen Rice or Yao Ming in the posts, and refuses to pass AGAIN and tries to dribble past the defense. That just won't win games in this conference.

Also, while the players make the mistakes on the court, I think Rudy should sometimes, especially in these type of "must-win" games, that to not have a substitution pattern and play who ever is hot or if that player is starting to fatigue out by not making wide-open shots or getting beaten down the court in transition, put your next best player in. Even though in the last Spurs game in San Antonio, while the Rockets had an 82-80 lead with 3 minutes to go, the second-tier team started to break down both offensively and defensively, and he also didn't have the confidence to put Francis and Yao back in. Sure they might've continued their worst game, but could've at least made an impact down the stretch on the defensive end, especially Yao on Duncan to stop him from making those 13-15 foot bank shots (boy, he's perfect on those).

I think Rudy has little confidence in substitutions outside of his current rotation. I mean like some had said, he puts Yao Ming in with a few mintues to go in the last quarter when the game is out or reach or when he tries to lead his team on a comeback at the end of the 3rd, then he sits.

We should be worrying about the re-juvenated sonics and the streaking warriors passing us more so (but not entirely) than the faltering suns and the veteran Lakers. They're on a roll and is a definite lock for post-season as well as a legitimate shot at a championship.

 

Not that I think the season is over, but I'm all for experimenting. Do something different... anything different. It seems the team has used the same rotation pattern with the same players, running the same plays for god knows how long and it's gotten them nowhere. We're doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

I don't know if Rudy is just that stubborn or what, but I wish he would be a little more flexible when it comes to trying something different. Stop being so cautious and do something to shake things up. If we end up in the lottery again, so be it. Just as long as we can get a better look at what works and what doesn't, because whatever they're doing now is certainly not working.