How excited are you this offseason compared to 5 years ago?

you did not just put in the word complete on a team with a starting point guard named Rafer Alston

 

that team if healthy would have won it all (brooks starting not alston) so depressing

 

Mario Chalmers will start for a team that may just three-peat. And please don't tell me Chalmers was any better than Rafer Alston.

 

i still say we had better chance that year with a healthy tmac

 

Spoiler

 

2008 Rafer would be our starting PG right now.

 

RAFER LEAD THE MAGIC TO THE NBA FINALS.

 

I sorta feel like if Jameer was out for the whole season, (shoulder was it?) the magic woulda had a better chance. seemed to upset their rythm.

But in terms of the comparison, I still felt the 09 team was awesome. Yao was really coming into his own, the home game against cleavland where battier/artest just owned Lebron was really something.

Wasn't as excited as this season though cause I knew there were issues with McGrady, but perhaps its more because its so much more excited than the 9th seeded finishes/chokejobs in recent years.

 

I was pumped in 2004-2005. Getting Tmac was huge. I'm pretty excited about Howard and believe he's a better chip than Tmac, but my head won't let me get too excited. Too much heartbreak over the years.

 

Rafer got traded during the season, giving us Lowry. So really the starter is Brooks, not Rafer. That team was fun to play with on 2K9, Yao was a beast.

 

I was super hyped when TMac/Yao joined forces. Still hyped about H&H, just a teeeeeny bit less.

 

Same here. I was pretty damn psyched when we got Artest. I truly think we would've gotten at least gotten to the finals if everyone is healthy. I know Artest sucks now but he played well for us, out of position as a SG. The next season he played clutch in the 7 game Finals against the Celtics with the Lakers. I remember praying T-Mac would finally get his **** together (but being really disappointed when he came in the season out of shape). I think that was one of Yao's healthier seasons where he nearly played the whole season and was very productive.

 

I wasn't expecting any championships while the Porcelain Dynasty was here. I got precisely what I expected: somewhere in the regular season or in the playoffs year after year, he broke.

I was so relieved when we finally put the Broken Dynasty on the shelf and moved on.

 

Highly unlikely... with emphasis on "HIGHLY"

BTW, I was very excited about that team but as I recall there was also a lot of reason concern on that team. Yao had already had a foot break and TMac was complaining about what was supposed to be very minor knee surgery. But yeah, adding Ron Ron to that line up seemed like we were definetely going to escape the 1st round of the play-offs and we did.

I think I'm more excited about the addition of D12 to Harden and CP25 and this very young roster.

 

I was excited at the beginning of the 2009 season, but it's nowhere near the level I am at now. Sometimes I'll be at work or doing some mundane thing, and I'll just find myself laughing uncontrollably. The only way I could be more excited about this team is if we had a playoff pedigree of getting to the WCF/Finals, or if we were returning champs. We're gonna be brilliant this year; I can't wait.

 

I'm more excited now even though I was a big Ron Ron fan. Howard and Harden are the best in the league at their position. I expect us to be contenders.

 

My thoughts exactly. Loved the guy as a person...but career trajectory was a foregone conclusion.

Far more excited about this current bunch of players.

 

Just enjoy the moment, we are in the mix.

DD

 

Well said.