Top 10 picks who have led teams to the playoffs last 4 years

Man......I am convinced!!!

But still...disappointing.

Since we do have Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley and Eddie Griffin...

YAO MING WILL HELP US NEXT SEASON!!!

GO ROCKETS!!!

you da freak!

 

pretty interesting. but still we should've been in the playoffs.

 

problem is, if you go one yr further back and count 1998 draft, three of the top 10 drove their team to the playoffs in their 4th yr or sooner. Of course, two of those (Carter and Pierce) did not really make their teams good enough to make the playoffs in the West.

but I agree...there's no doubt we overachieved 2 yrs ago. This team is just not that talented. The idea that we are "deep" just makes me shake my head and laugh.

 

I don't know about overachieving. They didn't have the zone back then and I am convinced that if it wasn't for the zone defense, we would be at least a 6th seed this year. There are few players that can cover Franchise, Cat, or MoT one on one. KT is also a good one on one player. The zone defense really effected our team more that any other.

 

hard to argue that one.

has it always been like this, or did there used to be dudes who came in an had an immediate impact? how long did the likes of jordan, dream, iverson, grant hill, bird, garnett, ect. take to make the playoffs.

what does this inability to carry a team to the playoffs say about the current generation of "star" players comming out?

 

Dude...I'm convinced you're LiTtleY1521 (or something like that)! All your posts are in his rambling fashion. Up, down, up, down.

 

Freak, you set the bar too low. No way the expectation level for the Rockets should be the same as that of the franchises that most populate that lists (Clips, Wiz, Grizz, Nugz, etc.). I'm sorry, but we won 47 games 2 years ago and have done nothing but regress since then, despite the fact that we have gained experience and augmented the talent level.

That is underacheiving, and that is not trendiness, that is just the assessment that the hypothetical reasonable person would make given the circumstances.

 

sam fisher... you're my hero after that post. thanks for crushing this thread.

 

The Rockets play the most boring, frustrating, up and down, undisciplined and sometimes stupid and unfathomable basketball in the whole wide basketball world. To me that's underachieving.

 

It depends on the player. Bird and McHale had immediate impacts as did Magic. Jordan didn't contend until his late 20's and Olajuwon, with the exception of a really loaded twin towers team in 86, didn't "lead" his team until he was 30.

The reality is that it is becoming harder and harder for young players to make a significant impact on the league in their first few years. The NBA is MUCH more physical than college or high school ball. The game is much faster and the seasons are much longer. Veteran players in the NBA are much more skilled overall than young players who often excell at one thing - three pointers, dunking, rebounding, defense - but rarely at multiple things.

It is the very reason so many foreign players are coming to the NBA. Their games are more well-developed and they play fundamentally better basketball. But even they struggle adapting to the speed and physicality of the NBA.

Overall, our depth as a team is not nearly what some around here believe. We have great individual talent at a couple of positions but most of it is still unrefined and lacking in real experience. No offense to Steve, but two years of juco ball, one year and Maryland and no time spent playing the one at any level just doesn't translate to big time point guard status in the NBA in the early years. Frankly, it is phenominal and a credit to him that he is as good as he is at this stage of his career.

 

right on!!!
the point i was getting at was that the guys comming out now are way too young and we are stuck watching a bunch of "amatuers" playing "professional" ball. they are learning on the job, rather than learning and gaining experience in college, where it should be. teams draft guys based on "potential" and the fear of passing up the next kobe or t-mac, even if the player is not nba-ready (nachbar?)
we as fans are subjected to watching a bunch of raw, unskilled kids still learning the game when we should be watching men who know how to play at the highest level. do they really expect us to pay to watch a bunch of kids who arent ready yet? why should we have to watch them hone their skills on the job? isnt that waht college is for? and if these guys never had a chance to learn how to win in college, so how are they supposed to be winners at the highest level?
that is my biggest gripe about the nba. the league is so young now. i wonder what the average age is right now as opposed to 10 or even 5 years ago?

and i think francis sucks too.

 

The trend is to draft younger players, no? TheFreak's history lesson is as much about that as anything. When Kobe, McGrady, Nowitzki and Garnett become 4 of the top ~6 players in the NBA *rapidly*people start drafting guys to develop them. All we are seeing is that the 4 mentioned guys are rare hall of famers to be. You aren't going to score like them all the time by picking a 19yr old.

 

I remember their were rumblings of Dunleavydum...that would have been nice.

 

Don't hold me to this but I believe Jordan averaged 28/6/6 in his rookie year.

Hakeem averages 21/12 his rookie year.

Garnett didn't become a big impact for a few years.

Bird I believe was an instant impact but I can't remember the numbers he put up.

Iverson I don't know the numbers but in his rookie year he was already the main scoring threat for Philly. Anyone rememer that 50+ point game he put against the Rox his rookie season?

Hill had a productive season, enough to get in the all stars, and was an instant impact. I don't believe very many of these teams made it to the playoffs however. So number productivity from an individual isn't always indicative of a teams success.

 

That being said, Marion has been to the playoffs 2 times and Davis has made it 2 or 3 times. One might argue that Marion wasn't or hasn't led their team just like people used to saythe only reason why Marion is Marion is b/c of Kidd. Since Kidd has left,Marion has gotten better. Its true the higher the pick, the worse the team is, but understand that after having some success or coming back from a injury, we ended up with the number 11 pick and the number 2 on top of the number 7 or 9 for griffin.

 

Jordon was ROY but Chicago barely missed out the playoffs. He made playoffs next year.

Hakeem was 2nd in ROY voting and made the playoffs. And he along with Sampson took Rockets to the Finals following season.

KG was about 13+ ppg, 6+ rpg and missed the playoffs. He made the playoffs along with Marbury the following season.

Larry Bird was ROY ahead of Magic Johnson and made the playoffs.

Iverson was ROY with 22+ ppg and 7+ apg but Philly was a lottory team. His team made the playoffs next season.

Grant Hill was co-ROY with 20+ ppg, 6+ rpg, 6+ apg and didn't make the playoffs. I think his team made the playoffs in his 3rd season.

 

Easy, just read the rest of what I said. The Rockets won 45 games two years ago based on the young talent in place, and having acquired a cornerstone type player in Francis. That young talent has since acquired more experience and been supplemented with even more young talent in Griff and Yao. Can you say that about the Bulls? they haven't smelled a 40 win season since MJ left town. The Griz? Nope. The Clips? a running joke. The Cavs? nope.

Freak, I could understand if, in te Post-Hakeem years, the Rox were snakebit and kept picking up guys that didn't pan out in the first round like Yinka Dare or something. But that is not the case. They landed a star player early in Steve, absolutely stole Cuttino out of the second round, got a late first round steal in Kenny Thomas , who they later parleyed into Posey, and have been a very appealing locale for free agents since then. 2 times now we were able to land a "rising" young FA willing to settle for MCE in order to play in Houston (Anderson and Taylor) It has Westside that brings FA's into town in the offseason. This team is in an ideal postion to succeed, other than being in the Western conference.

Well, going 16-0 is no more of a fluke than going 14-2 or 7-9, it's one of any number of potential outcomes. Given the desolation of talent in the Eastern Conference, and especially the Central division, I don't see it as surprising as you do.

But anyway, who cares, let's say they did overacheive 2 years ago. However, as I said before, the talent level (and experince level for the young players)of the team has INCREASED since then. So what was overacheiving then is rightfully considered to be "standard" now. The Rockets have been a so-called "team on the rise" for two years now, and have not done any significant "rising".

 

Especially since he knows how many games they won two years ago.