I agree, but I think shooting percentages will improve if JVG can these guys to take better shots. Still we need more pure shooters to break the zone and turn our inside game loose.
The NBA is starting to look at lot like . . . Major League Baseball. Five teams in the West, and two in the East, upgraded significantly and/or stand out from the rest, putting more distance between the haves and the have nots. Like baseball, you will only be able to compete if you have an owner who isn't scared by a little payroll, or you get a whole lot of luck with your low paid players contributing significantly. And in that climate, the Houston Rockets are starting to look a lot like . . . . . . the Houston Astros. Based upon financial limitations, i.e., the reluctance to spend with the big boys, a good year for either the Rockets or the Astros on any given year will be a first round playoff exit. But it gets worse, because CD is no Jerry Hunsicker.
les=drayton I agree completely. Both owners want you to think they want to get to the playoffs and be a contender, but when it comes down to it they wont put their money on the line for it. They want to maintain an outward appearance of wanting to have a winner except not making the sacrifices necessary to accomplish that. They are happy with being in the middle. cd=hunsicker I also agree. CD can't touch hunsicker. If it were not for Jerry the astros would not have even made the playoffs 4 of the last 5 yrs. I don't understand why a lot of people think CD is a great GM. Not only does he look clueless but he backs it up with his decision making. Maybe getting rid of CD could be the BIG SPLASH the rockets should make.
I think everyone is overreacting a little bit. THe rockets are young and will get better. They have the necessary main pieces in Yao and Steve, they even have a few decent role players Cat, Cato. What its really gonna come down to is Yao. I believe that he will become a dominant force. This year already he commands the double team, he's only gonna get better. Once teams double him as soon as he gets the ball, all he'll have to do is pass the ball. HE IS 7 FOOT 5, he is definately capable of being a great passer. He'll find the open man after that it will just be a matter of having good shooters who know how to pass the ball around the perimeter. Everybody is jumping and overreacting, We have Yao and Steve, we dont need Brand, Odom, or even SAR. some things to keep in focus EG is only 21, he will get better, all he really has to do is block shots and rebound give him time for god sakes!! Mo Taylor blew out his aquilles, last year was his first back. Even so towards the end of the year his offensive game picked up. With a full year back, he'll be even better. Remember he is only needed to get post scoring while yao is on the bench. Cato fits well as a backup for Yao, he rebounds like crazy and is a good defender. His rebounding picks up for the lack of Motay's. Francis will settle down more, Pg's always get better as their career progresses look at kidd and marbury. He will play smarter. I loved Rudy but his coaching skills and scheme just wasnt working. With JVG you can expect the utmost discipline something this teams sorely needs. JVG will make a huge difference especially defensively. This team is young it will grow, you just have to have some patience. They will make the playoffs next year barring injury. theyll be close to 50 wins.
You sir are overly optimistic. It's easy to point out all the bright spots and say hey, look at what we've got! But when it comes to the negatives you say have some patience. The fact of the matter is, that the negatives out weigh the positives. On top of it all we are in some serious cap trouble. We will be in cap trouble until the contracts of Cato, Mo T and Moochie expire. Do you really think these are the players we need to be successful? Do you really think the Rockets would not rid themselves of these MISTAKES if they had the chance? Nobody in the league wants these players with the excessisve contracts that they carry. No one is to blame for our previous and future years of cap trouble except for the upper managment. CD's position as general manager and HEAD should be at stake for the terrible personel moves he has made and the current shape our franchise is in! Baring the pure luck that got this team Yao Ming, CD has not made one good move to better our franchise for the future. And also. 50 wins. Who are they going to beat? They are not in the East! These loaded up West teams are going to beat us more than they did last year! Bottom line! 35-40 wins.
It's not too difficult to be defeatist, either. You don't seem to have any belief at all that our young players like Yao and Eddie Griffin will improve. You don't seem to think there's any chance players like Moochie will rebound from a bad year. And you don't seem to think that JVG will make a significant impact on the team. And you lack patience. And by patience, I don't mean patience until all of our young players develop and our team is a serious contender, I mean patience until the offseason is over. Give the team a chance - the signing period started all of nine days ago.
just to let you know , me and my wife are reading this board right now together and we both saw your thoughts how we dont need brand, we both thought "what a dumbass". nice post btw. Im sure boki and poki and pikey will take us to the promise land. stupid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about reading what I actually said, instead of putting words down that formulated thoughts and opinions on things I didn't say. First of all, I never mentioned I thought "Yao and Eddie" would not improve. In fact, I believe Yao will be a great center, and possibly one of the greatest of all time. As for Eddie, great shot blocker. He's still young, so there are some positives. Minimum athleticism though. He has a narrow frame and does not run the court well. Maybe since he's playing for a contract this year and his financial status depends on it, maybe we will see an effort put forth and a "desire" to work hard and get better. And I don't remember saying anything about Moochie's play. I hope he can rebound from a bad year. But during the year I did see positive from Mooch. From what I saw he seemed to work well with Yao. Still, Moochie's bright spots does not justify the fact that he is overpaid! Overpaying players and just plain "BAD" contracts have riddled this team and left us with cap problems until these players are either traded (which I doubt), or their contracts have been eaten by the Rockets organization. I also believe that JVG, his staff, and the discipline they bring will turn this team of overpaid underachievers around. But his system must be learned by the players. And the players have to play well within the system. This will not happen overnight. An lastly, I do understand that some of our players will get better. But that doesn't matter when the teams in the West are seeming to load up on good players in a chance to contend for the title. Therefore, our team and player's growth will be overshadowed and crushed by teams that are far superior. On top of that they already have their systems instilled. I do not see the Rockets, even with our player development, being able to beat these "super teams" as many times or more times than they did last year! Unless they are going to make up for this by playing more games against the East, I say 35-40 wins. PERIOD!
Optimism with the Rockets, only sets yourself up to be left feeling confused, pissed off and utterly disappointed.
Let me reiterate..... as of this moment....no playoffs in 4 years 2 months 16 days 12 hours 3 minutes. I am curous to know when was the last time a team went this long w/o going to the playoffs and won a championship at any point.....? Guys...any arguments in favor of standing pat are absurd! This team needs some serious shooting consistency and Pike is not going to be the means to that end. He is a piece on the bench. WE NEED AN ANSWER TO THE 3...Boki and Rice are not that. Let's get real. we know the Rocks have talent and they are young...we have known this for 4 years...this is lip service. all teams have talent and are young....look at the Griz, the Clips, the Pistons..etc..... Love yas...
Where do I begin? The Rox haven'y made the playoffs in 4 yrs - Lets examine why that is. 99-00 Charles Barkley got injured and Francvis was a rookie. 00-01 the team won 47 games and had the best record for a team to not make the playoffs EVER. With that record we would have been the 6th or 7th seed. 01-02 Francis got injured but the team battled and didn't get blown out nightly. 02-03 the Rox missed the playoofs by one game and Yao was a rookie. Its not excatly the recent history of the Clips or Warriors now is it? Salary cap issues - yes we have some wack contracts but Glen will go away soon enough through trade or at the end of this season. The Malloney contract will go away at the end of this season and virtually every other team in the L has money issues as well (Lakers, Mavs, even the Suns when Amare wants to get paid like Marbury and Marion). And the Rox did do a downgrade move to save $ w/ the Pike over Posey deal and he just happens to be a backup SG so that killed two birds w/ one stone. JVG WILL get the D together and make these guys work harder and get Yao way more touches and get them prepared every night and hopefully do something Rudy struggled with; put every player in a position to succeed.
Yeah I like Popovich ALOT too and the SUPER intelligent deal he just made this offseason. I'd bet they gonna pick up one of those MAX players next offseason with this smart dude. The Spurs is just one freaking good organization. No doubt about it. If you dun agree, then think about this: They just won a championship and had this huge cap space and freedom to pursue virtually whoever they like this summer (AND next offseason too). Therefore, I think the main problem the Rockets currently have is at the higher level (i.e. the GM or the owner) where all the stupid decisions have been made. They won't have a chance winning it all without getting rid of CD and bringing in a smart mind like Popovich's.
And what did the cap space get them? Rasho Nesterovic, Hedo Turkgolu and Ron Mercer. Whoop-de-****in'-do. They win because of Duncan, and because of the ripoff of the Dump-It-In offense that Pop runs.
So how would you justify overpaying Posey? No. It will happen in training camp, and in Yao's case, during the preseason. They're loading up with talent, true. But they're also loading up with egos. And let's be realistic here, 35-40 wins? What teams improved? T'Wolves - Definately. He split the season series with them. We should be able to win one game. So, we're 42-40 Lakers - Certainly. Split the season series, if there aren't chemistry problems, we'll be swept. 40-42 Sacramento - Added Miller, lost Pollard. Yao schooled Vlade and Miller. I see another 2-2 series splie. 40-42 Spurs - They replaced Jackson with Hedo, Robinson with Rasho, may have taken a small step back, largely the same. Another 1-3 series. 40-42. Okay, so you seem right, 40 wins... BUT! Last year our team lost about 12-15 games they really shouldn't have. (Cleveland, Miami, Atlanta, Clippers (2), Knicks (2), Memphis, Seattle (2), Warriors, Bulls, etc., etc.) Due to more maturity among the players from more experience, and more maturity from the team, thanks to JVG, this shouldn't happen nearly as often. 4-5 inexcuseable losses seems reasonable. And remember, when one team gets better, another gets worse. The Bucks, who we lost a game to, will be hopeless. New York, who swept us, will be even worse, Layden screwed up AGAIN getting KVH. Atlanta, who beat us once, is going into rebuild mode (have they been respectable since 'Nique left?) Don't expect to swept by the Mavs again, Yao will destroy Bradley even worse than last year, and hopefully our defense will be quicker in transition. Portland and Utah don't look good. Everyone talks about Seattle making it into the playoffs before us - why? Sure, Brent's the best of the brothers Barry, and Lewis is developing nicely, but Ray Allen is soft. The Warriors replaced their second best player with Speedy Claxton. Denver is not ready. If you can tell me which team will beat us into the playoffs, and how, I think it will make for a much more compelling argument.
I didn't say anything about James Posey. And dharocks, Thank you for showing your true lack of knowledge about basketball. P.S. Thanks for the laugh!
Spurs can still pursue a Max player next year. As it turns out, Mercer, ginobilli, Hedo all have one-year left on their contract. Spurs will have a huge cap space next year. and They will contend for a champ this year as well. Cap flexibility is very important with the current CBA. It allows you to constantly improve yourself. Without cap space, Rox can not even match Posey's contract! Who will be FA next year?
They pursued several max player this year - coming off a championship - and they got Rasho Nesterovic. How much flexibility did the Lakers have? And yet by pretty much all accounts, they improved themselves more than anyone else this summer. Cap space is vastly overrated as a means to improve your team.
