We had a good team that year and everyone on this board was excited with what that team could have done. There was not a rocket fan that didn't believe that Rockets them could and should have beat the Mavs... however this team is better. Consider we lost Howard around this time that year plus we had Weatherspoon as the backup...well let's just go to the break down: Old Yao vs. New Yao No competition, the old Yao may not have had any injuries but he was a 19-9 guy that was purely a second option to Tmac. This new Yao can be dominant of both sides of the court. His legs are starting to come back and he is already better. Better ft shooting while getting there more has nothing to do with conditioning and everything to do with experience and attitude. Lifting up over and over to knock down crucial buckets, thats that new dominant attitude thanks to last season. Better overall Yao by himself makes all the world of difference..."try to ****in stop" that. OTerry in the same game. For that you need Batman Sura vs Alston I really don't want to touch this but nobody could replace Sura's fire... however Alston's quickness allows him to have some effectiveness against quick guards and both shoot the 3 and rebound well for pgs. James vs Head Head will defer to Tmac...shoots the 3 better...can't defend like James or drive like James...but he is young and can improve...in the meantime I believe Head has a greater fit on this team. Old Deke vs New Deke Both are cool but the second seems that much antsier about the end-of-my-career-need-to-play-my-butt-off-to-win-a-ring. Old Howard vs New Howard not even close...the new one can play... Weatherspoon vs Bonzi both the resident fatty but get this...8 and 4.5 in 18 minutes a game!!! I still believe he will be a factor in playoffs and the inevitable showdown with the Spurs... go read the Spurs board..he is called the "Spurs killer" plus we have Snyder and Big Jake....so what do you guys think?
that 04-05 team had something about them.. sura, wesley, and barry all playing better than decent and having fun at the same time.. i think thats one thing we dont have this year. skill wise 06-07 is the better team.
yao is better. enough said. yao in 04-05 is so inconsistent it wasn't even funny. u dont know what to expect. this yao is now a true superstar and best center in the world.
06-07 is much better talentwise and teamwise....but 04-05 had the magic "likeable" chemistry. I think the 06-07 team has chemistry too...but it's not the same.
Weird... my post got chopped...basically I just said Tmac may not be the same but his shooting (both 2s and 3s) are the best they have been since his special Magic season. And Batman is more versatile than Wesley. I think this group has lots of fun too. Bill and Bullard commented last night that the chemistry in the locker room and the excitement and fun they have is unbelievable. But it's hard not to like Jon Barry.
i say 04-05 because we actually had like an 8 game winning streak and havent had that this season yet.
Let's put the chemistry aside for a moment, because this team is just now getting it's first chance to truly jell. Remember, the 04-05 squad never really got rolling until the very end either, as a result of roster/role changes and injuries. Then there's the JVG factor, where he bashes his concepts into his players' heads for 60-something games or so until they're brainwashed into playing perfectly cohesive, chemistry laden basketball. It happens every year with Jeff, that's why his team's fans tend to hate him early in the season only to fall in love with him as the year goes on. I'm guilty of this like 3 times already. And as far as roster comparisons go, I'd like to stick to evaluating only the playoff squads. So, to me it comes down to: Barry/Sura/Wesley/James vs. Battier/Alston/Head/Snyder Mutombo vs. Mutombo and Tsakalidis Volume-Scoring T-Mac vs. Playmaker-slash-Scorer T-Mac Pansy Yao vs. Monster Yao ...and, most importantly: Ryan F***ing Bowen & Clarence Weatherspoon vs. Chuck Hayes and Juwan Howard
no, we got rolling into the all-star break in 04-05 and rolled onto one of the best records post all-star. we were one of the "feared" teams like right now. basically, 04-05 team is TOUGHER w/ sura and barry. no one wants to mess w/ us. this team is nicer but talentwise is better. wesley was too darn short for stackhouse. battier gives us better height.
Between the All Star break and our 67th game (where we are right now), the Rockets record was only 8-6 in 2005. During that same span this year, we're 9-6.
Sorry for the double post, but I was looking up old results for my last response and I found your answer: 40-27 in '05 42-25 in '07
leaving off battier in the original post? huge upgrade over wesley..or bowen if you want to compare him there since bowen guarded dirk and all
That 04-05 team was the most fun i ever had being a fan of any sports team. O mean the rockets were so much fun to watch. ANd the playoffs that year was fun ot watch with the mavs even tho we lost.I would love a rematch. I mean it was crazy. Its funny that team beat the SUns twice that year. They beat everybody, and like another poster said you felt thta squad could beat anybody. This years squad is obviously better talent wise, but they seem to have more problems with the SUn than the 04-05 suns team which was better than this years suns team. Man remeber that hand chop thin that Barry used to do whenever he made a thre. Those guys were having fun and htas whats the game is all about. I don't want to a bunch of uptight, serious all the time, no fun having teammate playing. That 04-45 squad had swagger.
Surprisingly little talk of the biggest difference between the two teams: Chuck Hayes! The guy does things that nobody on the 04-05 team could do. He fills some major holes that team had.
