*I think in any other year, if we were simply talking about a tradeoff between "would you rather win 50 games and have the 'same old Yao'" or "win 30 games and have Yao explode" you would take the latter every time most likely due to the future implications and you could actually call this season a success. That's fair, right? Take 1 step backward throwing the season but 5 steps forward with Yao. However, that's all a moot point with T-Mac's problems. If T-Mac really is Grant Hill, it doesn't matter what Yao does. *T-Mac - Although sacrilegious to mention it, trading McGrady should not be out of the question. With that said, I wouldn't do it and you really don't stand to gain anything from it. If he's healthy, well obviously you don't trade him, and if he's hurt, whatever you get back in trade won't be nearly enough compensation, so you are better off just taking the risk with his back. I personally think his best days are behind him, which is a shame because he was one of the top 3 offensive talents in the game. He will still be a superstar and average around 24 a game, but I think his days of challenging 30 plus are done. I truly hope I'm wrong because I never felt after Hakeem that we would ever have a player again who I could say 'he's going to win this game for us.' *Yao - He's oficially come of age. I have been one of his biggest critics, but he's oficially come of age. This is what we envisioned in 2001. I think Yao is arguably the best big man in the game right now. Duncan and Shaq are falling off. Jermaine O'Neal never was all that. Webber has been done. Amare might be done. Garnett I have no respect for. Yao could average 25 and 9 next year. And I never thought even 20 and 9 would be possible. *Alston-James: There's no doubt James is the far superior player. You're in denial if you can't admit that. The question is who is the better fit. I think the fact that Alston played really well with a healthy McGrady is telling. However, some would argue that with McGrady's decline, James' ability to get off a shot was invaluable. It's a good debate. *Steve Francis - I cannot express how big a bullet we dodged by not biting on that trade. That we were interested began to make sense to me after we saw what New York traded to get him. That contract would have killed us. *Our lack of talent - It is ridiculous how big a talent gap there is between us and the league's elite. If you take into consideration that 40% of our starting lineup was Juwon Howard and David Wesley, you can see why we don't even stand a chance without a completely healthy Yao and McGrady. They simply cannot go into next season with Howard as the starter at power forward. He is, bar none, the worst starting power forward in basketball. I really hope they don't waste Yao's prime with flower forwards next to him ala Hakeem's prime. *The Draft - Nothing to say here. We have so many holes to fill that it doesn't really even matter. Just take the best player available because trust me, we have room for him. *One thing that sticks out about this team is that there is absolutely zero toughness. Looking back at the '94 team, you had guys like Vernon Maxwell, Mario Elie, and Otis Thorpe. Even last year, we had Sura and Mike James. This year's rendition of the Rockets might be one of the softest teams in NBA history. Howard has a bit of a mean streak but he's pitiful so it's irrelevant. *Swift - He's showed he can be a good backup and he's at an affordable price, but he's a bust any way you look at it. I'm not going to wait around for him to "develop" - this is what he is, a loser who will never realize his potential. He's not the answer and he should be traded if an enticing deal comes along. He pretty much symbolizes this Rockets team - soft, injury riddled, under acheiving, and a questionable future. *When healthy, Yao and T-Mac are two of the top 10 talents in the game. This was a huge selling point in the McGrady-Francis discussion which has now been realized. *In conclusion, where I left last year with a REALLY good feeling about the future, I feel the complete opposite following this year. The only silver lining is Yao's absolute explosion, but I don't think that is enough to offset the concerns surrounding McGrady's health. I don't know where this team is going and I don't see any possibilities for improvement. We have a low pick in a horrible draft, we have no trade assets, there are no good free agents available, and we have no young players who can improve (sans Yao). To simply put it, everything rests on T-Mac's back. If he's healthy - we'll be good. If the problems linger - we're lottery bound once again.
I just hope that the 04-05 season wasn't the high point of the Ming/TMac era, because 05-06 was certainly the low point. It can't get any worse, or can it?
Swift is NOT a bust (yet) numerous time this season he was at the level of what we expected of him when we gave him enough minutes to play and i still remember he got some clutch blocks this year.....(game vs Indiana) for the Alston-James trade --> at the start of this season, i believe 9 out of every 10 people here want a true point guard. So the rockets made the right move by bringing in Alston. We never ever expected that Derek Andersen would turn out to be a total bust. To build a team to be a championship contender, we really need a true point guard (specialist), not some average combo ballhoggin guard that can do a little of this and that
I agree with u about Swift.. but I totally disagree with u about Alston... in this team, we have 2 great playmakers (tmac and yao).. so we dont need a PG who can create for others, we need a PG who can handle the ball well (bring it up the court) and who can feed the post well, and most imprtantly, can hit the open 3 consistently... Bobby Sura is the ideal PG for a team like ours... and MJ was a very good fit for us too... Mike James was not a ball hog.. i dont know why everybody is saying that about him... this team doesn't need a SPECIALIST nor a Combo G.. this team needs a good shooting PG..not a "TRUE" one ..the biggest example is Dallas.. they have Dirk who can create shots for others, so they traded their true PG (Nash) and they got a "fake" one(terry) like everybody says and they are better than before... Nash is doing great in Phoenix, but that's because he fits in and they dont have a playmaker... it's all about fitting in... I am not saying that Alston sucks or anything, I am just saying that he doesn't fit in this team, he might do better in another team... and About Derek Anderson, he was playing great for us .. he was shooting well and playing good D..he gave us size at the 2 and filled up a spot for us to rest T-mac and not worry about losing the game... but he went down, and JVG went crazy and traded him for trash... JVG made a very stupid move by doing that... Anderson was a good player...
Depends on your definition of bust. If you were expecting him to show up and all of a sudden be an all-star, then sure. He clearly was a bust from his draft position. But to the Rockets, work in progress is a much better title than bust. He pretty much did everything he did last year. And we didn't overpay. The biggest dissapointment, I guess, would be that his bpg were cut in half...but that is probably as much a factor of team defense as anything else. At Swift's price, our real issue at PF is Juwan - we have to figure out a way to improve at starting PF. ----------------------------------------------- If you compare Mike James - Toronto vs. Rafer Alston - Toronto, the talent differences aren't quite as apparent. Mike is still, obviously the better scorer, but Rafer is the better ballhandler - and, statistically at least, the better defender. If you compare Mike James - Houston vs. Rafer Alston - Houston, same story. Granted, James was getting fewer minutes in Houston than Alston has. Overall, I'd agree that James is the better player currently, but note that the margin isn't that big, and considering that Alston is/was better at what we needed, he is probably still the better player for the Rockets. And depending on what kind of contract Mike gets this summer, Rafer will probably come at a cheaper price. ------------------------------------------------ The comment on talent differential is spot-on. Juwan, David Wesley, etc. have their place as role players on the right team. Put them all together - disastorous.
the dude can play and can be a great player IF HE WANTS TO... u and me and everybody knows that... the 5 years he played in Memphis, he was always covered by another dude at the 4 and he never got a chance to start... when he played, the coach always played him out of position (at the 5, which he is not successful at)..and in the last couple of years, he had problems with coaching staff and the team and everything ( the Bonzi thing) ... with the rockets, JVG didn't give him a chance, when he did, he came off the bench and Swift has some attitude problems ( start me or I aint gonna put 100 %).. lets face it, if Swift starts and WANTS to play and PUTS SOME EFFORT, he'll be a great player and we can depend on him for a starting 4.. if he doesn't, lets trade him to a team that can give him the oppurtunity to do that...
That's bullsh!t. People get on Juwon Howard too much. Last year, we said if we had J-ho we make it out of the 1st round, this year, despite his productivity after coming back from heart and knee problems, so many of you guys straight-up **** bag him. HE F'ING OUTPLAYED STROMILE SWIFT!!! But we do need better than J-Ho. Just not at the expense of perimeter shooting right now. Focus on guard play right now.
all of that talking about having him last year is bull****... if we had him last year, we wouldn't have even been in the playoffs... now I am not hating on the dude, I actually like JHO's personality and his way of playing.. it's just that he is too old for us man... we need a good, energetic player at the 4 who can rebound well, block shots, and do some kinda post ups and dunks.. . Jho is good off the bench.. we need a major update in the 4th IF Swift doesn't want to play well.. but u r right, we have to focus on perimeter shooting right now then we should worry about the 4.
But I think the debate ends with this point: Had we NOT made the trade, we would have NOTHING to show for Mike James right now. Sure, he might have helped us win, what, maybe an extra 5 games at most? Then he runs off this summer to the highest bidder and we're stuck with no James and our three draft picks: #13 or so, #32 and #43 or so. Instead, because we pulled the trigger on that deal, we have #8 or so and #32, AND Rafer Alston -- not the best PG around, but certainly not the worst. And I'd rather have Rafer than be looking at the image of Mike James walking away from us right now for nothing.
That's absolute bullsh!t and I'm tired of people propogating this idea. If Juwon had played in the playoffs last year, we would have gotten rocked in 4 games. The only reason we won the first two games was because McGrady and Bowen frustrated Dirk. If Howard had been on him, he might have duplicated his 53 point performance from earlier in the year. The series was nothing about Juwon, and everything about the Mavs benching Bradley and Van Horn getting hurt, and playing Marquis Daniels and Devin Harris more. Outplaying Stromile Swift isn't something to write home about. Juwon is hands down the worst starting power forward in basketball. Bless his heart, he tries his best, but he's part of the problem.
no it's not BS. I like the dude but his on/off courts are worse than stro's actually his stats are so bad he shouldnt even be getting paid, his fair salary is minus, he owns the franchise half mil every year. http://www.82games.com/0506/0506HOU.HTM
I agree with the original poster that Juwan is horrible and there's no way he should be starting next year...I don't think he should be a member of this team next year either In relation to Stro, when he has been given mins he has proven that he's been able to contribute, however, he's never gotten the opportunity to play throughout his entire career (career mpg is just under 21) Also, as many people on this site have shown, the +/- #s show that Stro plays much better with Yao, thus, he should start and get the bulk of of the mins at the pf position
