12 Rafer Alston G 6-2 170 07/24/1976 Fresno State 6 Gerald Fitch G 6-5 195 07/18/1984 Kentucky R 20 Jon Barry G 6-5 210 07/25/1969 Georgia Tech 13 10 Keith Bogans F-G 6-5 215 05/12/1980 Kentucky 2 40 Ryan Bowen F 6-9 220 11/20/1975 Iowa 6 44 Chuck Hayes F 6-6 242 06/11/1983 Kentucky R 2 Luther Head G 6-3 185 11/26/1982 Illinois R 5 Juwan Howard F 6-9 230 02/07/1973 Michigan 11 Maciej Lampe F 6-11 275 02/05/1985 Poland 2 1 Tracy McGrady - C F-G 6-8 210 05/24/1979 Mount Zion Christian Acad. HS (NC) '97 8 55 Dikembe Mutombo C 7-2 265 06/25/1966 Georgetown 14 3 Bob Sura G 6-5 200 03/25/1973 Florida State 10 4 Stromile Swift F 6-9 230 11/21/1979 Louisiana State 5 7 David Wesley - C G 6-1 203 11/14/1970 Baylor 12 11 Yao Ming C 7-6 310 09/12/1980 China 3 Three rookies!! Its great to see some 1980's in the birthdays now, and it shows that management is finally realizing that youth is the key. Yeah, we still have some old fogies in the roster, but if we make a few changes in the offseason, i.e. let Wesley walk, Mutumbo retires, and Sura calls it quits, I only see the clock turning back more. What about you guys, does this excite you much?
we need to resign wesley and keep mutombo not until these guys are gone will you notice how important they are i swear some of you people want to gut the whole team
not like I want to gut the whole team buddy, but youthful legs are good. There are some good back-up centers who will be free agents this year. I love Deke, but even though he's a warrior, he isnt getting much younger. Pryzbilla is a FA this summer I think, somebody like him who can board and block could do a bang up job off the bench, and we drafted that sucker, plus the Blazers just got Brian Skinner, which means Joel might be expendable.
I'll remind you guys last time we went with a totally young team with hardly any veterans we went 28-54 one year and then 34-48 two years later. You can't have all young guys or all veteran players you must have a balance of both. Thats why getting Bogans, Fitch and Lampe is so exciting cause all 3 provide youth,athletic ability,length and are quick players. SAying that I think it would be best if Houston resigned Wesley in the offseason and kept him as a backup. Mutombo proves everytime he gets consistaNT mins that he provides. In 12 mins last night Mutombo had 5 rebounds imagine with more mins what he gets? Just something to think about. Go Rockets!!!
Man, Lampe is the youngest guy on the team. You wouldn't expect that from someone who's bounced around so much. He's still got time to develop into a serviceable player. The "Polish Padgett" would suit me just fine.
You will not find a mutombo caliber defensive center at his price, he may be old, but he can still give 10 solid minutes a night, and he is signed till next year anyways. Wesleys contract expires next year, and i believe as another poster mentioned he is very underrated on this board for all he does, he is a good defender for his size and is a very good shooter. And no thanks on joel, whats the point of getting younger if its only for mediocre talent, id rather keep wesley and im sure he will sign for less than his current paycheck. We need some veterans on this team, if your all youth, well look around, with the exception of the mavs (who do have some veterans) all the elite teams have a mix age of players. I'm just saying we shouldnt go all out for a young team like people here suggest, i like the roster we have currently some veterans some young.
I like our team just the way it is for the rest of the season. I think, barring any more freakin' injuries, we're primed for a run to the playoffs. Wesley is ON FIRE. Yao is playing better than ever. Literally. T-Mac will come around, if he hasn't already. Alston is starting to show us why CD wanted him. No more moves. Let's just keep the team as is for the rest of the season and see what happens.
I like David, hell he's a Baylor Bear, sic em, but if he signs for a measley cheapy price, he'll be worth it. I think that Joel would be a good bench role player for us, but don't give him a freakin Cato contract though.
DEKE is the new OLD MAN JONES from the championship years every Houston Champion has one their team. Rocket River Where is our Chuckie Brown, Elie, Horry and Cassel?
The reality is the Rox have Wesley's Bird Rights so they can sign him for anything the two parties agree upon. That's what all the people wanting to trade Wesley totally overlooked. He will come back next season for cheap, won't eat up any exceptions and would probably be very happy staying in Houston and allowing a younger player to develop as his minutes decrease. IOW, if the Rockets aquire (via draft, trade or FA signing) a tall, athletic and young SG, Wesley is a great asset to help that person and DWes is a known commodity with an inexpensive pricetag.
wesley, bogans, and hayes need to be re-signed but at the right price. rybo has a player option, deke another year to go, spanoulis might sign on. not too many free agent prospects this off season, but 2007 free agency is looking like a goldmine.
Umm...The key is not only getting younger, but getting GOOD young talent that could compliment Yao and McGrady. I still think we should do what the Spurs do: younger starting lineup, veteran bench; that's the right mix for a championship caliber team. Bring back DWes at the right price, relegate Howard to the bench and get a legitimate starting PF who doesn't have to be a scorer, just a tough big man who can rebound and defend. We need a legitimate big guard at the SG position.
Think back of the last 20 championship teams. Were ANY of them composed of "youthful legs?" It takes veterans to win champsionships. Young legs don't get you squat but a good dunk every now and then. They may have had one or two youngsters, but they virtually always had one or two over-30 guys as starters? 2005 Spurs Duncan-29 Bowen-34 Manu-28 Nazr Mohammed-28 Parker-23 (Don't forget Horry or Brent Barry) They have one "youngster" 2004 Pistons Ben Wallace-30, Billups-28, Rash Wallace-30 all vets. Tayshon and Rick Hamilton are "young." But they also had Elden Campell, Lindsey Hunter, Corlyss Williamson, Darvin Ham as 30+ vets on their bench. 2003 Spurs David Robinson-30+, Bowen-30+, Duncan, Parker, Stephen Jackson (Don't forget Makik Rose-29, Danny Ferry-36, Steve Kerr-35, Steve Smith-33, Kevin Willis-40 ) The starting line-up wasn't too old but VERY experienced. However, the bench was old as dirt except Manu and Speedy Claxton) 2002 Lakers I can't get this exact roster but they had Shaq, Fox, Horry and Fisher, IIRC. None of those dudes were in the "youth movement" Lakers win 2000 and 2001 with Shaq and Kobe...the two most dominant players in the game. Let me skip down... NBA.com isn't giving me the rosters prior to 2002 so I can't get exact ages anymore. 1999 Spurs David Robinson, Avery Johnson, Mario Elie, Steve Kerr, Felton Spencer, Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter, Sean Elliot, Chucky Brown were all 30+, IIRC 98-96 Bulls Jordan, Pippen and Rodman were WELL over 25 during that run. They also had dudes like Luc Longly and Bill Wennington weren't spring chickens either. 95 Rockets Dream, Drexler, Elie of course. But don't forget Mark Bryant, Chucky Brown, Charles Jones were all old as dirt. But Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell and Elie had to be 30+ at that point and they were starters. 94 Rockets Dream, Kenny Smith, Maxwell, Elie. IIRC, Thorpe as close to, if not over, 30 at that point. 91'-93' Bulls A much younger team, granted, but they also had Jordan and Pippen starting one of the best ever NBA dynasties. So like the 2001 Lakers, this might not be the best example of how a young team wins championships. It only takes two of the top 50 of all-time in their prime to overcome the lack of veterans. 89'-90 Pistons Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, John Salley, Mark Aguire, Bill Lambieer, Rick Mahorn, Adrian Dantly ...no spring chickens. 87'-88 Lakers Kareem, Magic, James Worthy, Micheal Cooper, Kurt Rambis...no spring chickens. 86 Celtics Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Bill Walton, Rick Carlisle...no spring chickens. etc etc etc.
The team has enough to make a run at the playoffs. a major problem going into that Dallas series last year was our age and health with our guards and of course Howard being out. Bob Sura wasn't himself, he was beat up, Rockets didn't get much out of him, so a healthy younger Alston should double the production from that position. Wesley was non-existent in that Dallas series because he was beat up as well. he had his offseason surgery and is finally starting to recover from it and playing some of the best basketball of his career. And now of course the Rockets have younger quicker guys like Alston, Head, Bogans and Fitch who can at least make a valiant attempt to stop Jason Terry who single handedly killed the Rockets during the playoffs. And of course the Rockets have Howard and Swift and not a patched up lineup with Bowen and Padgett at the PF spot. So I actually like this Rockets squad chances to win in the playoffs more than the previous teams. We just got to get there first.
Woops, i was on auto-pilot and hadn't had my 2nd cup of coffee yet. Sorry about the mixup. I'm still happy the Payton and karla didn't get rings. So while that bunch didn't win, they certainly got to the championship. So the same argument still holds. I'm gonna go back and edit my previous post.
Mark Bryant was not on that team buddy, and look at the ages, young is 28-30, Old is 36-40 (Wesley, Mutumbo)
There is a difference in having young Amare Stoudamire, LeBron James and Dwight Howard than having Chuck Hayes, Keith Bogan and Luther Head. The measurement of youth should be about your core player, not role players. As long as your core players are young, you are fine and you can plug in role players to do the job, young or old. In the case of the Houston Rockets, we have never been old in the past few years, as long as Yao and Tmac are young.
