For the sake of argument, let's say he's cut or Marbury-ed. There is NO WAY the Rockets be serious contenders for a ring. Defensively they'd be excellent, but offensively it's a different story. Artest's shot selection and overall offensive game just isn't good enough. I do think that depending on match-ups they could conceiveably win a first round series, but you could have said the exact same thing about last year's Rockets without Yao.
Are you asking can the team win a championship with a $50M payroll? What can $20M get you? I'm not talking about someone who are still under rookie contracts. I'm not going to bring up any superstars. 2 x Gerald Wallace 2 x Rip 2 x Chancey 2 x Prince 2 x Ginobili 2 x Deng 2 x Josh Howard I don't even need 2 of those players. Give me one of them we can win a championship. This team is so talented even if we waste half of that $20M we can still win a title. Does this answer your question?
he is worth $22,000,000 you can break him to 2 solid players at 11 mil each and YES WE CAN win a championship with that move.
Can the team win a championship with this year T-Mac? Who still said the team can win a championship this year? That is just a dream. Just like someone said, this team cannot win a championship with or without tmac. No zero chance, but a very low.
come on man you are thinking that we have to face the lakers or the celtics at the finals which is not necessary a must Atlanta, Washington, Cleveland, Utah, San Antonio all can upset these teams and it becomes a better matchup for us with other teams than against the 2 big dogs.
Of course we can! Think this way, did we win championship in 90s with T-mac? We have to trade him to get some thing back, 'cause his salary is a big part (1/3 ?) of team salaries.
i agree.. and we're talking about the healthy (physical and mental) tmac.. not the current tmac.. we'll need him to step up big time.. c'mon tmac, you can do it!!
Actually the real question is which would you rather have? 1) Rockets with T-Mac or 2) Rockets with Prince/Rip I'd much rather have option 2.
I am 100% sure that this team CANNOT win a champaignship WITH T-mac. I don't even care if one day he has a 40/20/20 game. His inconsistency, his tendency to quit when things are not going his way, his laziness in defense, and even his laziness in offense in a lot of situations, and his not buying into current offense system, are huge negative factors to this team in the long run. It is possible for the team to win a champaignship without him. Use his $20 to get someone else or get two other solid players. It is NOT possible to win a champaignship with that $20 thrown away.
I'm just talking hypotheticals. Or to phrase it another way: if I wanted to give the Rockets their best chance of winning a championship I'd trade T-Mac for a combo like Prince and Rip or Sheed. I think that the reality of the situation could well be that the Rockets are stuck with T-Mac though. I also don't think it's realistic to believe the Rockets have a real shot at a ring this year, either with or without T-Mac, so the question posed in this thread is doubly misleading.
Absolutely not. I know 75% of this board hates TMAC and wants him out of Houston but to be honest whether you agree/disagree, he is one of the best players in the NBA. There is no question. Right now he sucks/slacks/is lazy/doesnt care/or is in an honest to god slump... but that doesnt take away from the fact that the man has the ability to electrify the team and the fans and score at will on any opponent. We can go far without him. We can NOT go all the way.
Score at will on any opponent? A player who averages 15pts a game (and averaged 21pts a game last year)? I don't think this can be called "score at will". I am sure we CANNOT go all the way with him.
Honestly until Yao proves he can step it up in the playoffs, I don't think this team can win one with or without Tmac.
As much crap as we give Tmac, myself included, How in the hell do you expect to win a championship without Tmac if we can't even get out of the first round with him playing out of his mind and literally carrying the team on his back?
We would have a chance if the team can play the way like the Boston game, but that was just one great game for a long time. They have lost to Washington, Atlanta you just mentioned, right now we can no beat Spurs, Lakers or Hornets from the fan point, and need improve lots to beat them. The rockets will tell you the team can beat everyone, and just want to you go to the games, one of which I went to on Dec. 31, we just had a hard time to beat Bucks on that night.
Yao needs to show up. He has stamina issues and playoff basketball is faster pace and more phyiscal. Hence that's why I think he struggles during the playoffs.
