James (Houston): Chad, what do you think of my Rockets so far? Do you think that they could challenge for a 4 or 5 seed? Also, where would you rank Yao overall in the league, top 10 or 15? Chad Ford: (1:41 PM ET ) I think a 4 or 5 seed is a little high. But right now, they look like they'll battle Phoenix for that sixth seed in the West. I just worry about their depth. If something happens to Steve Francis or Yao Ming, this team is in a lot of trouble. I'm not sure they can sustain this pace all season. Kinda agreed, we cant lose steve.....MOOCH takes over,,god forbid that ever happen
We battle PHX for sixth seed? Freaking Phoenix? I will take it if we have sixth seed, but PHX is still with us in the same level? Give me a break.
Phoenix have the Stephon Marbury problem. That guy will jack up shots at the end of the game, while for us Yao will get the ball with Steve ready on the outside.
Chad Ford probably still thinks Francis and Yao and JVG are fighting like his stupid trumpted up report said a few weeks ago.
Why do these "insiders" think so highly of phoenix? They just lost to Atlanta at home. If he wants to talk about lack of depth, look at them.
There are 14 teams in the West. Five have been ceded the Top 5 Seeds. (There are no Cavs/Hawks/Heat in the West. The Bulls might not win 20 in the West but they'll likely win 35 in the East. Only the Suns, in all the West, are below .500. This is a tough place to get into May.) That leaves nine for three slots. IMO - Rox, Suns, Sonics, Grizz are the class of this grouping. IMO - Blazers and Warriors have a chance. IMO - Nugs, Clips, and Jazz are least likely to climb aboard the post season train. I am thrilled with the season's start, but the good guys are facing four games in five nights, three on the road followed by five of the next six on the road (with one back-to-back). So, how many of the ten games will the Rox win? How likely will the Rox position in Top 10 of all the Power Polls be? Man, six or seven wins would be so very sweet.
i am a die hard ROX fan.....but PHX is not all that bad a team i know we hate them..but Starbury, Matrix, and Amare arent too bad well see on friday night i guess go rox
Because over an 82 game season, they were (marginally) better than us last year. We've all played fewer than 10 so far this year. Tells us far less. How much you wanna bet that we were better than Phoenix over a few sets of 10 games last year? I think Houston will be better than Phoenix... but it's not unreasonable for the commentators to still think they'll be challengers.
I think you also have to look at the division they played in. We faced Dallas, San Antonio and Minnesota more often in our division. Who's really good in the west? Lakers and Sacramento.. anyone else? I really have not looked at the stats for each division last year.. I just bet ya if our divisions were reversed, it would have been us in the playoffs and not Phoenix.
*shrug* Ok, so we're marginally better (at best) than them last year. But it's not like, either way, there was much of a difference between the two teams last year. It's far too early to evaluate Phoenix too much based on this years record.
I can't believe someone is predicting us, a lottery team last year, to finish as the 6th seed this year. What an insult.
He didn't have an assist through the first 6 games where he played an average of 34 minutes. That's a pretty awesome stat. BTW, he's shooting 43%. I guess people have figured him out.
amare stoudemire = kenny thomas on roids? othella harrington before dessert? yinka dare with coordination? ?
Phoenix is not as good as the Rox. We beat them 3 out of 4 last year, the only game they won is b/z Cat did not make 2 FTs late in the game and Marbury made the winning shot over Steve. It would be interesting to see how J. White performs as a center in Phoenix. If he provides 10 and 10, then they could be better than us. Otherwise, Rox is just better than Phoenix.
