From our favorite Insider sportswriter, Chad Ford: HOUSTON ROCKETS It took them awhile, but Tracy McGrady and Jeff Van Gundy finally saw eye to eye. Ever since that seminal moment in December, the Rockets have been on fire. Yao Ming has progressed more than he's gotten credit for. GM Carroll Dawson turned nothing into a pretty decent backcourt of Bob Sura, Mike James, David Wesley and Jon Barry. They still have a ton of holes to fill this summer, but the important thing is that T-Mac has the Rockets in the playoffs. GRADE: B
He had Denver A-. Were they supposed to win it all before the season started. All these power rankings and scorecard are meaningless media trash to sell papaers. Define a metrics first. These things have become subjective assessment depending on the time of the day when they are written.
I think he saved those first 3 sentences from last year's Insider, and then swapped out Tracy McGrady for Steve Francis.
Chad Ford is an idiot........ Chad Ford is an idiot........ Chad Ford is an idiot........ Chad Ford is an idiot........ Chad Ford is an idiot........ Chad Ford is an idiot........ Chad Ford is an idiot........
So the Nuggets are an "A-", while Dallas gets a "B+"... That's all you needed to see to dismiss, yet again, another brilliant, thought-out article by Chad Ford.
the rockets get a B and the clippers get a B-????????? chad ford is r****ded. when was the last time he wrote a legitimate article? i don't know why espn keeps him...
Who in their right mind would give the Lakers anything but an "F" considering where they were last year and the expectations laid upon them this year? (Shaq-less though they were). And to give the Rockets a "B" is absurd. How many teams were built practically from scratch this year? Bobcats maybe? When you take a look at the job CD did assembling a team on the fly (albeit around 2 stars), and the job JVG did pulling it all together, and the fact that a team like this has such a small margin for error and yet still adapts and thrives despite the loss of the only player remotely resembling a decent power forward, and the fact that one of those stars is very much a work in progress, and the fact that the other one Ñ maligned as a selfish player in the past Ñ completely shaped his game around the needs of the team and in the process had arguably the best year of his career thus far, and the fact that out of the blue, this becomes a team in every sense where the players actually buy into the system and actually enjoy playing together, and that they truly feel they can beat anyone, and the fact that any fan with half a brain realizes that they are watching the development of something special, and that if we had to go back to the kind of basketball we had for the past few years with SF at the helm then we would all probably jump off tall buildings Ñ when you consider all that, giving the Rockets a "B" is just lame. We got half a letter grade better than the Clippers? Give me a break. What do the Rockets need to do to get an "A"? Move to Los Angeles, maybe? Yes, I think that would do it. Maybe then Chad Ford would actually observe a game or two before writing such puke.
I think besides a PF, we need a SF? I believe the reason is McGrady perfers to play the 2 more than he does at the 3. I recall reading something about McGrady's natural/perfered spot being a SG as pose to SF. I could of gotten that reversed, so someone please correct me if i did.
Gosh what an idiot. His logic is so flawed. We should just "ignore the fact" the Clippers and Warriors who had pitiful records and give them only a half letter grade worse than the 50+ win Rockets who are the 5th seed. No, Ford, just no.
All things being equal, the Nuggets are probably the third best team in NBA right now – and even that might be an understatement?
I don't think his rankings are that awry. You have to consider each team's record based on what their roster looked like over the year. A team like the Clippers put together a pretty good record considering the injuries and their dumbass of an owner. Same with Utah. But the Rockets should still have a B+ at least!
I am not certain but i think mcgrady prefers the 3 spot over the 2 spot. i remember reading that part of the reason why jim jackson was traded was because he wasnt willing to play the 2 spot (though that was his original position when he started out in the league)so that mcgrady could be at the 3. either way mcgrady is just a huge mismatch at either spot