Today's ESPN Chat: Aaron: Guys, I'll buy ANOTHER Insider membership if you pick this question!!! Coach, Who do you think will be the tope 5 teams in the west in 3 years? Thanks! Fred Carter: I don't know about top 5 but 3 of 4 years from now the Rockets will be the top team. Houston is a young, talented team. Once they stop being a selfish team and learn to play the game the right way, they will be the Beast of the West. (If posted already, please delete it.)
Tim (East Meadow): Responding to your Rockets being in the top 5 in 3 years answer, what about the Warriors? They have a lot of young talent as well, possibly more than the Rockets. You think the Warriors could be up there, too? Fred Carter: They have a lot of young talent, you are right, but they don't have size. If they get a big man, then I would agree with you. http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=3331
Sounds just like when Isiah Thomas said Rockets would be the dark horse to come out of the west. It won't happen unless there is MAJOR, i mean MAJOR coaching/role players change. Keep Yao and Francis. Shuffle everything else to get an OFFENSIVE game going. Plus, fire LS too!
Isiah and Fred arent talking about what the Rockets can trade for...they are saying the pieces are in placce for this team to develop into a champion. This group just needs to mature together. When asked about GoldenState..Carter says they need another key player, not the Rockets.
The only reason they said this was because they expected Yao to become at least a top 5 player in the future. You figure a team with a top big man plus 1 of the best guards would be an elite team too regardless of their coaches and role players.
If that was the only criteria..we would already be an elite team..we already have a top big man and a great guard ,,both NBA All-Stars. PS>>Role players are usually guys who are either offensive or defensive specialists. Cat Mobley is one of the top guards in the league and I have never heard anyone knowledgeable refer to him as a role player... In order for the Rockets to become an elite team...they must mature and play together. Thats what Fred Carter said.. he never mentioned a two man team.
Thats one of the many Rockets problems- Mobley must accept that he is needed to be a Role Player.Or he is gone!
No, Yao's not there yet. If he can become as good and dominant as TD or Shaq one day, then yes, we would win 50-60 wins regardless of the coaches and role players. I figure Mobley must share the same view of himself as you so he can't accept being a role player on this team. He's not 1 of the top guards in the league (if you're just talking about guards, I can name at least 30 better). He's not all-around great enough to be a star of an elite team (he can't pass the ball, that alone will never make him an elite player). Bobby Jackson and NVE have similar talent to him but Bobby and NVE are never regarded more than just valuable role players for the Kings and Mavs.
Arent you the one who suggested the Human Shield offense..where the whole team blocks out Yaos defender( Rugby style) that way we could have a one man team. I dont think so,,,Steve, Yao , Cat, Eddie and JP ..must learn to play together to take advantage of all their talents. PS ..every team in the league would love to get a player like Cat..the Rockets cant afford to loose him.
You are either: 1) Star player 2) Role Player 3) Bench scrubs The Rockets have two stars, Yao and Francis. Mobley and Griffin are role players. We HOPE they can break through and be star players. Perhaps Griffin will. I think Mobley is tapped out right now and is a good role player. The Rockets need ONE more STAR player on the team to make it a more consistant team. One more thing. The Rockets have 2 star players, but Yao is sill learning to be a star player. So we kind of have a star and a half. Once Yao becomes a full fledged star player this team will take off.
It just takes time. And a real coach. Francis is a pretty good point guard to build around. Moochie can hopefully leave. He's not improving at all. Mobley, if he can learn his role and just accept it, can be very good. If he can't, he should be traded to the Denver Nuggets or Cavaliers where he can shoot all he wants. Then we can get two solid role playing shooting guards who can split the time. Juaquin Hawkins should of course, stay! I just love his hustle and defense! Rudy loves him too! James Posey can stay. He can't get any worse. He can play. If he improves his shooting, he will be a fine small forward. But if Mobley is traded, he can be a shooting guard. Glen Rice will be here for another year. And after that, it will be Bostjan Nachbar...if Boki is not traded. Hopefully Bostjan is improving behind the scenes. Terence Morris can also stay. He is a good third-stringer. He can shoot. And he is Steve's buddy. Eddie Griffin, if he is not traded, will hopefully somehow play consistently and somehow become good. He could be a good role player...and a star maybe. Mo Taylor is a great backup. He should stay. Yao Ming is our franchise player. Cato is an energetic rebounding machine backup center. And he is a funny guy. He should stay, unless he is packaged in a trade to get a good player. Collier is useless. Just let him hang around. Hopefully in THREE to FOUR years, the Rockets can become good. But I don't think they will improve at all if Larry Smith is the head coach.
Three to four years?! Amazing how we've gone from being an 8th seed no one wants to play to hopefully being good in three to four years. Hey, maybe by the 2006-2007 season, this team could win 50 games.
