What would have changed today? That was the Cuban sending tape, Rockets getting cheated, shenanigan of a year. The year that the playoffs looked oh so beautifully setup for a ridiculously motivated Tmac & Yao with amazing role players. I think it is very possible that had the Rockets gotten past the Mavs, the Suns would be the hardest opponent left, as I believe the Rocket's matched up very well with the Spurs and could've demolished a young Cleveland Lebrons. Had that happened what do you think would've changed? Some stuff I think (and I don't believe all these are for the better, but some are much better ). 1) I think we would've snuck in another title sometime between then and now. A confident Rockets team + a championship winners can draw solid aging vets to surround Tmac and Yao with. 2) CD would still be our GM (I'm not 100% sure on why CD left, but hell if he could've built another 2 title winning team, I can't imagine he would leave). 2a) If this is true, many of the players we have/had (the Carl Landrys, Aaron Brooks, etc) may not be Rockets (though DM was hired as assistant GM before taking over for CD, so who knows maybe we would still have them) 3) We would not have Kevin Martin, in fact Tmac would still be on this team, as a Rocket's legend and likely would be getting a fat contract this summer from the Rockets. 4) Yao-Tmac combo would be being compared to Shaq-Kobe and all the analyst would be pointing out if they can win just 1 more they would be just as good. What else can you guys think of?
Even had we beaten Dallas, I think Phoenix would of gotten us the next round. 2006-2007 was the year we had a real shot at winning it all Utah -> Golden State -> Spurs -> Cavs
CD would not still be GM if we won. Morey was introduced because it was a changing of the guard, not because they were outright dismissing CD. That's why CD + Morey worked together Morey's first year. I'd be a liar if I said winning is not a cure-all. Kobe and Shaq only worked while they were winning. If we won the title, I think it would be safe to say Tracy would have retired as a Rocket. Heck, JVG would still be coach. The league would be a different league too. Winning would have made this team different. With that said, I like this current team. Yes, another title hanging from the rafters would be nice, but what can you do?
Sometimes in life it don't matter what the hell you do, lady luck just won't allow what you want to happen. Trust me. And I'm sure it applies to basketball as well sometimes.
rewriting history for fun to discuss what might have been is absolutely pointless. why bother what might have been when it didn't happen that way?
T-Mac would get the props he deserves for being the great player he once was. He would have never put his jersey over his mouth and talked **** to Donaghy about the league being fixed and Donaghy giving him half a smile. Aftwards realizing it was completely true and he couldn't say anything about it. JVG got fined and went through a lot of **** questioning the integrity of the league. Tracy thought about it after the series and said it's not about who's plays the best. It's about who sells the best. He knew, we knew, and the team knew who the better team aways. The Refs treated the players like ****. Instead of having a great team to build on, T-Mac quit. Sura quit. Barry quit. Wesley quit. Yao said I still need to sign another contract before I quit. Now we have a bunch of young guys and Battier who got a taste of it against the Jazz. You can see that he doesn't care about winning a championship like everybody else on that team. No matter how hard they try, the other team will try just as hard to help the officials take it away from us.
T-Mac would get the props he deserves for being the great player he once was. He would have never put his jersey over his mouth and talked **** to Donaghy about the league being fixed and Donaghy giving him half a smile. Afterwards, realizing it was completely true and he couldn't say anything about it. JVG got fined and went through a lot of **** questioning the integrity of the league. Tracy thought about it after the series and said it's not about who plays the best. It's about who sells the best. He knew, we knew, and the team knew who the better team was. The Refs treated the players like ****. fixed
We got outplayed by Dallas. As much as it hurts, Dallas was simply the better team. If they did not manage to make it the finals, what makes you think the Rockets would? There are many other situations where the Rockets were a lot closer to a championship than this first round exit.
The only reason we were up 2-0 is because Tmac was playing out of his mind. When he came back to earth, Dallas was the better team.
If the Rockets had won the title in 2004-2005, then we wouldn't be set to win the title for next season (2010-2011) and the next 3 seasons in a row. That would mean instead of having 6 championships, Houston would only have 3 by 2014.
