Remember when we were hard? The Dream Otis Thorpe Vernon Maxwell Mario Ellie Sam Cassell Carl Herrera Chucky Brown Pete Chilcutt These guys wouldn't take crap off nobody. Right now we have a team based on two Highly talented softies that are either afraid of getting hurt (TMac) or hurting other people (Yao). We need to get some hard players on this team because we won't amount to crap without em. We need our boys to have some fur on their kiwis. My theory is Keep Yao, Trade Tmac while there is still value, and get Yao a quality bruiser to help him like OT used to help the dream.
Bingo. You can point to our gaping hole at pg or our supposed lack of heart and toughness all you want, but it won't change anything when both of your starting forwards are absolute zeros on the offensive end. You don't even have to guard either of them except for the rare night when Battier hangs a few wide open 3's. They each are less offensively skilled than the average varsity swingman at a high school with a graduating class larger than 55. Get some talent in here.
Don't EVER forget to capitalize Dream's name. But for real, this team does need someone who will stick up for our stars. I know he was overpaid but Juwan Howard used to do that even if he wasn't known as a tough guy or an enforcer.
Hmm, OT was an All-Star in 1992 Speaking of the 1992 All-Star Game, check out the 5:00 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhPs1caKnQU&feature=related
Yes that team played physical and never backed down. But if you think about it... Remember when the entire NBA was "hard". Stern killed it... Now guys that are perceived to play with passion are simply floppers (Manu). MJ would average 40 in this era while getting to the line 16 times per game. Wade in the early 90's would be broken to pieces by the Oakleys of the league.
Bruce Bowen and Fabricio Oberto are as big scoring threats as Chuck and Shane. Having Chuck and Shane are not the reason why the Rockets struggle. The problem is the guys who are supposed to score for the Rockets, guys who are supposed ot play Ginobili's role have not done so. Frankly, the two stars have not been as efficient as they need to be-- or as efficient as they seemed to be last year.
Charles Oakley would be the ideal complement to our softie duo. He can board and hit mid-range Js. Most importantly he would make people think twice before going into the middle or taking a cheapshot at our stars. Too bad there is no more Oakleys in NBA today.
Give us Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan and you can keep Chuck and Shane in the starting lineup. You just debunked your own argument. Our top 3, especially our #3, isn't equal to the Spurs' top 3, yet you earlier tried to draw the analogy between Oberto/Bowen and Shane/Chuck? Huh? It's not an argument whether our top 3 is as good as there's is - that's nothing to be ashamed about, they are the best trio in basketball. Now wouldn't the logical solution be improving the 4th and 5th players?
The sad part is Chilly Pete Chilcutt was probably the softest player on that old team and he'd be the toughest player on our current team. Chilly Pete would scare our current roster to death with his baby face!
The logical solution, and what the Rockets tried to do, was to find another guy who can create his own shots off the dribble. They tried with Mike, Steve, and Bonzi... and each of theam has failed pretty miserably so far to fill that role. CAn we improve by replacing Shane and Chuck? Sure. The questions are who do you replace them with, how you realitically get these guys, and whether these new guyw would actually do the job better than Shane and Chuck or simply fail like Mike, Steve and Bonzi have. The Rockets don't just need a "third scorer." It's not hard to find someone who, given enough shots, will score 15+ ppg. Miami, for example, got Ricky Davis for practically nothing. The Rockets need the right third scorer... someone who can get them 15 ppg if needed, but also have shooting range to space the floor better for Tracy and Yao, who can contribute on defense and rebound enough, who has enough brains to run Adelman's offense. When you add these requirements, that isn't quite an easy find. It's pretty hard to find a scorer who actually make the offense run mroe efficiently.
Celtics might have something to say about that. But yeah, they have 3 guys averaging 20, plus shooting off the bench. The Adelman system doesnt rely on Tmac and Yao as much for scoring. We need more. I don't think we are going to find a 20ppg point guard either.
funny how you mentioned Ricky Davis his been doing jack f all for my Fantasy team and his real Life team too
I agree with half of that. We don't struggle because of Shane, but we do struggle because of Chuck. Guys at least guard Shane. No one guards Chuck cuz they don't have to. If Chuck's man didn't leave him to double another player, he would never score those easy cuts he gets.
