Pee, However, it can be argued that Francis and Griffen could easily have been hte #1 picks if the rockets had the #1 pick those two years. Championship, here we come baby. Can't help it, I'm just a homer.
I think this is a valid point worth considering. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of the explosiveness of our backcourt. Soon, teams will have to worry about matching up with us. I got a glimpse of the future last year at a game at Staples. In the game against the Lakers when we were so banged up at center that Kenny Thomas started, Francis repeatedly took Kobe off the dribble in the first half. Kobe was helpless. Kobe would come back down the court and try to get his and throw up some wild BS. We lost, of course, but Almu's point is valid. We can't beat the Lakers yet, and maybe not in the next couple years, but we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of this team as constituted. Add a servicable center, and we're the Sacramento Kings ... running and gunning by everyone in the league. (Yeah, I know, the Kings haven't made the Finals. Yet.)
I guess I missed the subtle point that Will was hoping for a total tank job. Rice will get us to the Lottery, but I don't think he's bad enough to get us the #1 pick. Then again, Rice could be injured for a good part of the season leaving the SF duties to Langhi, Griff, and TMo. Maybe I am also starting to like the deal now that I've turned it upside down. Is there any way we can rig the bouncing balls? This "injured veteran" strategy worked once for the Spurs didn't it?
We will use the injured veteran stratagem, win the lottery and then pick yao ming, who will change the game forever and lead us to 10 straight titles. final record 2002-2003--82-0 50 pt. avg. margin of victory
The bottom bottom line may be who would ya pick, regardlees of $$$, Shandon or Rice?.....I'd have to go w/ Rice.....not a perfect world....
If this is true, put me down for a Laker sweep - if we get that far. I can't see that Cato this year will be any different than Cato last year. My predictions are: 7 - "good games". 10 - "he was ok". 5 - "he didn't hurt us too bad". 20 - "ouch, I can't play". 40 - "what the @#$ was that?" We need a center or a banging PF to play center.
For your information, no one in the whole league has a shot at beating Shaq/Kobe for as long as they're together. So don't worry about the Rockets ability to beat the Lakers.
Thank you for your enlightening edicts on the current state of bball affairs Marky. While you have your tarot cards handy, could you tell me if I should short porkbellies or buy soybeans this Autumn also??
The Rockets will be equivolent to the 88-89-90 Pistons defeating the Lakers who were equivalent to the 81-87 Celtics. Of course, we might have to wait a while, but there is no better team on the cusp of challenging the Lakers than us. (Kings can't get much better, neither can the Spurs...we're the only ones who have the "potential'...)
Crispee: I think that the advent of the high school #1's may throw a chink in your argument. I think your list works well because of how many dominant college players there once were. Now that they're all coming out early, it's much more difficult to tell, since the gap between high school an dthe NBA is so huge. So many top high school recruits flop in college... in the NBA, I think a lot fo these guys aren't giong to make it. Also, how many of those championships were won by players on their original teams? Most of the, but Shaq, Walton and Aguirre (I think) all switched teams. It's possible that Tim Duncan will decide he wants to play in houston two years from now... and nothing will stop him. Granted, it'd doubtful... and I am NOT predicting that. Just saying that there are alternatives to DRAFTING the #1 or #2 .
not to mention la's 7th and 8th men, shaq's shoulders, and the 9th man, shaq's obscenely large noggin.
ArtVandolet: your real name wouldn't happen to be George Costanza, would it? Aren't you an architect? BTW - that's a cool name. I have to agree with you on Cato. I think that the majority of the season will be us sitting here analyzing why Cato only got 3 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block in last night's game. Yea, we've been spoiled as fans, but as someone else pointed out, we haven't got out of the first round since '97 and haven't made the playoffs since '99. As much as I would love to see us beat the Fakers in the playoffs, let's worry about getting there first. With a healthy Rice (hopefully) and an "inspired" Cato, then I don't think it will be a question of us making the playoffs, but what seed will we have. However, Tmo's sig that says, "Cato -- you the man now, dog!" will be the most important thing for the Rockets this year. How Cato handles this will be the biggest thing to watch for all season.
It was a joke--a useless random observation--that describes nothing but history. That's the whole point. What does history tell us about the future that has Will turning into Wont?
What happens next summer? Why is it the end of rebuilding? But then there were those setbacks: loosing Dream, overpaying a non-rebounding power forward, loosing Shandon Anderson, loosing Matt Bullard and now perhaps loosing Moochie Norris. Does anyone have Webber's #? This love fest/chemistry stuff sucks. Don't forget the cool acquisition of "'arch'nt cha feeling ok Glen?". It's a good thing we hammered that one down. Perhaps Rudy could have slowed down when we had 5 or 6 SFs though. Walt actually shot & made more 3s last year than Rice. Luckily enough Rice can still light it up within 23'. Hopefully he touches the ball. Stevie will have to use his vertical just to pass back out of the zone. What ever happened to Bullard? Maybe we don't need this guy Rice after all. Bull's a shot blocker that can get back out and stretch the defense. I bet Mase would help out. Hell he could start at the 5 78 games of the season. We could have done this year w/o matching salaries. Where are all of the give away players? Shandon will be more tradeable than Rice in 2 years. I'll bet lunch on it. It sounds like this guy Bullard is a strong force in the locker room. I'm confused again. Should we have veterans to take the heat off of youngsters or are they merely in the way??? I hear this guy Dream has been there before. Perhaps we should look him up. 'the Curry deal'??? I hope that Griffin will be a good player... but you don't dismiss superstar FAs just b/c you picked up a 19 year old player... let alone one who's beaten up one of his teammates each of the past two years. You might be right... but for now the 3 spot is taken up by ~25% of your total cap space on a redundant SF named Glen Rice.
One way to beat Shaq is to outrun him. Shaq's a pretty quick guy but he can't run up and down the floor with our guards and forwards. Push it up every time, score against the rest of the Lakers and take the lead when he has to sit his King Kong butt on the bench. It just might work!
Rockets should be ready for a title run in 3-5 years. 1. Zone D will hurt Shaq 2. Shaq plans on retiring at 32 <--- Pray for this one My guess is the Rockets will have 2 years after Shaq leaves in which to win the title, because 2 years later he will return. 3 years after his return he should be past his prime and dominance. He may not even return to LA, while Shaq is gone I expect Kobe to get 32, 6, 5. And yes I pulled all of this out of my ass except Shaq saying he will retire. If he does not retire then good luck getting past LA for the next 7-15yrs depending on if they get someone to compliment Kobe after Shaq is gone. Whatever...
Wouldn't it have made more sense to acquire a rebounder who plays defense and was his team's leading scorer last season? <b>ANTHONY MASON</b> As much as I hate trading Shandon, if the Rockets were gonna trade him, why didn't they get a player who could fill a need(s) <b>ANTHONY MASON</b> Why Rice? He is an old and broken down shooter. He is not consistent, as many people on this board believe. Why is this his 3rd team in 3 years? Maybe his attitude? Maybe team's think he can still play like he used to? So far, the Lakers and the Knicks have found they were wrong about Rice. The Rockets will be the next team to find this out.
