It's been one of the brightest offseasons for the Rockets in recent memory. With the acquisition of D12, the Rockets are back on the NBA's who's-who map of title contenders. With higher expectations comes more pressure. I'm going to breakdown some of the sacrifices this new team will have to make in order to succeed. 1. Dwight Howard: He has a history of whining, holding team's hostage, and generally not being a franchise leader on or off the court. He says he came to H-town to win. Well, D12, time to put your money where your mouth is. Are you going to sacrifice your style of play for the sake of the team? Are you going to keep your whining and complaining to a minimum? Are you going to defer some of the leadership role to Parsons or Harden or Lin? Are you going to work on those free throws? 2. Chandler Parsons: He's a Rocket through and through. But he's also on a paltry contract and while he might have the best intentions, money talks. Are you willing to sacrifice a greater role in this offense to a reduced, jack-of-all-trades role? Are you going to sacrifice stats, all star potential, and a bigger paycheck come RFA or extension time for the sake of the team? 3. Jeremy Lin: He's the most vocal "buy-in" guy. Everytime he talks, he's talking about the guys' willingness to buy-in, aka sacrifice. Well JLin, are you willing to go from Linsanity and 2 SI covers to an even more reduced role and international image with the Rockets? You're in the same boat with Parsons. You are playing 3rd/4th banana, which means (like Bang), your stats will most likely be in flux. 4. James Harden: Harden had a breakout year, but here's the thing. He knew what he was leaving in OKC (winning all the time) for more money and to be "the man" in Houston. Well, it couldn't have worked out much better for him in terms of talent surrounding him and league props (ASG appearance). But with Howard, your stats will be in flux as well. Are you willing to defer crunch time situations to Howard? Are you willing to play less iso? Are you willing to let this be Dwight Howard's team? 5. Omer Asik: Asik, I love the guy's play. Plays the game hard, doesn't complain, and you know he's working on his O. The question is, with D12 in, are you willing to sacrifice minutes? Are you willing to sacrifice a bigger future paycheck? Are you willing to put your ego (albeit not a big one) aside to be the best backup 5 in the league? A lot of these questions overlap with different players. Also, important to note is, if the style of play is slowed down, and scoring efficiency either slows or stays flat, that means less possessions (but not necessarily shots) in general. How are the scoring and shots going to be distributed. What about minutes? Obviously, these can only be answered when the team actually starts playing the games. But everybody likes to bring up the "Heat model" or "Celtics model." Lebron, Wade, and Bosh, without needing to bring up examples made plenty of sacrifices in order to win their 2 titles. Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, the same way. One more point: Rockets fans need to stop hating on Lin because they act like their previous PG's were Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, John Stockton, and Magic Johnson. Lin's a good pg and he has the potential to be allstar level. Let him play and leave the guy alone. If he gets traded, he gets traded, if he doesn't, he doesn't, but one thing he will most certainly do, is give 100% on and off the court and not do things to embarrass the franchise. Don't take this aspect for granted.
Unfortunately, I feel like your last paragraph will derail any potential this thread has Just don't even mention it next time!
yeah, he was on a pretty good streak, until he unconsciously (or purposefuly) decided to make this a J.Lin love thread....good points though...
Point taken, I would edit that out but I guess it won't let me do it. Def not a Lin love thread though, but I guess it takes away from my main point because the word "Lin" on here attracts the lovers and haters like a good Trayvon Martin verdict debate.
THERE IS NO DEBATE! Trayvon MARTIN WAS.....nvm...you got me. No seriously I do think that this is going to be pretty make it or break it for a few of our key guys. Is #7 the answer? Is Asik going to work here? Will T.Jones improve enough for us to not need an upgrade at the 4?
Unfortunate, your last paragraph and this poor choice for an analogy. Interesting, your perspective on sacrifice, and I would add that chemistry will play as big, if not a bigger, role in this upcoming season's success.
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everyone needs to do the dirty work play tough d, get loose balls, draw charges (including Harden) we need the toughness of the old Rox with Olajuwan and Rudy.
Certainly true that Howard and Harden will need to be flexible to work together. The Asik point is stupid though. I don't know exactly what the organization has told him about his role, but you're basically saying that he should shut up and accept it no matter what. Even if, say, he's splitting minutes 35-13 with Howard and getting no PF minutes, he should suck it up and be happy with it. That's ridiculous. Asik has earned the right to play, at the very least, 28 minutes a game in this league. Asik was one of only six centers to average a double double last year. He was also the youngest center to do it. He was also the only player to do it for 82 games. It's my hope that McHale will invent a way to get both big guys minutes without ruining the offense, but I really doubt it. Asik deserves to be traded as soon as a fair offer can be had for him.
I agree that Asik is a starting NBA center in this league. He has earned the right to start and it would be awesome if McHale could figure out a way to get him his minutes. However, if I'm Asik, I'm demanding a trade and being very vocal (not necessarily publicly) about it now. But if the season starts and I'm still on this team, I'm shutting up, putting everything aside and handling this like a professional, even if it means a reduced role.
They're going to trade him. It's just a matter of finding the right situation and pulling the trigger. "Trob is going to kill it in Portland."-James Harden My interpretation, "Please trade us LMA. We gave you Trob so you would consider trading your best player to us."
Yeah, I have a feeling Morey isn't done dealing. He pulled the Harden deal the week before the season started last year, so it'll be up in the air for awhile. But I guess it'll depend on how bad Asik wants out. If he doesn't "buy-in" no point in keeping him. I'm really surprised DM didn't go after Millsap. He signed a team friendly/flexible 2 year deal with the Hawks. I'm guessing he's got something up his sleeve. Maybe a boozer or a gasol or or lma or love or maybe he'll give jones and dmo a 1 year shot to see if either can catch lightning in a bottle like he did with parsons.
