Oh shiz, he's the new 2Pac??? I'm diggin this name. Back on topic, nice thread thats not talking about how we're a superstar away and what not. We'll see if we're a superstar away in October, hell we might have CP3 in October (I can dream right?).
We do. I want to say I believe that 100% we have the deepest team in the league. I think the guy sitting at the end of the bench will change from night to night depending on who we are playing against. Also I think our starting 5 isn't that far from the Lakers, but we are deeper than them. Brooks>Fisher (Prbly still has nightmares over guarding Brooks) Martin<Kobe Ariza=Artest(because both can be really good...or both can be knuckleheads) Scola<Pau(But Scola is not far behind.) Yao>Bynum
We'd have a shot if the playoffs started today. But, on top of that, we have a lot of potential improvement this year from AB, JT, CBud, Ariza, Hill, and PP. The improvement in these players, collectively, could easily equal a Chris Bosh.
Nicely done OP. I'm with you... i think we really are contenders and not only the national media, but the local media are highly underrating us. Just heard on the radio today..."this is not a contender". Hell, if we had a healthy Yao, in 08-09 (forget McGrady), we had a really good shot at beating the Lakers. Only game 1 of that series was decided by less than 10pts. This shows me that we're actually pretty evenly matched, regardless of their height advantage. I think replacing Artest with Ariza benefits us too in defending Kobe. Artest is strong, but Kobe was able to get by him frequently. Ariza's length and quickness is hard to get by. Then you put Battier on Kobe... he's pretty much locked down. Aside from the 1st game against the Lakers (where he dropped 41 on us) Kobe averaged less than 20ppg against us last yr and shot 39% <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GqF3RcMzLMc&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GqF3RcMzLMc&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Truly the best team we put together in a long long time. That 2008 team had something special but the injury bug bit once again. Hopefully this team can catch that fire and go all the way.
In terms of how I feel going into the season since the Pippen/Barkley/Hakeem era, 1. 2008 because of T-Mac/Artest/Yao 2. 2007 when we obtained Battier 3. This offseason 4. 2005 when we got T-Mac(lowered because we had no bench 5. 2006 All other years, I was looking forward to player development(Yao, Francis, Mobley, Griffin, last year's group, etc.) rather than actually contending.
should at least make an offer for Paul.c what happens. that will grab Melo's attention and who knows 1 thing lead to another and end up w/ "big 3" in Houston
I don't know about anyone else but i feel disrespected when people rank the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the Rockets. I know the Thunder is good but i just see us as the better team during a season and in a 7 game series. Matter of fact with how our team is this year i see us owning the Thunder!
I think all I really want from the Rockets this year is to face off against the Lakers in a 7 game series again with a healthy Yao. Doesn't matter if it is the 1st round, the CS, or the CF. Just want see a Yao-led Rockets sock it to them one more time. Getting to see that would make this season a success.
I won't guarantee how many wins we will have or how far we will go in the playoffs, but I will guarantee you we will be the team that nobody wants to play. No centers want to have to guard Yao, no PG's want to have to keep up with AB, every team knows we have players to run defense at their stars, every team knows we have the second unit to get us back in to any game and exploit any let down when their starters get tired. I don't think there will be many nights we get out worked. Hell our practices will be as contested as some of their games.
I think the addition of Brad Miller is going to have a bigger impact this season than many believe. And I think an improved Budinger is going to be a key to the team's success.
I've said several times, too many fans focus on how the Rockets match up with the "other" team, rather than also thinking they have to match up against the Rockets, as well. As far as getting out-worked... my concern is a breakdown in defensive intensity. That cost them some games they should have won last year. If they can renew their commitment to great team defense, it'll be more about other teams trying to figure out their matchups with the Rockets than the other way around.
