Wow dude, terrible thread. Houston is 2 games out of 4th place with half the season to go. Injuries and inexperience will mount up and take their toll on other teams. I'm not saying Houston will definitely make it, but I think you are an absolute idiot for essentially panicking and jumping ship, regardless of your rep points. You will say "I'm just suggesting the thought and it's not my opinion." That's lame and it's silly to start feeding the flames without a fire. This thread would make sense if the next 6 games (against current "playoff teams") end up miserably. But right now? Come on man.
No but that's not the criteria. There's only about 4 teams in the league right now that could win a chip as currently constituted. You seem to have a skewed understanding of what the NBA is about. It's not like if you do things right you have a 50% chance to win. It's a long shot even if you have 2 superstars and a $80 million payroll. A GM and owner can make all the right moves and lay out all the cash and still go decades without winning. It's like, if before you ask a chick out, you're like "okay, do you believe this chick as currently constructed can be Miss Universe. No? **** it." This team as constructed, if they get back Yao healthy for a couple years and lands a superstar wing is AT LEAST legit contenders for WCF and a longshot at a chip. That's better position than the vast majority of the league. Is it a favorite to win a championship? No. But if you're looking for that then it's time for you to jump on the Lakers bandwagon since they have the personel plus Stern in their pocket trying to make that happen.
Ariza has a great amount of talent, it's just being misused on our team. And I'm somewhat worried with Moreys obsession of statistics, as big of a factor as stats are they aren't everything.
41 games to go I will wait and see after those 41 and see where the team stands in the end. A lot can happen in those 41 games. Rockets have a good chance to make the playoffs and not be the 8th seed.
Jumpin' the gun a bit there, hoss. We're still a ways from the deadline and have a heck of a lot of basketball to play, even from those "old guys." And Yao? How could we ever get decent value from trading him before he's returned from his injury, even if Les and Morey wanted to trade him, and I don't think they do. Oh, and you left out Andersen, another ancient 29 year old.
My Carl Herrera humor/sarcasm meter is off tonight. I can't tell if he's being serious or just trying to be funny.
Been saying this from beginning. I <3 watching the Rockets win, but in all honesty this Rockets team won early games because no one knew what to expect from them. Now after being scouted this is an average team AT BEST. I'd be very happy to see a tank job and get a top 5 pick in this year's uber deep draft.
LOL. Huffort? If my memory's correct, we saw that same word on here a year or two ago. No, it's not a real word -- but it damn sure SHOULD be.
I believe Morey said today that he has had "good" trade offers, but final offers wouldn't be in until the trading deadline. If so, Feb. 19 couldn't come sooner. However, if no good trades materialize, then I would not be against a tank job to get better position in the draft. If history means anything, the Rockets have been quite lucky in the draft, sans one due to JVG: Brandon Roy. Boy, that stud would be the perfect alpha male for our team.
It's not really fair to say that if the playoffs started today, we'd be out because we've played fewer games than the two teams in front of us. If the playoffs were starting now, either we would have one game left (with a win giving us the 7th seed), or the OKC and Utah games last night wouldn't have counted (again giving us the 7th seed).
Before the season began I said the Rockets would not make the playoffs and I stand by that statement. We started off hot, but the league is adjusting to us. It will only get more difficult from here on out.
Wow, no. I thought you were an intelligent poster, usually? The Rockets have simply slumped the last few games. We have an easier schedule the rest of the way than most teams, and are just a half game out. There's still a potential to do something with McGrady's contract without losing Battier/Scola, and getting rid of Yao is just silly at this point.
I don't know where to whine about this, but the 5th place team in the East would be 12th in the West. WTF.
I loved watching these guys play. They play a team game and it's fun to watch. This is a throw away season and we all know it. Like another fan said, at most there are 4 teams with a chance this year and the Rockets is not one of them. So, if they tried hard and fail to make the playoffs, it's OK. If they get lucky like they did with Yao (remember, the Rockets "lucked" into the #1 pick, they where supposed to get the 11th pick or something). I can see a John Wall, (Tmac replacement), Arzia, Laundry, Yao starting 5 and or if somehow we get Bosh, then, LOOK OUT. One can always dream but I would not want to see the team fail on purpose. But if they didn't make the playoffs, not the end of the world either.
Half and half... of course 41 games is too early to do "if playoffs started today." But this team, along with a bunch others, is kind of at a fork in the roads. One of the problems with the lack of balance between the East and the West is that there are an unsuually high number of playoff hopefuls in each conference. So... guess what else I am worried about: Can the Rockets match up with the Cavs in the NBA Finals?
honestly, if a 7 game series, can we beat team in the west thats playoff competitive? Lets get the teams we definitely cannot beat out of the way. -Lakers -Dallas -Denver -San Antonio -Utah(i know, we couldn't beat them with yao & tmac let alone w/ what we have now) -Portland Now the teams who we have a chance against New Orleans Oklahoma City Memphis Phoenix So the chances of even playing the four teams we have a chance against, we more than likely if not absolutely would have to rank in top 4 of the western standings..which, probably will not happen... whats the point of going to playoff series and loosing... usually the benefit of playoffs is to gain experience, which I feel our prominent players who we will keep already have. These include: brooks, lowry, ariza, landry, scola. to give any experience to any plays on our list besides these players is not worth the potential top 14 draft pick... in conclusion, i would rather play to build chemistry, but at the end of the day not make playoffs to possibly go into draft pick top 14. Then atleast we can trade up some slots...which gives us the probablity of ending in top 5 atleast with DM.
