Let us look at the really good teams now days: Phoenix spurs Mavs detroit bulls The thing we see with them is that they are a team and not 1 or 2 superstars and a bunch of scrubs. 2 of the last three champs have been good teams and not just 2 super stars and some scrubs. The rockets might surprise us, but I think the league is changing. The heat got real lucky last year and the mavs just chocked.
Heat ain't full of scrubs. Mavs are overrated. What makes up that list? Strictly record? The Cavaliers have over a .600 record. So do the Rockets and Jazz. I would say there never was an era of two superstars just a Lakers era. Spurs only have 1 superstar and the Bulls had 1 superstar(Pippen don't count). The Rockets had Hakeem. That's most of the championships since the 90's right there. The Heat is full of Eastern Conference All-stars and a big payroll.
Actually you are right the heat had jason williams, zo, posey,toine. The only player on the rockets who is any good other tmac and yao is shane, but he disappears on the offensive end. Alston is terrible, he has been terrible all year, but we have to play him cause lucas is even worse. When hayes is playing they always just double team yao, and our bench well our bench has been outscored a million to 1.
Championship teams require 2 superstars and good complimentary players. Miami last year: Shaq +Wade = Yao +TMac Gary Payton, Antoine Walker, Alonzo Mourning, James Posey were better than our role players last year. Phoenix has the best chance of winning this year. Nash+Amare+Marion+ = TMac+Yao+Battier Leonardo Barbosa and Boris Diaw are a million times better than our scrubs. Years of poor drafting and bad personnel moves have left us with 2 superstars and a bunch of journeymen.
No, but the era of "two superstars and a bunch of NBDL trash surrounding them" IS over. Look around you, there is an abundance of talent in this league, even the bad teams have tons of talent on their rosters. We just haven't joined the party as of yet. Let's look at Phoenix: they have three all-stars and another future all-star in Barbosa, and a solid cast of role players in Raja, Thomas and Jones. Spurs: have three all-stars and solid -- if aging -- supporting cast. Mavericks: only two all-stars but they compensate for it with a very solid, deep and talented team at all positions. Detroit: Rasheed, Billups, Rip, Webber, McDyess, Prince...they have terrific talent at every single position, not to mention a quality bench. Four or five players on their current roster have been all-stars in the past. See a pattern? None of those teams are as "top-heavy" as we are in that they're nothing more than a two-horse team. They all have depth and quality players throughout their rosters. Quality depth >>>>>>>>>> Two superstars + trash
dang when can we get some talent..hopefully morey will do something in the off season. CD was good but we haven't won jack yet.
How can we expect to compete if we are stuck with about 11Million Nearly of payroll that is just a waste ( J HO +Sura) and we talk of ethereal things like chemistry. Chemistry is important but you need to have talent first. We cannot cover too many holes- and blame the Super Stars. The only choice is now to ask Battier to contribute more offensively for the remainder of the first round.
Whoa! Careful Riet! That's getting too close to the truth for some people on this board. After all, didn't we just have a Carroll Dawson Tribute for all that he's done for this franchise?
Very good post- with a lot of time, effort, and vision we too could have a balanced squad of very good players at every position like Detroit- but it would take years....
The subset of talent, especially offensive, non-head cases, that can work with JVG is small. He rquires great expenditure of energy on defense. Except for a few practically superstars, most offensive minded guys don't do this. Our chances of getting one of these superstars are slight. If we can get one or even better two of these guys, then the JVG system could get us deep into the playoffs. In general the rule changes are going against JVG's old school approach.
Teams don't need anything in particular to win. The media creates that mentality, y'all suckers buy into it.
You know it. The Rockets lack talent. Some people won't acknowledge the poor personnel decisions management has made, they want to see CD as the perfect GM. We need more than journeymen and scrubs surrounding Yao and T-Mac. We need good players especially at PF/PG.
If you mean a championship cannot be won with two superstars plus a decent supporting cast the answer is obviously not. The Heat won the championship last year that way. If you mean will teams move away from that concept then probably yes. The Lakers won their championships because Kobe and Shaq were probably the two best players in the NBA, plus their supporting cast was adequate. The Heat employed a similar concept last season, though one of their stars was clearly much better than the other. This year, Shaq is a year older, Wade obviously isn't himself right now and their role players are awful. What does all of this mean to the Rockets? Well, if our two stars played like superstars in the playoffs, we would be in decent shape. Without taking the time to pound Tracy for being a weakfish, both stars must dominate in order for this type of team to contend. This isn't happening and we find ourselves tied 2-2 with a team like the Jazz. The idea that Yao and Tracy could push the Rockets to a championship the way Shaq and Kobe did the Lakers is a flawed concept because Yao isn't as good as Shaq used to be and clearly Tracy ain't no Kobe. I know some of the anti-Shaq pro-Yao crowd will pile on to me but whatever. It's the truth. Don't let the present day Shaq subtract from the dominant monster he used to be. The old Shaq would be obliterating the Jazz right now, Okur would need a stretcher after each game (obviously I exaggerate some) and the Jazz would be committing a record number of fouls.
the championship lakers team had two superstars and good role players. the current rockets team has a fading superstar, a soft superstar, and no role players. theres no way in hell yao will ever be as good as shaq, and t-mac will never be a kobe. our superstars just arent playing like superstars and thus our role players aren't doing anything.
