The pure comedy part is where you don't seem to get that the combination of Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo is not even compared to Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Willis. I didnt say Yao was better than Hakeem Olajuwon. Didn't I say Hakeem was the best center of all time? Check the name of this thread. "IS THIS THE BEST ROCKETS' TEAM? Hakeem could very well have scored 30 points a game that year. That's not what this thread is about. The point I'm making is that the the way this team is set up, there aren't two of the NBA's 50 greatest players taking their shots away from the center position on this team. Hence the reason why I said the center position is even. Use some sense.
that's great and commendable and all but don't even try to play that card since you willingly entered into this debate.
Best Rockets after 97: YES Best Rockets after 96: Ask me a few years later Best Rockets after 94: Ask me ten years later
Whats your problem Francis 4 Prez? Don't think for a second you have some sort of intimidation power over anyone on this board. lol I told you I was overseas, I couldn't watch Rockets games, and I'll still stay in this debate. Show me one serviceman that was able to watch Rockets games while they were there and I'll show you one that a) had the best duty ever b) didn't ever work c) stayed up 24 hours a day because of the time delay d) had a VERY biased Rockets Armed Forces TV network executive solely distributing Rockets games. Most likely a combination of most or all of these had to occur for this to happen. I was in from 94 - 98. I can't make this more clear. For those of you who understand, I applaud your reading comprehension skills. For the rest of you I'll try and break this down once more. HAKEEM OLAJUWON IS BETTER THAN YAO MING. However, Hakeem had to SHARE THE BALL with TWO OTHER of the NBA'S 50 GREATEST PLAYERS WHO WANTED THEIR SHOTS AS WELL. CLYDE AVERAGED ALMOST 19 POINTS PER GAME. CHARLES AVERAGED 19 POINTS PER GAME. WHEN THERE ARE 3 TOP 50 PLAYERS OF ALL TIMES WITH EGOS PLAYING, AS WHAT HAPPENED WITH BARKLEY AND DREXLER AND BARKLEY AND PIPPEN, THEY CLASHED. ONCE AGAIN, THIS THREAD IS ABOUT THE BETTER TEAM, NOT BEST TEAM ON PAPER. Tracy and Yao are the fixtures of this franchise, and the rest are very very good role players ie. Jim Jackson, Juwan Howard, Bob Sura. These guys don't have to be the man on the team, and will defer to our two superstars. Because Hakeem respected the games of both Clyde and Charles, he deferred his game to the point where he was not as his absolute best, which was to dominate the whole game. That being said, Yao whom mainly only has to share the majority of the shots with ONE OTHER SUPERSTAR that requires shots, will be even with Hakeem in regards to stats, even though Hakeem is far better defensively. But what Hakeem didn't have was an extra 7-8 inches where others don't challenge Yao nearly as much as Hakeem was challenged. And to say that Dikembe doesn't make up the difference in comparison with Kevin Willis as Yao's backup, is absolutely preposterous. I never said Yao was evenly matched with Hakeem. I look at the whole picture. Yao and Dikembe is evenly matched with Hakeem and Kevin. This isn't Rocket science. lol
Kevin willis stats in 96-97: ppg:11.5 rbpg:7.5 97-98: ppg: 16.3 rbpg: 8.5 Deke's stats the last two years: ppg: 5.8 rbpg: 6.4 ppg: 5.5 rbpg: 6.5 Do you still think that the center position is a wash?
See that's the thing, the games aren't played on paper. No question about it this Rockets team is more talented, all of the all stars on the 96-97 team were past there prime. Their best years were behind them. This team is just coming into theirs. On paper the may be the most talented team in the league. But that's the thing, championships are won on the court. And you have to have the heart and the brains to pull it all together. And you have to have a coach who can motivate you to do that. Let's hope JVG can pull it off because if he can we could look at our next dynasty.
Sorry, there IS a question about which team was better. Maybe, maybe a case could be made on raw athletic ability, but that club was made up of playoff/finals tested veterans who knew how to win. These guys are still (relatively) wet behind the ears. As to the second part of your statement, it is just silly. Jeff Van Gundy is not a motivator. Never has been. The real question about his coaching this team is whether his ego will allow talented offensive players to take advantage of their skills in the open court.
The 96-97 Kevin Willis was a far more effective player than the Dikembe Mutombo we have now playing backup to Yao. And if everyone agrees that 96-97 Hakeem > Yao, then I don't see how the center position between the two teams could be considered even at all. The center position for the 96-97 team was definitely better.
even if TMAC + Yao is comparable to a 1997 Olajuwon + Drexler, which it is IMO, Howard < Barkley. Also, the western conference is relatively stronger these days than it was back then.
Bruce, duly noted in the stat disparity between Kevin and Dikembe. However, Kevin was playing in a system that best benefited his style. Dikembe last year, was playing in an up-tempo Isiah Thomas style running team, that is admittedly not suited for Dikembe. Lets not also forget that Dikembe, I believe, was second in the league in blocks per 48 minutes. The Denver Nuggets didn't draft Dikembe for his offense, yet they were pleasantly surprised when he did produce. That being said, Kevin did averaqe more points in 1996 and 1997 but don't think for a second any other team in the league would rather go against Dikembe Mutombo rather than Kevin Willis. Isiah was smart to get a bonafide center in Dikembe, but he was caught in a catch 22 because the rest of the team wasn't really suited for a slower tempo style of play, ala Houston Rockets this year. You made a very valid point and on paper it looks legitimate, but I strongly believe that a stronger, more improved Yao of this year and Dikembe Mutombo in a slower-paced offense would be able to offset Hakeem and Kevin Willis as they slowed down in 1996. Either way I love all four of them and am proud that they did so well for us. I can be wrong in my assessment, but for the sake of this year, I sure hope I am right. It'll be a special year.
I recently had the privilege to watch the "Hakeem the Dream" video as well as the 2 Clutch City videos. I personally don't see Yao ever approaching the level of Hakeem in the championship years. One thing that made me sad was the Rockets not having 4 or 5 championships with Hakeem. If better management\owner decisions were made, I think he would have rings like Magic and Michael have rings. Needless to say, this years' squad gets hammered by the '97 Rockets. If it were a seven game series, I would take the '97 Rockets in 5.
Rudy motivated his way to the lottery four years in a row. Ateast JVG got his team to buy into the defensive concept and actually try to go through Yao. But that doesn't matter right -- Rudy won a championship with one of the greatest centers of all-time, so automatically he's the right guy for the job now, almost 10 years later. Thank god you guys aren't Les.
I don't want to turn this into a Rudy versus JVG thread but I have to respond to this. Rudy had only 2 losing seasons during that four year lottery span. The other 2 seasons, he had 43 and 45 wins. The 45 game season was with Francis, Mobley, and Dream for about half the season and not much else unless you think Walt Williams was stud. 45 wins is the same as we had last year with much more talent. The 43 win season was the season before last when he got cancer, and we would have gotten at least 2 more wins with Rudy than Larry Smith. I also think that team had far less talent than last years team. So Rudy was better coach than JVG which is proven by the rings and by how competitive Rudy's teams were even when he did not have much talent to play with.
I'm pretty sure JVG would've won atleast two rings as well when you have one of the best centers ever playing for you. Percentage wise or not, not making the playoffs is a losing season. As to not derail the thread anymore, the 96-97 is ways ahead of this years squad, especially since we haven't played one game yet. Yao will never be where Hakeem was, that alone should make them stand apart so far.
I personally think this team was the best before the current team circa 2004-05: With that being said, I think the Rockets will get deep in the playoffs and THE BIG BROADCAST OF 2006 will follow.
