Just think about this Dream team, next time you want another star on the Rockets.

HillBoy,

All valid points! Well said. Some of the blame still goes to some of the players; "You can lead a horse to water...." You know the rest. Individual players have a *choice* to work on their skills in the off-season, or not. They don't have to because the league takes care of them; protects them. That's one of the problems (although, the implementation of the zone was a good move to *force* change). So, this is where "blame" does go to the players.

It's true that a lot of the issues were setup by the NBA marking machine. Yes. But they go hand in hand. The young kids coming in didn't *have to* learn how the to play the whole game because the "NBA marketing machine" put in place allowed them to flourish (Marketing promoted: "Scorers," 1st, shooting 2nd, fundamental skills 3rd, and team play last).

A young kid coming in would say, "Why do I have to learn all the other stuff? I'm treated as a king right now?"

What I wonder is that back in 1995ish, the owners, coaches and NBA management were faced with a problem: Inexperienced H.S. players coming into the league were not replenishing the group of veterans that were carrying the league at the time. So, what you had was great athletically gifted H.S. "stars" coming in that lacked experience, skills, and NCAA college team play -- something that their forefathers had gone through... Team scoring was down, shooting % was down, and team play was sloppy because of it. The NBA management had to do *something* and fast...

What was their great plan? Make it easier for these young players to score; remove hand checking, move in the 3pt line, take away hand(s) in the back post defense, etc... As far as the individual star: Highlight their strengths: speed, quickness, and dunking. Add a few flashy marketing ads and commercials and walla! You have a product! So, now what we have here is a "monster" that got out of control. I mean, hey! They were making money! Why rock the boat? The players were happy and the management were happy! Well, it has caught up to them. And people, that didn't realize it before, that the league skills have eroded; with the players being at fault and sometimes not at fault.

This problem was inevitable. Especially with more and more H.S. players coming in. It was only a matter of time before it caught up to the league.

P.S. This was on the of the main reasons that I couldn't stand Francis. He was the epitome of what's wrong with the NBA. The sad part? He just happened to be the most extreme example AND on OUR team!

By the way, you are right about FIXING THE SYSTEM. But I have to believe that there were a lot of NBA management executives that DIDN'T WANT to "fix' the system. They didn't think it was BROKE since they were raking in the money from merchandising, ads, media contracts, etc...

 

Before using "stupid" in a response you might try paying attention to the arguments.

I didn't say MoT was better than Odom or Boozer as players.

I did say (or imply) Mo has a better range and a more consistent jumper than either and his strengths are a lot like lot of the effective international 4s.

I did say he might have helped the team by adding another big guy with some range to keep opponents from packing it in on TD..

In contrast to the orginal poster, I think guys like MoT (and JH), 4s who make opponents pay by leaving them open on a number of spots on the floor, make decent role players around guys like Yao and Tmac who demand doubles.

 

The number of stars on a team doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how successful the team is or can be. You can assemble an all-star lineup, have them train together for more than a few weeks, and if they play unselfishly could play very well.

John Stockton (blech) could've averaged 22+ ppg but chose to get assists. Magic Johnson could've averaged 25+ ppg but chose to get assists. Jordan gave up averaging 35 ppg to defer to his teammates. Hakeem learned to trust his teammates.

If you have superstars that can give up the ego, then you can assemble a superteam. I hope TMac fits into this description. I know Yao fits this description (at times too much). If we can find one or two more somehow and place them on the team, then go for it. Another star player is neither necessary nor unwanted.

The more I watch basketball, the more I can appreciate JVG's style of a team being a machine and not one or two donkeys pulling a cart. Hopefully TMac and Yao can as well.

 

Well said.

 

No center? What is Duncan?

 

If they were mediocre, what was the '98 team that also won a bronze medal?

 

Freak, Duncan plays the 4 spot and is not a real center. They didn't have anyone to back him up once he got into foul trouble because USA Basketball in their infinite wisdom did not see fit to include centers on the Olympic team.

 

Anthony, James, Duncan, Iverson, etc. , the talent was there; the experience of playing together was not. But that is nothing new for the Modern NBA, where individualism, one-on-one, showtime, slamming basketball is the order of the day. Francis is the posterchild for this style of play. Marbury persistently dribbled into the lane with no where to go and no idea what to do. The lack of traditional point guard play was appalling. Houston fans are well acquainted with play-making futility. And can anyone hit at outside shot!? Guess not.

But times they are a changing, I am expecting a whole new world of Rocket Basketball. I am expecting JVG's FIRST Rockets team, one that he had a hand in putting together. I expect system, structure, discipline. I expect headiness, relentless defense, and composure. I expect winning to become expected. I expect the Francis era to become a distant memory. (please)

 

We at least need at decent backup to Duncan. They should have invited Brad Miller.

Imagine if Sam Cassell was on the Olympic team. He's average 30pts a game. Marbury had so many wide open looks in all the games.

The foreign coaches knew that Marbury sucks.