I have <strong>never</strong> been so excited about a Rockets team as I have been excited this year. I really had great expectations, and thought we would be a great team. WE had the perfect mix of veterans and young players. NOW, I don't know. Hakeem will be back soon, but I don't know whether he will help as much. Charles had already adapted his game to our new offense, and hakeem has yet to do this. Plus without Charles, our post up game is essentially gone. How will Bullard score? I was expecting Walt Williams to have a ball this season with our post up offense. And WW was coming out of his slump; i'm sure he would have had a great season. Our leader is gone. When the game was close, we would give it to Barkley cause he's a veteran that knows what decisions to make. Now we have a REALLY young team, and young teams aren't good due to their inexperience. WEll, now we have a chance to witness our team two years from now. This is pretty much how it's going to be, except we are missing 1 superstar. When Hakeem retires, we will have a lot of money to sign whoever. I hope the team can cope with Barkley's absence better than I have. I hope they don't play like they did against the sixers... Even though I am depressed, I am still SORT OF looking forward to the rest of the season. If they can come out and play some inspired basketball, then I will be really looking forward to the season. But it will be very hard without the chuckster there getting rebounds and leading us through the tough times. Last thought. This IS still a good team, but, without barkley there, I think we basically suck. I don't know why I think this. I know they're a good team; without Barkley, it feels like we are missing not just 1 person, but 5. GOOD LUCK CHARLES.
