I'm actually looking forward to the season. It's going to be a great chance to see our young fellas grow and sure there'll be some rough times this season (very rough), but all in all, it'd be great to see what our team and conjure up. i love being an underdog.
Even with a slim to none title chance, I haven't been this curious and intrigued about a Rockets season in awhile. The losing to more talented veteran teams won't bother me as much as my expectations are lowered, I just want to watch some fun basketball which I think this team will do. Btw, not to sound like a broken record, but a 35 year old center isn't going to make us instant title contender. The one bad thing about this season is that it will bring the wannabe Isiah GMs out in droves with their grand masterplans in getting the Rockets to their fantasy basketball vision. Poor Battier, he'll be our new Rafer Alston as far as likely tradebait by fans.
v.3, no one ever said camby makes the rox a contender,but if u listen to the brass,they do want to make the playoffs. Camby is a better player and plays a position where the rockets are the weakest. Battier plays the position where they have the most depth. Now if u can't uderstand that and I won't pretend I know they will trade shane or not,but the rox have 0 at the center spot.
I've been a big fan of these guys and am excited to watch them this season. I think they will surprise a lot of people and impress. That said, its only watching this team without Yao that you truly get a sense for his greatness. Watching Yao all the time you start to take him for granted until the day when he's not out there. You miss the big guy. Same goes for TMac. On some possessions you miss the guy who can make something out of nothing, repeatedly. I remember watching Hakeem as a kid and being disappointed when he didn't win the game everytime in the closing seconds. I mean you just expected him to take over the game and win it for us every time. This season it will have to be a team thing, and I think it can be. Honestly, how rare is it to have guys like Battier, Hayes, Ariza, Scola, Landry, Lowry, Dorsey all on the same team? Thats a lot of hustle. Thats a lot of intensity. Thats a lot of all out effort. I don't think you can get a sense of how big all that can be. I'm hoping we really rip it up this season. Looking forward to it.
With McGrady back, the Rockets should be one of the better teams in the Western Conference and make the playoffs, although they're clearly not on a level with San Antonio (which looks like they could be scary good) or L.A. And by the time the playoffs roll around, maybe some of the young players will have developed enough that the team can make some noise in the playoffs. I'm as excited about this team as last year's, just in a different way.
IMO, the following teams are ahead of us: Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks, Nuggets, Trailblazers, Suns, Jazz, Hornets, and maybe even the Clippers.
Suns and Hornets? I don't think they're better than us. I'd agree with you on the Clippers if they had just about any other coach and just about any other GM. The Jazz should be up there, though, because Sloan always finds a way to somehow get them in the top 6 teams in the conference, even in their off years. And just like Sloan finds a way, so does our own Rick Adelman. With or without T-Mac, he'll have them in the top 8. If we find a gaping hole in the lineup that even Adelman can't fix (oh, say... center), I have to think Morey will do some tweaking to plug it up.
You are one of my favorite posters. I see your logic and could support it, especially if Camby has say 3 years left in him. Otherwise, no. Just renting him for a year to possibly lose a lottery pick is too much like our strategy of a couple of years ago.
