Omg...people. Can you give these guys a break??? I mean...half the teams have NEVER won a championship. Remember we were the team that werent supposed to go to the playoffs when yao went down. We were the team that went 22 in a row...second most EVER, with players that no one outside of greater houston has ever heard of...with the exception of Dik and Tmac. We grabbed the 5th seed, with a chance to get the 1 seed, with 3 games left. we improved our record by 3 games over last years record with our best player out for half the season. Oh yea....and its only 2 games into the playoffs. About 80% of you guys are going to go on your "man this team is crap, tmac is lazy, we suck" rants....if we lose. Have some heart....have some confidence in your team. If you are on a rockets message board, im pretty sure the rockets have had a significant impact on your life. If the rockets were a single person that was close to you, would you be ready to disown them when they mess up a little??? No ones perfect....you guys are freakin spoiled. just be glad we MADE the playoffs, and that we arent Seattle with the worst record, and the team getting ready to head out to Oklahoma. jeez.
I remember people were jumping all over me when I suggested that Rox tank the rest of the season after the record setting win streak. I knew that this team lacks anything remotely to a winning playoff team without Yao. The management should be to blame for not having the foresight to just tank the rest of the season and position the team to get the highest draft position possible after Yao went down. People on this board are so delusional that they thought that they had any shot in advancing. Remember people, if McGrady is the best player on the team, then it's guaranteed that the team isn't seeing the 2nd round. If Morey doesn't at least entertain trade offers for McGrady, then he should demote himself to a Toyota Center usher cuz McGrady just has to go. But I don't think we can get anything for McGrady at this point of his career. Since McGrady is a 2nd tier player nowadays, then we'll be stuck with 2nd tier quality trades. I actually wouldn't mind McGrady for Rudy Gay and Mike Miller.
As I look back on the season that appears ready to end I reflect on several things both good and bad... The Good Overall the season was a success. We won a lot of games and finished in the middle of perhaps the best conference of all time from top to ...well near bottom. We made history with a 22 game winning streak, and we saw a team that showed flashes of being brilliant and able to run Adelmann's O while maintaining the stingy D. Our future looks promising with some very talented young guys that we need ot hold on to. The Bad Yet again our 14mil man misses almost half the season with an injury, and the important half at that (eventually you will all realize I was right about Yao). All of our bench players are one trick ponies or good but undersized. Tmac is a stud but clearly he cannot carry the team by himself...then again neither can Kobe or Lebron or anyone not named Michael Jordan. The Future If I were in control of the Rox this offseason...TRADE YAO first and foremost. The guy gets hurt every year for the last 3 and for huge amounts of time, and is an underachiever on defense. Fortunately all his injuries have been somewhat freaky situations and he is still young and has the potential to be a 20-10 guy every night and the best center in the league which means we should be able to get a lot in return for him. We can't trade Tmac mostly because there is no way we get anything near fair value for him. We probably trade our picks for either future picks for combine them for proven players because right now we are set in the youth catagory. Keep either head or novak, no need for both since they are both pretty much spot shooters. I love Landry, Scola and Hayes. I also love Rafer and Bobby Jackson is a fine reserve PG but as we are seeing his shootfirst mentality does not go well with TMac. So basically I am looking to trade Yao and picks for a decent big man who has more range and quickness than Yao and a offensive minded SF or SG, and possibly picks in 2 to 3 years. Unfortunately we have too much invested in Yao at this point and I just dont see this happening so until then I guess I will just hope that Yao somehow manages to stay healthy and we pick up Mike Miller in the offseason.
This team cannot be compared to Dream, Horry, Cassell, Mad Max, Elie, Kenny, Clyde etc... Don't have the toughness nor hussle to make it happen
Yao will never be traded to another team as long as he can tie his own shoe. Yao = hand over fist amounts of cash from the most populous country in the world. T-mac on the other hand makes too much money to be traded. All we could ask for in return is maybe a decent player with a huge contract (which is tracy already) and some expiring contracts. I say, get a back up shooting guard, something we havent had since forever and a pf/c that has size, a few low post moves and can actually dunk (im looking at you luis and chuck). Plus never evvvvverrrr let head pass and or dribble the ball again. He just needs to catch and shoot.
Most people wrote this team off when Yao went out. They had a great run but you should stick a fork in them because they are done. i wish it wasn't true but even with Yao, Boozer and Okur are match up problems for the Rocks. We didn't win many with Yao against the Jazz as is let alone without a good PG and other shooters.
