Maybe this is just me... but I'm not about to get angry at a team regardless of under achieving. Being a sports fan is not supposed to be about getting pissed because they don't win every game.. no one wins every game.. ask the Patriots. The only exception to that rule is Uconn's Women's Basketball team. Watching the team is about enjoying the sport, enjoying the players and trying to see what they can do better each night. One team wins the NBA finals, and only 2 teams get to compete for it. If I get hours of fun out of watching it then it's a successful season for me. If the organization I support continually looks to get better, then who am I to complain? Perhaps if everyone had lived through being a Bengals and Reds fan for 20 fruitless years like me they would have a different perspective.
All I know is if Jerome Solomon is reading this thread now... please change your picture in the paper, you look goofy as ****. Especially with that ugly ass blazer. And wipe that dumbass smirk off your face. And stop riding Tracy's jock.
I know, but you must admit the yao/mcgrady era was and has always been about next year. The first utah series with homecourt and a young and inexperienced utah team, they lost. In 05 even though dallas i think had more talent, they had many chances to close the door, but yao and tracy choked on free throws. Its always next year with this squad and it keeps getting pushed back further and further. In 92 when they lost to seattle, we said next year. Well, next year was next year and it was no stopping the Roclets. Whats even crazier is there were some terrible calls against utah that kept 93 from being the year despite being in the late lotto that year. We have no choice other than to be patient, but i just wait till they prove something other than takeing the champs to 7 games in the 2nd rd.
Rarely venture into the GARM. But what I gather from a quick perusal of a couple pages of this thread, we're rehashing that Solomon sucks? In other news, water is wet.
If his issue is with the Rockets sticking with Yao and McGrady all these years, then he should just say so. There isn't another team in the league for which you can remove their top 2 players (talent-wise and salary-wise) and have them win 50 games -- what it would take for them to make the playoffs in the West. Hell, I doubt you could find one which could win 42 games in the West, outside of these Rockets. Again, if Solomon wants to focus on the fateful decision to stick with the Yao/McGrady core all these years, I'd have no problem with it. But what exactly is he criticizing here?
The team not really going all out to make the playoffs this year by getting someone like Camby that would help fill the doughnut in the middle and stop the layup line at the basket. Morey was clearly not playing to win last year, that is what he is saying...and he is right......but most of us fans are ok with that..... And honestly, I think that continues this season as well, because of Yao Ming......if he is healthy we are golden, but if not, the team will be borderline and not really a contender. I think the year after next is the true target for DM....but what Solomon is not recognizing is that is DM's job....to set the team up for the future.......sometimes you have to look further ahead than just the season in front of you.....that is what DM is doing, IMO. DD
The Hakeem era didn't start in 1992. They had a whole lot of "next year" since the drafting of Hakeem if we are going by the "if you're not first, you're last" criteria espoused by some here. In fact, aside from the the 85/86 run to the finals, between Hakeem's rookie season and the 93 championship, we have 2 second rounds exits, 5 first round exists, and a lotto year in which they are, funny enough, 42-40. Well, cocaine is helluva drug, eh? Were the Rockets fans accepting of mediocrity back then? Did they finally get angry enough somewhere in 1992 or 1993 for the team to improve? Did fan anger lead to the draft of guys like Cassell and Horry? ************************ So, what happened to the recent version of the Rockets? They signed both Yao and Tracy to long term max extensions in the middle of the last decade. So, for better or worse, their fate over the last 5-6 years was heavily tied to the state of Yao and Tracy. It wouldn't have made sense to trade them when they were healthy because they help you win, and it would make even less sense to trade them for pennies on the dollar when they are not healthy. Unless, of course, you are talking about the "expiring contract" trades, and the team did pull that off with Tracy. Yao's "expiring contract" might being something, too... but that'll be a question for next February. Long story short, at the beginning of their pairing, Yao/Tracy were relatively healthy, but did not have the talent around them. Unfortuntately, as the team's talent grew, Tracy and Yao's health faltered. Were the extension mistakes? Perhaps, though at the time of the signing, they were a couple of very talented player in their mid 20s whose health issues were no where as bad as they are now. Sometimes, the count is good and you can still lose. And in any case, this was under prior managment-- different GM, different coach, so not sure how we'd blame (or credit) Morey for it.
The Blazers traded 9 million in expiring contracts to acquire Camby. If that's what Solomon was referring to, then let's hear his proposal. Let's see the team we would be left with.
He isn't talking about sticking with Yao/Tracy because he loves Tracy and blames managemetn for mistreating him even now. He's probably in favor of dumping Yao... just the impression that I get... but it's kind of hard to say you'd dump Yao but keep Tracy.
Despite their youth, the Blazers are starting to look like a failed team themselves. Roy has had persistent health problems and it's a lot easier to imagine him getting worse than improving. Oden is done. After all the injuries he's had, even in a healthy season his upside is Andrew Bynum. Next year is probably their best shot, but if healthy we will own them and OKC will be superior too, not to mention LA and Utah.
My dog knows more about the Rockets than Solomon. Seriously, how did Queen Solomon get this gig? Some kind of Equal opportunity for the mentally r****ded. No wonder newsprint business is going under.
I think Soloman has a point, just a horrible way of presenting it. When do you stop congratulating a team for not succeeding? At somepoint you want to say that trying hard just isn't good enough anymore. We need actual results. He would better off if he mentioned what the Rockets have accomplished, aknowledging that they have showed a desire to win throughout the organization, but at some point, that won't be enough.
Im happy with this year because we have for once an actual great 'team' outside of a star, in the past its been the mcgrady and yao ship everyone outside of them just filled roles, now we have other players who can step up and get 20 or 30 points on a given night and theyre YOUNG, so even if yao comes back and we fail we can still get another star and be right back in it for years to come this year was about the development of a great team, it was succesfull Morey has slowly gotten us from point A. depending solely on yao and tmac to point B. a team full of great role players and at least 3 non-star players who can drop 20 or 30 on any given night, and lastly this team has HEART...if this is mediocrity to this man then he is truly more of an idiot than people give him credit for and lastly what are we gonna do....NOT SUPPORT OUR TEAM??? especially when theyre giving a hell of an effort, i cant fathom the reasoning for all this mans articles, he's just a shock writer with no original ideas whatsoever jerome soloman is a joke
Every team's era that hasn't just won the championship is about next year. That's what, 29 out of 30?
Meh... heck of ALOT of short term thinking in this thread.... Many chaps here make it sound like winning an NBA championship is one of the easier things to do on this planet.... I echo what Hayesfans stated above. I just want to see the team I support put an honest day (if not their best day, everyday) at the office.... everyone, from the owner, manager, coach, players, employees, etc. And if they don't win the championship, I would be damn proud of them anyway if they tried their darndest in the process. It is just like life.... sometimes, you work your butt off for something, but you are unable to get it. If so, what do you do? Pick your butt up and try again and again and again until you get it P.S. No demotivational posters needed here :grin: P.S.S. No, my nickname is not a reflection of the real me :grin:
Great point, but there's also something else. The NBA has guaranteed contracts, so if your max players start having injury problems, you're pretty much screwed until their contract runs out. Seriously, anyone who thinks Morey hasn't done everything possible to improve the team, without sacrificing the future, either isn't following the Rockets that closely or they're simply lazy thinkers, who don't understand the complexity of building a championship roster. Note, I didn't say building a playoff roster, I said building a championship roster. There's a difference. Morey understands that, but the queen apparently does not.
Or we can do what the Boston Celtics did and mortgage their future for a chance to win it all. Ainge did have some balls doing the KG and Allen trades. Morey was one of the guys who probably orchestrated the whole deal while Ainge got all the credit. I hope Morey doesn't do that with the Rockets, but oh would it be sweet if we hung a banner next season at the Toyota Center!
Morey was even quoted as saying that the Celtics were a prime example of someone basically buying a championship.
