Nice dig. But anyhow, which team in the West, assuming we don't match the offer for Posey, is set to take the 8th spot ahead of us? Assuming the Lakers, T'Wolves, Kings, Mavs, Blazers, Suns, and Spurs all make the playoffs, who, right now, is set to beat us for the eighth spot? Golden State replaced it's second best player with Speedy Claxton. They don't play any defense. They can't play in the set offense. Jason Richardson and Antawn Jamison are overrated. I don't see them going anywhere but down. Utah's go to guys are the AK47 and Matt Harpring. A ton of cap room, but no free agents. It'll be fun to watch them crash and burn for the first time in a long time. Will Jerry Sloan have a heart attack next year? The Clippers were hopeless under Alvin Gentry, a workaholic on the same level of JVG, and now under Dunleavy they'll have far less talent. Last year they were a horrible team that should have been a pretty good team. Take away Olowokandi and Miller, possibly Odom and Magette, resign Brand, draft Kaman, and this year, at best, they'll be an O.K. team that should have been a bad team. Jerry West might be up to something in Memphis. But then again, he might just be senile. Anyhow, they show promise with a domesticated Jason Williams and Calista Flockhart lookalike Pau Gasol, as well as Mike Miller and James Posey (who play the same position) and they showed signs of being a pretty bad - almost good type of of 'tweener, but aren't ready to make that jump yet. Seattle, subtract Payton, the energy of Desmond Mason, and the lefty-slants of Kenny Anderson. Add Ray Allen (a soft, non-handling shooter who only has eyes for the hoop) and some filler. What's left? Rashard Lewis, a legit shooter/scorer. Brent is the best of the brothers Barry -- a two-way driver and shooter with a good right-to-left crossover. Predrag Drobnjak and Vladimir Radmonavic, a couple of jump-shooting robots. They've added Nick Collison and Luke Ridnour. And yet... Are they really a better team, more equiped to beat the Western Powerhouses than the Rockets? The answer is no. None of these teams are. Which is why the Rockets will, at the very least, be the eighth seed in the playoffs.
The rox need a small forward that can play. I hope the can make a trade of some sort to get a player with some athleticism. Pike is not the answer.
Someone brought this up in another thread somewhere, but the Sonics' record improved when Ray Allen joined their team. I think their record with him on the team was 20-12 or something. Besides, he's not just a shooter; he got his teammates involved and I believe he actually averaged more assists than at Milwaukee. Without the presence of a true PG (they usually had Barry and Ray on the floor), both BB and RayRay stepped up their passing as well as their scoring. I think they are contenders. They have a nice young group in Collison and Ridnour with veteran leadership in Ray, Barry, and Lewis. I wouldn't completely count them out.
You're right, I wouldn't either. But I wouldn't count the Rockets out either, by any means. I just think that the Rox are a better team than the Sonics. They went 18-12 with Ray Allen, and Daniels should help, but they only beat one quality team on the road, post-Allen, which was Pheonix. The other wins came @Chicago, @Clippers, @Nuggets. Keep in mind the second half of Seattle's schedule was considerably easier than the first half. I agree though, they will be better. But as good or better than us? I don't see it.
Yes, we should be better all around with our key acquisition JVG and Yao's sophomore season. On the other hand, Rayray and BB are one year older. BB is good, but he's 30+ years old.
Problem: Okay, so we are the 9th or 8th best team in the West. I think we can all agree on this. The problem continues to arise when you starting projecting next year and the year after. Yes, Yao will get better. This will add wins every year. The Big question is how much better will EG, Steve and Cat get, because we are not in a position to sign a Big FA next year either. So, our only means to adding a legitimate three who can shoot and play D is through trade. In order for this to happen, we have to have something that someone wants. Where is that going to come from next year or the following? I know I know...there are those who will say who cares about next year and the year after..."things change". Well, looking back 4 years....look where we are? Again, I am not saying this team is the bottom dwellers, but the question is where is the talent going to grow and where can we get a legit 3....this is the big question. I am fine with a combo of EG and Taylor if you cang et a legit 3.......
Let's take a look. Almost every team has cap issues and have big contracts that they need to rid themselves of. We are still rebuilding, we have a solid foundation to build on, don't break that up!! We will get to the playoffs, we will get experience, we will play D. Defense is our 1st priority. You play good D, you will have a chance to win. Look at Detroit. Talent wise, they are not up to par, not even in the lowly East. They got to the conference finals with their primary scoring threat being Chauncey Billups!!!!!! CHAUNCEY BILLUPS!!!! The other teams to look out for: Utah: No Stockton, no Malone, NO CHANCE Seattle: No big offseason movesThe have Ray Allen for a full year and a stud-in-the-making in Rashard Lewis, but still no inside presence, especially with Elden Campbell gone. Phoenix: Everyone says that Phoenix bumped us out of the playoffs, wrong...WE bumped ourselves out of the playoffs. Head to head, we were clearly better than them and they made no big offseason splashes, so IMO we are better than them. and btw, Stephon is more overrated than Stevie...easily. He is still fuming over the fact that everyone in the world knows that NJ got the better out of the Kidd-Marbury deal. Poor guy. Portland: Talk about cap issues. They made the playoffs again, but they were over 100mil in contracts. Even with Pippen's 19 mil off the books, they are still waaaaaaayy worse that the rox. And they were bounced again from the 1st round. D. Stoudamire is making $12.75mil, Dale Davis is making 8 mil. They are trying to ship Rasheed and his $14.9 mil. The Jail 'green' blazers are on the decline as well. Also, Qyntel Woods is good, but not nearly as good as 'Sheed. I like the Rockets chances this year. We upgraded to D with the addition of JVG. Remember, he even got Allan Houston to play D from time to time. If he could do that...hell, the sky is the limit. We upgraded shooting with Pike which is something to make the opposing team less likely to sag on Yao. Now, if the season could just begin tomorrow...........
Yesss..come to think about it..it's been 5 years too many.. if we don't make the playoffs this year, i'm jumping over to be a laker fan where they know how to get the job done! But I will keep rockets memories at the back of my mind.
