About a month ago, I suggested that the Rockets possibly had the luxury of making a pre-emptive move to prevent the Kings from getting Clark. Some responded that we are 3 to 4 years away from contending and as a result we should not concern ourselves with what the Kings do. While it is now a mute point since he is now a King, can someone tell me why we cannot be the NJ of this year. That is, win our division which would make us the #2 seed, at least. Ming's preview performance last night is just another one of many major factors being added to the team since last season. Those factors include a complete 180 degree turnaround with our defense. I would challenge anybody to produce a better defensive frontcourt than Ming, EG, Cato, Thomas, Morris and Taylor. Can someone tell me why we have to wait 3-4 years? The seasoning that 82 games are going to give us will make us sufficiently complete to contend.
i think we can finnish second or third in our division. that still leaves us between 5th-7th. this year is the year that we make some noise. next year we earn respect. 2005 we become contenders!
EG and Ming must prove themselves....if they play to potential our front court could be devastating to other teams...We could rewrite the book on Goal Tending Can you imagine guards trying to come inside IF Griffin and Ming progress? I am withya on why not this year, but I think everyone wants to temper this with seeing Griffin blossom and Stevie getting over his ailments...We still need more depth at the 2 and we need Rice to be there...... bottomline: there is plenty of hope on this team and really it is something to watch, but there are a lot of ??? despite Yao's performance last night: 1. Griffin - will he quit shooting the three so much and play the inside game more and become a 24 minute per game force? 2. What will Taylor do this year? 3. What will Ming do this year? 4. Will Cato up his 7/7 averages 5. Will Francis' headaches stay away and will he stay healthy? 6. Will Rice be reliable? 7. Will Boki be something to behold? Most teams have questions going into camp, but not as many as our team due to last year's step back.....if 4 of the 7 questions turn out positive, then i say we are in the playoffs. If 6/7 or all 7 become positives, this team will go deep into the playoffs this year. This team could be unstoppable if all 7 are positive results......Definitely contending with Sactown and LA
We were just about the worst defensive team in the league last season. That was partly due to injuries, but you don't go from terrible to great that quickly in this conference. The Nets took advantage of a power vacuum in the East. No such power vacuum exists here. We've got some good players and potential for a good future. But, plenty of other teams also have very good players. It'll be a fight. Be content with the intermediate goals from now. Make the playoffs first, then we'll see about contending.
