[OrlandoSentinel] Rockets won't win Title with Yao, TMac alone

What else is there to write about these days that would capture the attention of the Orlando audience? No one in Orlando cares that Lenny Wilkens resigned, for instance. Again, it's another case of everyone here reading too much into something that isn't there.

The lack of including the rest of the article also shows some selective editing; not even half of the total article is on this subject. As to "Houston as title contenders," I'll borrow a phrase from Clutch...it's amazing that no one wants to go back to consider that many, including many fans here and McGrady himself (who said he came here to win a title), plus many in the media and elsewhere proclaimed the Rockets as immediate contenders. With the Rockets slow start, what does everyone expect? It is what the buzz was about before the season and it hasn't come to fruition.

Even if you didn't think the Rockets would be immediate contenders, put it all into perspective and the media -- Orlando AND elsewhere -- reports become much more understandable.

It's not as if other media outlets in other markets haven't said the same thing; it just becomes convieniently ignored until the Orlando media says something else.

And where in there did he say something that isn't true? How does that make him a hack?

One last point -- if your star player ADMITTED to giving up on the season and not playing hard every game, in a city that just wants to see the effort night in and night out, what do you think you would feel? It's just like the Rockets felt with Scottie Pippen, but that's quickly forgotten for something convienient.

 

!!! I cant believe I forgot about him, shows you how strong the power of suggestion is "scottie never played here... Scottie never played here" lol

That is the PERFECT example for those fans not understanding why Orlando hates Mac

 

Absolute waste of time and space. Why even bother to write this nonsense. Seems like those Florida folks are suffrering from a serious case of A.D.D.

 

I am preparing a theory that states you can.


Well.....never mind it can only happen in the state of weightlessness ala outer space.

 

Teams typically improve with the #1 overall draft pick and adding another first rounder. But, it is in the details where the argument breaks down.

Dwight Howard -- an eighteen year-old high schooler, who has played better than most high schoolers before him in this league.
Jameer Nelson -- questions abound about his size and ability to create his own shot and get to the hole, most of which he has been able to overcome this year.
Hedo Turkoglu -- before this year, pegged as inconsistant. In the offseason, dubbed one of the worst FA signings on the market. Now? One of the best and a legit 6th man of the year candidate...and one who is scoring about 20ppg in the starting 5 despite battling the flu.
Grant Hill -- no one knew for certain whether or not he'd be able to come back like he has. He's still trying to shake off all the rust and has fought through a couple of minor injuries this year.
Mobley/Cato -- both missed significant time this year, about 1/3 of the team's games each.
Pat Garrity -- until last night, has been horribly ineffective (receiving a good number of DNP-CDs) this year, plus missed some time earlier this season. That's not really an addition.
Tony Battie -- a controversial addition for Drew Gooden, who has done well starting in Cleveland, and Anderson Varejao, who is getting some run off of the bench there as well. History of injuries had plauged him his whole career save for one good year in Boston.

Where would the Magic be had they not made the trade, assuming for a second that...
* Tracy McGrady would magically not forced his way out over the summer.
* All draft picks were as made.
* All signings (Augmon, Turkoglu, Stevenson) are as before.
* All trades (Bogans, Gooden) are NOT made.

PG -- Lue, Nelson
SG -- McGrady, Bogans, Stevenson
SF -- Hill, Turkoglu, Garrity
PF -- Howard, Howard, Gooden, Varejao
C -- DeClercq (injured until recently), Kasun

What do you end up with? A team very much like the current Rockets, with a logjam at PF that can't be changed effectively by playing one of them at center -- that was proven not to work last year with JHoward and Gooden -- a rookie as it's best point guard, and the same questions coming into the season as the Magic had this year. That ignores the question of chemistry -- McGrady was already unhappy in Orlando and does nothing to address the "losing culture" of last year's squad (this is you, Drew Gooden). It also does nothing to address the talent concerns of last year, where we found out that Tyronn Lue cannot handle the PG spot effectively, that Drew Gooden is a black hole on offense and a sieve defensively, that Juwan Howard is not an option for the future, and that Andrew DeClercq cannot handle the center spot.

I think it's pretty obvious which talent group the Magic would rather have, and it's the one they have now...not the one before. The Magic have every bit as good of a shot at winning a title in the future as the Rockets do; they already have the substantial pieces in place with one of the youngest and deepest teams in the league. The Rockets have a lot more building to do around their two superstars, particularly in getting younger (and in getting Yao to play like a star). It's sour grapes to think the one -- or the other -- has no shot at winning a title anywhere in the near future.

 

Yeah OK. When TMac left, he got Orlando their starting lineup. When Quitten left, Houston got screwed. Only a moron would consider the two the same.

And no, NOT all Houston media considered the Rockets instant contenders. To borrow words from the Chron, they said EVENTUALLY. I find it funny that you should be one to whine about selective reporting.

 

I'm sorry, TMac obviously = TMac. If you assume D Howard + Turkeyglue + Gooden + Garrity = Yao, where the hell are the Rockets gonna find Grant Hill? And surely you aren't suggesting that the Orlando team is as old as the current Rockets.

 

There is no way they keep Juwan and Gooden (who was already complaining) if they planned on drafting either Emeka or Dwight. They would have ended up eventually with Tony Battie or even better regardless.

So go ahead and edit that logically obvious "error" there.

 

Then why all the sour grapes from the Orlando management and the Orlando media?

Orlando is young? Grant Hill is 33, and Steve Francis will be 28 next month. Not so young any more. And Hill is only one ankle twist from retirement. Dwight Howard may or may not pan out; probability is not in his favor. Likewise, the probability is that Hedo Turkoglu will always be a role player -- good, but not a superstar.

The Rocket already have superstars who are young, established, and healthy. So not only does Orlando have far less time than the Rox for building a championship team, their lineup is also way more fragile than ours. I bet Weisbrod is on his knees every night, praying that Grant Hill will be healthy for one more day.

 

You know, I had this happen to me before. Two girls that knew each other (Ann and Amy, fictional names of course) were trying to get with me, and I talked to both of them a lot.....

......but everytime I talked to Ann, all she did was put down Amy about how ugly she was, how slutty she was, and how skanky she was, to make herself look better than what she really was.

.......everytime I talked to Amy we talked about a lot of different things, like things we both like, have in common, career goals, perosnal goals, but never about Ann.

Things that make you go Hmmmmmm.....

 

Despite his having hit the proverbial rookie wall recently, this assessment is inaccurate; he looks like a beast inside.

 

They are correct to think that Yao and TMac with 3 scrubs won't win the title like LA did for three years. Neithter TMac nor Yao have the fire that Shaq and Kobe did. So what, Now we have 2 highly skilled players that can be the focal point of the offense and will command double teams. At this point all we need is to get one more piece to become a title contenting team. But I don't remeber that many people thinking we will win it all this year when the trade went down. Most were saying it will happen but not with C Ward and J Howard as our PG and PF.

In any case JVG teams seem to play poorly during the regular season. He gets them going the playoffs and that when we may be able to see our Rockets in a deep playoff run.

As for Orlando, I still think SF is the main reason they are winning games. Most people forget the 19 game losing streak the Rox had when SF was out. He just contributes so much with his scrappyness that the contribution isn't noticed when we watch it on TV.

Steve is a winner but not a champion we all know that. Orlando Sentinel is saying TMac and Yao aren't champions also. The sentinel is correct unless the dynamic duo can prove them wrong by winning a championship of quality.

 

Plenty of beastly rookies never become superstars. The unlikelihood of superstardom for Howard was clearly the meaning of my remarks.

Why? If Grant Hill goes down permanently (very likely to happen soon, IMHO) the Magic will be left with Francis and DHoward. That is not at all promising for an Orlando championship.

What must be killing Weisbrod these days is that the team he has assembled is good enough to miss the lottery for many years, especially in the feeble Eastern Conference, but is far from being good enough to win it all. They need major help, especially if Hill's injuries force him to retire, but the chances of getting it are poor. This may explain why Steve is so clearly unhappy in private, despite his commendably brave words in public.

The Rox, on the other hand, only need some relatively minor improvements. I am sad for Steve, but I am also looking forward to watching the Rockets in the coming years.

 

Dizzying spin here.

 

No spin. Just go back and read my original remarks. You may have forgotten the context because you took it out, but it was clear.

 

No, it's dizzying; the Rockets have no regulars under 30 save the big two and are the oldest team in the league, yet you're busting on Orlando in relative terms because they're old?

Say whatever you like about Francis and Howard, but I'd much rather have Jameer Nelson on my team than Sura or Wesley, I'd take Hedo over Ryan Bowen, I'd take Tony Battie over Taylor or Howard etc.

We need minor improvements, while they need a total overhaul? Ok...

 

No kidding....that and they've got more Rockets news than the Chronicle.

 

The difference is that we have the two most important pieces in place, and might be able to win a championship if we manage to build the right pieces around. Orlando does not seem to be in that situation. I agree that they have better role players with more of a future in the league, but we have the better core.

 

The Pippen comparision is not accurate. Pippen signed with us for a huge deal, struggled in the system, blew the final game in the playoffs, then blamed Charles. He bailed out after one year, calling Charles fat in the process, and we got screwed in the trade.

Tmac signed for a huge deal, led his team to the playoffs, without help, for what was it, 3 years in a row? As the team got worse and worse because of front office incompetence, he was blamed for it, and eventually was traded (which is what both parties wanted to do) for some good value.

Pippen used us to get money, then bailed out after playing 54 games with the team. Tmac led his team to the playoffs for years, by himself, and after steady declining talent, he got the hell out.

That is quite a difference if you ask me.

Oh, and who on the rockets, "declared themselves ready to be contenders immediately."? Tmac? Yao? CD? The only person who might have said that is Les, who we know has a knack for overestimation. We all saw the press conferences, and no one ever said anything along those lines. There was talk about contending, and winning titles, but no one ever said immediately.