Now that much dust and tons of alcohol has settled and our offseason seeming to have taken off with Doc inspiring us to conjure some bold changes this offseason, I wanted to look ahead.........not just where Rockets need to get better, but realistically how will Western Conference shape up next season - I would say even with the top two picks going to EAST, WEST will remain THE conference. Much has been shared about what Rockets needs. A better PF, a true PG, moving SF to 2, shipping Eddie and Mobley out and a better coaching system - either Rudy finds better ways to leverage all his players, not just one or two players - or Les finds a coach who would. If this hypothesis were to come true - best case - we get Brand, Payton instead of Mobley, Eddie and Rice. Worst case - we would get Oakley or Malone and Atkins or Tinsley. Anyway, I am sure our insiders will keep us posted with their authentic information. Some of us will also bless our board with 'intelligent guesses' or creatively use our outlandishly fertile imagination or fantasy. I think Les will anyway make sure that the move to new arena is truly worth his money. Assuming all the basketball gods and wall street make none of the above possible - I predict we will still be okay, barring injuries to SF or YM. THe key assumption is every current Rocket barring Colliers, Hawkins and Maddox come back. Yes, you read it here first, WE WILL BE OKAY next season WITHOUT ANY CHANGES!!!! And by okay, I mean we will make the playoffs. Will we get past the first round in the postseason is altogether a different matter. REASON NUMBER 1 - Yao will have a full year to contribute unlike current year when he started late - he was a non-factor till the Dallas game in November and faded towards the end (once in Feb and then in the end) with couple of rookie walls or whatever you want to call because of his lack of conditioning. REASON NUMBER 2 - Our guards, particularly Steve is trying to adjust to playing with Yao. You saw after ASG his shot attempts have dropped by nearly a quarter while his assist to turnover ration is on the mend. Steve will become less flashy-stupid turnover prone. REASON NUMBER 3 - Posey is starting to find a niche in this team. I love his defensive presence and hustle and he is causing some headache with his offense. I hope this was not a CONTRACT DRIVE - I beleive it was not. I would really love have him back - without paying an arm or a leg. REASON NUMBER 4 - Blazers and UTah will collapse, possibly both falling out of the postseason. (Hide your chuckles for a moment, and please continue reading). Blazers are a .500 team current without Quitten. He will not be back with Blazers. Besides I read somewhere that Allen has had enough of his team's offcourt behavior and he has promised changes. With these changes I do not see Blazers doing that well. Utah - without a high draft pick, and with Malone/Stockton team breaking up they will not be the same force. That would leave us to fight for the last three spots in WC with four teams - Suns, Blazers, Jazz, Sonics. Warriors will not be able to keep Arenas - unless they find some money by moving Foyle or Forston. Without their big men or Arenas, Warriors will remain lottery bound for another year. REASON NUMBER 5 - One year of experience hopefully will get out team to show up with the teams we must beat - the Clipps, the Bulls, Nugz, Cavs etc. more consistently. I am sure now our folks realize the improtance of taking care of business. At least thats the hope. So there's much more hope for next year...............and let me get back to that Merlot till then......Happy quibbling with folks with builds or differing points of view.
If there are no significant changes I won't be following this group (I can't call them a team) along with several thousand other totally disgusted Rockets fans, but, that aside, I sincerely wish what you say is true BUT, in my heart of hearts, I know it is not. If everything stays the same, we will continue to see no structure, no motion, no system, no brains, no playoffs. Many of us bought the cheery, we are on the verge, you just wait, we will be a run and gun, dynamic passing and scoring machine "you know what" of the last two years. No more. What did we get? A goofy, disorganized, slow developing, can't hit the backboard, sorry shooting, no movement, little passing, completly lost on offense, no defense, patheitic excuse for a professional basketball team. I have already decided. I will not suffer through another year of utter stupidity. No change (and they better be BIG); NO WATCH, NO BUY, NO ATTEND! You say, this team won 43 games. Yes, but they were usually boring even when they won. This is about entertainment. This is about business. This is not college. Professional Basketball, catch the excitement, if you can find it!
the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over again and expecting a different result.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no hope next season with the current team. We're still nowhere close to the Lakers, Mavs, Kings, and Spurs. The T-Wolves and Blazers will still make the playoffs as will the Suns. Plus, the Sonics and Warriors have both improved and will probably leapfrog us. That's 9 teams right there, which leaves the Rockets SOL for the 5th straight year. Heck, I wouldn't be suprised if Memphis made a playoff run next season. All they need to do is learn how to play some defense, and they're a 45 win team... Major changes are needed, and will happen...
No major changes equals a 5th straight lottery season, guaranteed. The Blazers will lose Pippen, I agree. But they still have more than enough talent to qualify for the playoffs. Utah will be a bubble team, but they have the coaching and the veteran leadership(even without Stockton) to sneak in as the 8th seed. Plus, even if Stockton retires, they could end up replacing him with Andre Miller, so don't write them off yet. The rest of the Western teams currently in the playoffs will all be back next season, barring catastrophic injuries. Which brings us to the Rockets. Next year, they'll not only have to compete with the aforementioned 8 teams, but also the likes of Seattle and Golden State, both of whom showed a lot of improvement toward the end of the season. That's 11 teams fighting for 8 playoffs spots. Plus Memphis and even Denver will be improved, so don't expect Houston to go a combined 7-1 against them like they did this year. Sorry, but if I had to bet money on which of those 11 teams would not quality for the postseason, a Rockets squad identical to this year's bunch would be at the top of my list. Which may be for the best. I figured their late season collapse in Portland and Utah which cost them a playoff berth for the 4th straight year would be enough to necessitate major change, but if it takes them hitting rock bottom in their new arena in front of 10,000 fans and a bunch of empty luxury suites to finally light a fire under Les Alexander's ass, so be it.
Why is it impossible to think this same team won't be much improved next season. People keep assuming other teams are improving and leapfrogging us with out knowing what changes, if any they will be making. We played fairly well against some of the top teams in the league with a rookie center and a 20 year old power forward. If it were not for losses to some of the sorriest teams in the leauge, we would have made the playoffs. Consistency is what this team needs most. All that being said, I still hope there are at least a few tweaks made to the the team.
What's the marketing slogan for next season? "Be part of a big failure? Just give us more time? Fooled me once...won't get fooled again? Up with a bang, down with a whimper? Scuds away? Guess our direction? Toking off...Getting higher?" Heads must roll! I want Rocket heads on a silver charger! Death to failure! Death to mediocrity!
Sounds like something out of a Chinese Wuxia Novel "Use no change to combat change" If anybody here read The Swordman written by Jing Yong, you should know what I'm talking about. Back on topic, no change wouldn't be bad as I can see this team improving the question is how much do u see the current playoff teams dropping? Suns can only get better, so that leaves the Jazz and the Blazers. Jazz has cap room this summer and they can try to get Brand/ Miller. The question is will they get them? There's no question Jazz is a class organization, but the city....well that another thing. After living in LA Brand and Miller might not be comfortable with going to Utah, they wont be the first to turn down Utah because they dislike the lifestyle so lets not be too hasty and rule that out. But if they can get those 2, it might be hard to see Jazz getting knocked out of playoffs. That brings us to the Blazers, they are still to good even with out Pippen, so I don't see them dropping too much. There's always a chance of them self destructing though....... I still think we're a bette team than the Suns, I think if we stayed together we can improve. the question is how much and a big part of that would be placed on Yao's improvement. That being said, this organization never shys away from making a splash in the offseason and pulls of some great deals. The signing of SA and MoT (at the time both signed for the minium exception) are big deals at that time. Trade for Barkely, Drexler, Pippen are all big deals. This isn't a team that's afraid of taking risks and make moves, if a good deal comes along that can help the team, by all means do it. Back to being silly again..... If you think about it, Rockets just might be taking a page out of The Swordman as the basis of their organization. "Use no change to combat change" (explained above) "Use no form to combat form" (using iso against set plays) "Attack as a means to defend" (we actually put up good offensive #'s but our defense well.....) Hey, it worked for the hero of the book Lin, it just might work for us...............
Rockets record against the Western playoff teams: Spurs 1-3 Kings 2-2 Mavs 0-4 T'Wolves 2-2 Lakers 2-2 Blazers 1-3 Jazz 1-3 Suns 3-1 Total: 12-20 Rockets record against the Leastern playoff teams: Pistons 0-2 Nets 1-1 Pacers 1-1 Sixers 2-0 Hornets 1-1 Celtics 1-1 Bucks 1-1 Magic 2-0 Total: 9-7 Grand Total: 21-27 I don't know which Rockets team you were watching this season. Sure, they beat most of the playoff teams in the league at least once, but that doesn't mean they played consistently well against them, particularly on the road. And the truth is, a lot of those wins came earlier in the season before the Rockets went into the tank during the second half. Also, subtract that grand total from their final record of 43-39 and you're left with a squad that went 22-12 against the non-playoff teams in the league. Basically, it means they fattened up their record by beating scrubs, and frankly they weren't even consistent about that. I couldn't agree more, and as I just showed, the numbers don't lie. This team was inconsistent all year long. That won't magically fix itself next season. It would be inexcusable for Les Alexander to allow the same group to return next season. The Rockets need major changes.
Indeed the Jazz will miss the post-season next year for the first time in like.. over a deacde.. The Blazers will struggle, but I see them still making it. The T'Wolves are moving to the East as well.. so that opens the door for us a little more. The bad news? New Orleans is coming to the West, and they've got the talent to be an instant playoff bound team (IMO).. not to mention the Warriors, Sonics, and GRIZZLIES are allllllllll going to be fighting hard for a playoff spot. We need to get our act together, because things in the west aren't getting any easier.
I still don't see why teams like the Warriors, Sonics and Grizzlies are all such improved teams while the Rockets are going to fall out of contention. Maybe y'all are from the camp that think Yao has peaked and this is as good as he will get. I think, just by Yao alone improving/strengthening over the offseason keeps us ahead of all these teams.
I dont think the Blazers are going to fall off the post-season next year because if they are going to make changes, im sure they will have something in equal value in return and still make it to the playoffs.
i agree. there must be a faulty scale around somewhere. i dont understand how everyone else is going to skyrocket and leave us in the dust. last i heard, we were 1 game out of the playoffs, 2nd youngest team...which only means you can get better.....and We have news from mulitple sources that there will be moves made this summer. Assuming the moves do more good, than harm....there is no reason to think this team cant contend next year. I thought this year was very successful. I didn't think we would have had any chance at in getting into post season play. And i thought yao would be way far behind in terms of development. All my previous assumptions were proved wrong. My assumptions for next year are they will be a 7-8th seed. 5+ wins than this season. im sure my assumptions will again be proved wrong.... hopefully for the better!
Yeah man I guess you tuned in late. Even though the Rockets have more room for improvement than almost any team in the league on account of their age, they will not get any better next year. Yao Ming won't get any better. He's going to be the first #1 pick ever to peak in his rookie year. Actually attending an NBA training camp won't make a difference. Griffin, he's peaked too. Freakin' Francis and Mobley are the graybeards of the team, they're already in their twilight years. Their bodies are about to break down, good thing we got their best years. It doesn't take years to build a contender anymore, if it doesn't work after about 50 games, you make major changes. Teams like the Warriors, who haven't made the playoffs in 11 years, and Grizzlies, who have never made the playoffs in their history, are going to pass us up next year unless something drastic is done. Shoot man Denver's going to get a good draft pick too, look out. I guess you're new around here.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the premise of this thread was that the Rockets would do fine next season WITHOUT ANY CHANGES. That's what we've been debating. I'm firmly in the camp of fans who want...scratch that, DEMAND some major changes based on the mediocre play of the team, particularly in the second half of the season(highlighted by the back-to-back collapses against Portland and Utah). Me personally, I include Rudy and his entire staff among those that need to go. The other side of the argument is that the Rockets will improve enough next season without any changes that they'll be able to qualify for a postseason berth. I frankly don't see how that's possible, barring Yao and Griffin doing their best Abdul-JaBLUNT and Worthy imitations, but I suppose we've got the next 6 months to argue over this.
