DD- can you post this thread after every loss? Would really clean up the overreaction threads following a loss I agree 100%. Give it some time.
With the exception of Battier it seems like we are always saying Tmac and Yao are coming off an injury. At some point this ceases to be just a case of bad luck. Maybe it's just the last 2 or 3 seasons, but when is the last time either of these guys played a full season, much less played one together? It's pretty frustrating to consistently have your season sabotaged by injury. I know in many cases it can't be helped, but you have to think the Rocket's front office is truly concerned about the ability of Tmac and Yao to avoid injury for an entire season. The knock on this team is always "can they stay healthy?" and it's beginning to wear thin, not to mention provide phantom excuses for poor play. Like I said, I feel this is starting to go beyond bad luck and the window for these two players to being us a championship gets smaller with every big or little nagging injury they have. There isn't always next year for these guys to get on the same page.
im completely agree, i dont understand why people are expecting us to be in top form right now, its good to get rid of bandwagon fans though i suppose i will say this last night was the 2nd time i was ashamed to call myself a rockets fan, the 1st time was after they played the jazz last year, then we started a 22 game win streak the very next game
I this team came stay healthy 2 months from now, I can only think of one word to describe what they will do to the rest of league. CARNAGE. Also some people just don't realize how valuable Shane Battier really is.
last yr we did have a good start at the very beginning of the season,but all of sudden we sucked at bball before we were rolling to a 22-win streak. right now rox sucked the 1st 7 games,we still get 75 games to go,there's a plenty of time to fix all things up.
finally a thread by dadakota i can agree with 100 %. look at the bright side. brooks, scola and landry do pretty well and we're still waiting for our glue guy in shane battier. right now our star players and our coaching staff go through tough times. yao's obviously not quite ready. he's not as bad as he looks now, we all know that. missing 4 consecutive free throws, getting blocked by the rim, that's just stuff that usually doesn't happen. and it won't happen when he has played himself out of this slump. the same is true for t-mac. look at how bad he moves on the court. he's got no lift, no legs and can't defend anybody. that's not because he sucks or because he's a softie, it's because he's still not 100 % health wise. you can see how he tries to play himself through this (probably because there are only limited practices available and he wants to prove his critics wrong) but it's obvious that he can't do the stuff he usually does right now. with barry not playing well either, shane injured and ron already doing so much he has to play, though. the other option would be playing luther head heavy minutes. well, it might be time to give von wafer his chance. he brings athleticism and shooting to the table and we desperately need both in the backcourt. and ron? well, he's not the most efficient offensive player to begin with and he probably can only really shine when he's the main guy and has the freedom to operate that way. but he's also struggling because of his great and intense defensive effort and the fact that he needs a little more space to go 1-on-1 on offense. once shane comes back and ron comes off the bench (hopefully) things will look much, much better.
I agree with u DD, but I'm a long term,championship, matchup type of guy. In the offseason with the posturing of morey and landry, Yao in the olympics,Tracy and shane injured, and the lack of commitment to versitility of this team always has bothered me. I've been on record many times and have gotten bashed about matching up for the ring. I scanned the west and the east and eventhough they're better with artest, they still have too many redundancy on the roster. We can start with Scolandry and end with BarryHead. Either way, we praise Morey for the roster and I do think he's made some good no brainers, but there are gaping holes. For years the Rox have done their best to add single position, small players. Since the end of the shaq era in La, they made the decision to add those kind of players. The difference is what we saw last night. Yao goes out, Hayes comes in. Bynum goes out, Odom comes in. Tracy goes out, Barry comes in. Kobe goes out, Ariza comes in. That's a problem to me. Morey took another smallish pf in dorsey because he was "nba ready" , yet the guy can't get on the floor. If your going to miss, miss with a big atheletic type. People were gushing over his wingspan and strength, but when guys are 6 inches taller and longer, you have to do so much to compensate for it. I do know, if shane was healthy, he would be the 1st wing off the bench and the matchups would be better in regards to Ariza or even odom for as that goes. I think if shane was playing, tracy probably could afford to miss some games. As it stands now, he can't and he has to suffer through playing with no legs. I think, just like last year, the team will be better in february than it will be in december. Its will take time as it should, but they can't dig a ditch like last yr.
I think we have a history of slow start even in when JVG is at helm. We even started something like 2-6. I can see in the games, the guys are still warming up and not in full throttle except for a few who is always energised (namely Landry). Landry is just amazing (wonder what he is drinking ??). Anyhow, we do lack in size to compete with teams like Lakers. We need to address that.
its a long season,everyone gets blown out and loss to less talented teams at some point,dont panic. jump off now,but dont come back when times are good. that being said,i think we'll have a better showing in phoenix
A very reasonable post. The 3-0 start was more of an anomaly than anything else. Although, we did look good against the Mavericks - particularly in the 4th quarter. Yet, by in large, our 3-0 start had a lot of luck and we more or less won on sheer talent alone. The only thing I can hold out hope for going forward is that McGrady plays like he cares again. That's all I ask. Play like you care again McGrady. I know you're injured and going through a rough patch with any possible cold/flu symptoms, but dammit show more heart than you have the last few games. Take a game or two off if that's what it takes to heal up some from whatever you've got. That and Yao starts playing a lot better. I feel that Yao also needs some help guarding teams frontlines. A deke or someone else that's somewhat capable of being Yao's backup would be very very nice. I don't know if Morey is going to sign Deke or anything like that, but it's gonna pay off a ton if he hopefully does.
I didn't know this team have been playing for 12 years. Wow 12 years and they can't play Adelman offense?
Agree, I would sit Tracy big time if Shane was in there to help pull the wagon. Actually I would rather see Von Wafer out there instead of Tracy at this point, Tracy is playing hurt and looks as if he needs 2 to 3 weeks off. Adelman needs to bite the bullet and pull T-Mac for a few weeks.
There is no need to panic, but blind optimism is as stupid as blind pessimism. It is ok to look at your weaknesses in an honest light and propose solutions. Battier coming back will certainly help, but it won't make us taller. McGrady will play better when healthy, but playing won't make him healthy. Yao is playing softer than he has in 2 years, that needs to change. There is nothing wrong with pointing out these deficiencies. Home court is important and these early season losses count the same as late season losses. So what needs to happen: McGrady needs to sit and get healthy. We need to sign or trade for a big PF/C. Artest needs to get in Yao's face and get him to man up. Yao will never get the calls when he is playing passive. Either Rafer needs to play better or play less. I'm not a hater, I'm a fan. The Rockets have the potential to be a championship team so let's expect it. Quit being so cheap Les. This is our best chance in 11 years to do something special. I'm not panicking, but I am sick of being patient. Championships are taken not given. Go take it, Rockets!!!!!
I'm thinkin the Rox will pull it in line and be a respectable playoff team... but no championship as long as Rafer is running the show - period!
If there's anything we've learned from this stretch of brutal games, it's that we dont need Rafer running the show at the end of games. Aaron Brooks! I guess there will be a championship after all.
I agree with the DD! We aren't used to Ron Artest. I mean Shane Battier who never really required shots --> Ron Artest jacking up random ^#&! sometimes.. I still believe in this team and all the bashers can just come back and jump on the bandwagon when we start winning again!
