People don't realize how championship teams are made

I'm with you 100%! Oh, and can I get a Peperoni and Jalopena to go.

 

The game has changed a good deal since the Lakers won.

I know people are going to say something along the lines of the hoop is still 10 feet high blah blah blah. But if you've been watching the league recently, you'll notice that speed and quickness are at an all time premium. All the teams ahead of us are quick/talented and can get to the rim. People point to Miami and San Antonio, but the Heat's best player is Wade who arguably gets to the rim and also the line more than any player in the league. San Antonio has both Ginoblli and Parker, both are very quick. Our overall team quickness/talent level is not very good and that is cause for concern now and into the future. I do think we can compete, but right now I don't think we're a contender.

 

2006 Champion Miami Heat
Offense: 99.9; Defense: 96.0

2005 San Antonio Spurs
Offense: 96.2; Defense: 88.4

2004 Detroit Pistons
Offense: 90.1; Defense: 84.3

2003 San Antonio Spurs
Offense: 95.8; Defense: 90.4

2002 Los Angeles Lakers
Offense: 101.3; Defense: 94.1

2001 Los Angeles Lakers
Offense: 100.6; Defense: 97.2

2000 Los Angeles Lakers
Offense: 100.8; Defense: 92.3

1999 San Antonio Spurs
Offense: 92.8; Defense: 84.7

1998 Chicago Bulls
Offense: 96.7; Defense: 89.6

Third-Leading Scorers:
2006 Miami Heat: Jason Williams, 12.3
2005 San Antonio Spurs: Manu Ginobili, 16.0
2004 Detroit Pistons: Rasheed Wallace, 13.7
2003 San Antonio Spurs: Stephen Jackson, 11.8
2002 Los Angeles Lakers: Derek Fisher, 11.2
2001 Los Angeles Lakers: Derek Fisher, 11.5
2000 Los Angeles Lakers: Glen Rice, 15.9
1999 San Antonio Spurs: Sean Elliott, 11.2
1998 Chicago Bulls: Toni Kukoc, 13.3

 

Horry won 3 with LA.

 

Are you kidding me??? The rockets are totally a championship contending team. We got rid of key players who did not make an impact on our team. We got a bunch of role players who can shoot open shots, Alston, head, novak, sura. All these guys can shoot, create shots for other players once in a while. We also got 2 superstars and 1 potential superstar(battier). We rank among the best now that we have shane battier, you think the heat looked like a chamionship team throughout the regular season? NO They looked slow, too dependent on their superstars, their bench was decent (i didn't really think they had much of a bench with payton, posey, and Zo. In the playoffs anything can happen, all we gotta do is make it there and turn up our game like the heat did. Im sure the rockets have the capability to do this. We will most probably shorten our rotations in the playoffs so we don't really need much of a bench because tmac and yao will play more minutes and they are going to have to in order to win most of the games. I personally think we only need a player that can play decent at the SG position (can be head or tmac or whatever we pick up in the FA) and we need a decent PF who can just rebound and defend. All we need are 2 players! We probably don't even need a true point guard, cause Tmac can handle the ball most of the time, (like the lakers did with derek fisher and kobe) Why don't i hear anyone talking about sigining john lucas III? he is looking great and can provide offense in the 2nd team!!! Rockets are going to be in good shape with shane in.

 

During the Lakers championship runs, Kobe and especially Shaq had amazing seasons. Shaq averaged 28/12/3 during that span, while Kobe had 25/6/5 seasons then while shooting around 47%, as opposed to the low 40s T-Mac is is now shooting at. We're talking about superstars who can score in huge chunks AND do so efficiently.

Yao can score efficiently, but can he get off enough shots to score like Shaq did? Can T-Mac match the efficiency Kobe managed during those years?

Oh, and one last thing. The third scorer on the Lakers champ. teams was Glen Rice, who was conveniently left out. Rice was a better 3rd option than anything the Rockets can hope to put out there.

 

I agree! I think the worst thing they could of done is sign Queen
James. The Rox are taking small steps in the right direction. In this day in age you must have Two great players and the rest have to be role players. If you think Allstars at every position win games and champioships then look at the Nicks and what happen to team USA.......

 

JVG is not Phil

 

We have not seen Yao in his prime yet, hows that for a scary thought?

Championship teams are made by smart decisions, we haven't seen one so far this offseason, but its still young. Part of me believes there is a grand plan in place so i'm going to wait until the opening tip to see if management is truly committed to putting a championship team on the floor.

That being said, if T-Mac and Yao are healthy, with Battier on the floor. We are 2nd round bound. Alston will be better than people here think. We are almost there, we are one big move away from seriously contending, and one big move from everybody forgiving CD for what has transpired in the off-season so far.

 

unless u have a closer like kobe.... WAIT nvm we do have one in T-Mac

 

I'm tired of this loyalty crap... who has loyalty in this league?

Miami? Remember who signed a 60+ mil deal with them, got the team into a suprising playoff appearance, and got shipped off?

Dallas? Ask Juwan, Toine, Jamison, Lafrentz, Finley, Nash about how it went.

Loyalty don't mean crap in this league, when you see an opportunity to improve your team, do it.

 

The thing about shaq though is he never expanded his game thats why he is becoming less effective quickly. Whereas Yao has outstanding determination like hakeem and is expanding his game. DOnt be suprised if u see yao shooting 3's one day.

 

Loyalty is the reason James went to Minn. B/c Rockets did what they did. Did that trade make the Rockets better. NO

 

And this team is NO BETTER!

 

No DEPTH NO PLAYOFFS or past 1st ROUND. Lottery

 

Look Les. . . I understand your pain
but
I don't think many fans are buying it

Rocket River

 

I would start a new thread, but its just getting annoying now, plus I don't have the ability to do so with this account:

Here's my take...

Off Season 2006

- Draft -
1. The attempts to move up for Brandon Roy were valiant, along with Foye and Sheldon, those were the guys we wanted. We didn't get them, bottom line. I do not fault the Rockets for passing on Gay, I know they have better scouts and such, they know Gay better than we do. If he was a player they did not want, then I can definitely live with that.

However, the mistake here was that they did not get proper value for the pick. It was reported that we gave West a list of the 5 guys we wanted and as they fell off the board we were left in a vulnerable position. Why did we not get the 24th pick (lowry (backup point), sergio rodriguez, ager, james white (length and athleticism and ridiculous defensive potential that we lost in the swift trade)) or if management did not want another contract, get a future pick, anything, just one more asset. Next years draft should be deeper than CD's a$$hole after he got raped in this trade by West. we sure could have used a 2007 pick.

3. Battier - excellent pickup. Perfect type of guy, its all true, and aside from my qualms above, I like the lakers role players comparison here, should be a great piece for Yao and Tmac.

What Could Have Been

This is the part that hurts. I am fully aware this is an IDEAL situation, but I would have at least rather given these scenarios a shot than what we came away with. Say we start this offseason off with a clean slate. My moves:

- DRAFT :: Hold on to the 8th pick, since apparantly nobody in the organization wants Gay due to effort and focus concerns, lets pickup Brewer, we seemed to like the guy, gives us some things that we are missing: ball handling, slashing, length, intensity, potential.

- Send the Suns cash (which the Blazers did instead) for the 27th pick which turned out to be Sergio Rodriguez, but instead take James White.

- Trade Swift (who we apparantly have given up on, hence we "dumped" him rather than trading him for value, Gay alone should have netted Battier) to New Orleans for Marc Jackson and JR. Smith. JR had very little value because everyone in the league knew the Hornets were trying to move them, and Swift gives them alot of what Chandler (who they really got) would give, plus they get rid of Jackson's bad contract. We get a real backup center, Deke seems to be on a steep decline, what happens if he breaks down, we literally have nobody else capable of playing center, another pitfal of the Swift trade.

- Throw the full mid level at Matt Harpring (if he still chooses the Jazz, then throw it at Mike James WITH the trade kicker) After all, is the trade kicker so much to ask? the guy has no bitter feelings about being traded away for Alston, is open to coming back which i don't really understand with his massive ego, and all he asks for is the secuirty that if he chooses us over the Mavs, a better team, then he won't be forced to move again within 4 years. Weighing the risks, is being saddled with a solid 3rd scorer, who we could move to the bench if things aren't working out, worse than settling for Marcus Banks??

Hypothetical Depth Chart :
IF we sign Mike James
Alston/James/Lucas
Brewer/Head/Sura (I have my doubts)
Tmac/White/Bowen
Howard/Hayes/Novak

 

While I can agree that there is no sign whatsoever this team is ready to compete for a title, suggesting that our deals were the reason we made the lottery is ridiculous, unless of course you are against the McGrady trade. Sorry, but Mike James would not have kept this team out of the lottery. Heck, that Toronto team was not much worse talent wise and was plenty more healthy and his career season couldn't keep them out of the lottery.

 

eh...accidently pressed enter and submitted before finishing..depth chart continued:

Yao/Mutumbo/Jackson


I realize this is a full lineup, so we would probably send white down to the NBDL for seasoning and use Novak as a SF/PF and bowen as the primary backup SF.


IF we sign Harpring:

Alston/Lucas ( I have faith) / Sura
Harpring / Brewer / Head
Tmac / Harpring / Bowen / Novak
Howard / Hayes / Novak
Yao / Mutumbo / Jackson


Honestly guys...does Battier bring anything that Harpring wouldn't?
Is our current depth chart
Alston / Lucas
Head / Sura
Tmac / Bowen
Battier / Howard /Hayes
Yao / Mutumbo

anywhere close to the hypotheticals above? sigh what a sad offseason.