It's actually very legitimate considering that is basically started since the McGrady trade. It's still the T-Mac/Yao show. Regardless of the new coach, it's still about those two players, and with them, we've owned the East and we've owned the 2nd half when they're healthy. @ calling it a mythical trend.
we will beat sa tonight...we will pass golden state, denver, lakers without bynum, utah. we will be 6th or 5th and we will win the first round. this win will give us the confidence necessary going forward.
dayum, good call, denniscd, and we're already ahead of Clutch's projected path to 45 wins! Great win tonight!
missing the playoffs might be for the best. i dont want the 7th or 8th seed and another first round exit. i'd rather miss the playoffs if it means this team gets the point that they need to make canges. more directy, they need athletes like brooks and landry. a lotto pick would address that pretty well.
THE necessary adjustments to this team will only be made if we miss the playoffs or are knocked out in the first round.
CHAMPIONSHIPS forget it!!! Rockets are a horrible team. Blame a) Les and Morey for selecting Coach A and the Roster b) Coach A for his poor game plan and poor and slow substitution pattern, blame him for playing Yao Ming too many minutes. c) Blame Yao Ming for playing soft and never being the player he can be. d) Blame Rafer Alston who does not know how to play the point Guard Position,poor shooting, poor passing and poor defence. e) Blame the team, because most of them are selfish players and do not know how to play the team game. f) Lucky Win!! Go Rockets! To make it even worst I had to listen to the Spurs commentators PS The needed adjustments will only be made if we are out of the playoffs or go out in the first round.
There's a difference between "Playoffs? NOOO WAY!!!!" and looking at it optimistic but realistic, like someone who will always be a "Rockets fan" would do... Could at least wait until the 55th game or so, but halfway?? You people talking about tanking the season, NO ROOM AT ALL to talk about McGrady being a quitter. There's NO guarantee that future moves will work for this team, as bleak as THAT looks...so might as well hope the team can make a successful run until they are officially eliminated. And ironically the Rockets will have JUST as much time catching the BOTTOM DWELLERS of the league, as much as catching the contenders.
My take: The Rockets are just beginning to find their feet under Adelman. We'll be good-but-shaky for another couple of weeks, then will start a torrid streak for a month or so. This team hasn't yet had a single true hot streak this year, and they simply have too much talent NOT to once RA's system becomes second nature. My official prediction: I say we'll win 50-52 games and make the playoffs. We will definitely pass Portland, Denver, Golden State, the Lakers, and possibly the Jazz. I think we're looking at battling the Jazz for the 5th and 6th spots. FWIW, the Lakers are a cinch to drop over the next two months with Bynum out. Bynum has been their second-best player over the last month and the main reason for their improvement this year. The Staples Center fans booed Kwame Brown repeatedly the other night, every time he touched the ball. That's the home crowd, and a home crowd that's known to be pretty laid-back at that. Kobe took up for Brown by saying, "Kwame's a sensitive guy. If you boo him, he plays worse" (or something to that effect). There's absolutely no way Brown will make up for Bynum's absence.
No chance in hell that happens. That said... Because Adelman's offense requires a new way of acting (It's designed to take a lot of the thinking out of the game, so players can't just do something different. You have to BE different), we'd (and by that I mean the general consensus on ClutchFans) said from the beginning that this season would have a slow start. That said... I still don't know. I don't trust McGrady's health, and I also don't trust the rest of the team when McGrady's healthy. But all doubts aside, if the game tonight is as close to the playoffs as the Rockets get... I guess I can live with it. That game was INCREDIBLE.
Don't forget we live in Houston. After watching what the Astros did with their second halves in three straight years, I'm not giving up on anything until it's mathematically impossible. That includes the #1 seed in the West as Hollinger predicted. In Hollinger I trust.
I'll put my informed opinion up against your informed opinion any day. I've got a $10 donation to ClutchFans that says I'm right (about getting either the 5th or 6th playoff spot). Want to put your money where your "no chance in hell that happens" is?
Do you wanna pay my tuition? I still have $3k left to go this semester. But I was more referring to this: Portland's the real deal. After their opener against San Antonio, I said, "Man, if they play like that the whole year, they'll make the playoffs." I regarded them as a scary team from that point. The Warriors aren't going anywhere; people still forget that they were never a true #8 seed last year. The Lakers I already predicted would slide; their success depends too much on the health of Lamar Odom. I said in another thread that I expected New Orleans to take a bit of a slide (CP3 just HAS to get injured; he ALWAYS does). And denVAR is not going to slip. And there's no way in hell I go see Jumper. The only thing all that advertising did is make me cringe every time I even think of it.
Bynum is lost for the season. The Lakers are struggling without him. Denver is hardly a lock. They are only 1.5 games out from the 9th seed. They have lost 3 of their last 5 games. Nene is lost for the season. Portland is struggling. They have lost 3 of their last 5 games. All the games were against the Eastern Conference. They fallen to 1.5 games ahead of the 9th seed.
so unless david stern personally guarantees the rockets a ring, or we're 75% certain we can go to the finals, we should just tank and go for the picks? then what is the point of competing? or even having good draft picks?
