That's my point, the 2 superstars are constantly injured (fluke or not). We need a semi-superstar (miller/artest) to help us get over the hump. Actually thinking we're going to get through a season without Yao and/or Tmac not being injured is not prudent planning. The other is issue is the number of guys on the team below 6'3". Check the numbers, we have Luther, Brooks, Rafer, Steve, MJ, thats 2 roster spots too many, we need the 6'7" defenders and rebounders that can play on the perimeter and keep us in the game when Tmac or Yao go to the bench.
Artest would change the makeup and perception of this team so fast it'd make your head spin. We'd no longer be the softies, milk and cookie boys of the SW Division.
Hope Morey would be aggressive in getting real and solid contributors for this team like those uptier teams...I think we'll going to have competition if we're goin for Artest..like Dallas who's willing to swap josh howard for him...
This years' playoff series vs Utah proves absolutely nada. Whatever configuration the Jazz threw out there, they played with enough intensity to win. They played like a team that had advanced last year and knew it took 16 total wins. They NEVER felt threatened. The only question was how much and when they were going to step on the gas. As far as rebuilding, the Jazz and Hornets rebuilt by drafting Deron Williams and CP3. The Rockets rebuilt by Jeff Van Gundy winning a meaningless game and screwing the Rockets out of a chance at Brandon Roy. The Rockets compounded the error by being unable to move up in the draft to get Roy, down to get Sefalosha (which probably would have meant an incoming serviceable contract). The pluses of Rudy Gay should be obvious in a series vs the Jazz. He averaged 17.5 and held Kirilenko to 11 ppg. I love Deke, but for short spurts Swift would have brought just as much to the table in more spots on the floor. The irony of your mentioning the Lakers is that LA is showing that the qualities the Rockets' roster lacks...height and athleticism...is the key to their series vs Utah. And their "tweak" this summer will be Bynum's return and any veterans who might want to deepen their roster. As far as "consistency", you've already opened the door with the admission you'd be OK moving Hayes and Battier for "the right player". The only difference between us then is the fact I don't need/want/expect that the incoming player has to be a hard-working choir boy. Just a reasonable IQ, a decent work ethic and some physical skills which makes them a matchup problem.
My point is that if you have something that works, it pays to build on it rather than remake it. That's what each of those teams have done and will continue to do for at least the next few years. I expect you'd agree with that. But I understand that you don't like the makeup of our roster, your opinion is that what we have done the last couple years does not "work", and so you want it radically changed. You may be surprised to know that I share a lot of your concerns; I'm just not quite as down on the team as you are. Do you consider Stromile Swift to have had a reasonable IQ and/or decent work ethic? If so, then I think we have different standards in that regard.
I think you overestimate how injury prone this team is. We may not have the most durable pair of stars, but I think the injuries the team has suffered have been more of a result of a lot of bad luck than anything else. With Yao Ming, the injuries were all random breaks and fluke accidents. He wasn't ever re-injuring the same injury-prone body part. Yes, they were all lower-body injuries, which is a bit of a concern for someone his height, but Big Z had a similar history, and he has been relatively healthy and effective lately (this when he was never as good as Yao to begin with). I mean Yao did start off with three straight nearly-completely-healthy years. With Tracy McGrady, again, there have been a lot of random unrelated injuries this year (knee, shoulder, elbow). He's never had those kinds of injuries very much before, either. Ordinarily, his back was the only thing keeping him out a lot, and while that is a concern, and it seems to have limited his productivity, it hasn't kept him out much lately -- especially since he saw the Waco doctor (*knock on wood*). People blow out of proportion how much McGrady is injured. Other than 05-06, he has played a lot for us. In fact, outside of that year, he has averaged over 70 games per season. Now, how many games he has played on an injury is up for debate... ... With all that said, I wouldn't mind adding an Artest or Miller.
Fair enough. But I haven't seen anything to convince me something is working. They had a Perfect Storm of scheduling and opponent's injuries/suspensions combined with them playing playoff level intensity to get to 55 W's. Like someone mentioned, had they won 72.7% (instead of 100%) and gone 16-6, they'd have been 49-33. The 9th place WC seed. I guess watching slow, midget-sized NBA players with limited offensive skills just grates on my nerves more than the rest of this board. BTW...did you notice the last years' EC Champs made wholesale changes at the trade deadline? And they are still managing to give the 66 win Celtics all they want. Consistency is a relative thing. First I consider that MEM turned Swift into Jamal Maggliore. But either is preferable to Deke alone when you have other athletes and/or scorers on the floor (Rudy Gay and Wells). Do you consider Bobby Sura a high IQ player with a great work ethic? Sura was hated when he first came to the Rockets. Let me refresh you're memory...as a Warrior, Sura filed a complaint with the league about Houston playing the Slim Shady stuff when he shot FT's. He was VERY vocal about the complaint. But Sura was a 6'5" combo guard that had the cajones (along with Jon Barry and Wesley) that left the Rockets a BS call favoring DAL's Finley from the 2nd round. In addition to the dislike of signing Sura as a FA, there was an equal uproar about getting rid of Jim Jackson for Wesley. But Jackson...much like Battier...squelched all transition because his idea of a fastbreak was running to the short corner arc. The point being, the closest the Rockets have been to the 2nd round in recent memory was done WITHOUT consistency. It was built on the fly. Consistency be damned...show me the talent.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to turn on sarcastic ass mode here for a second... What in the world kind of logic is that? What could you possibly be getting at here? If we had lost more games, we would have won fewer games -- you think??? The "perfect storm of injuries"... you must be talking about Yao Ming going down for 27 games, right? No? Then maybe Landry going down for seven and not quite getting back into form until late in the season? No? Maybe you mean McGrady's injuries, including the ones he played on? Battier? Alston? What??? ... Oooh, so you're saying only our opponents' injuries helped us, but none of ours hurt us... No, we were always playing at max potential and were fortunate to win 55 games in the most competitive conference in NBA history... It was no reflection of the amount of skill and talent this team has; it was mostly due to nothing more than a burst of luck and a temporary display of "intensity". /sarcasm The fact is this team has a lot of talent. Being healthy alone (regardless of how likely you think that is) makes this team an elite contender. Again, I would love to land someone like Miller or Artest, and I believe they would help, but this team is damn good even as it is and doesn't need any significant overhaul. We just need health, and maybe a bit of luck, as with any contending team.
That's YOUR opinion. And I don't share it. Facts are facts. What talent they had was good enough to beat a section of their schedule laden with home games against EC pushovers and decent teams missing key players. But it's OK...you'll have a built in excuse next year when they have injured stars and a roster of the same ol' munchkins.
How is that a "built-in excuse"? If we get pounded by injuries, of course we're going to suffer the same fate. Nothing we can do this off-season will change that. It's not an "excuse"; it's a fact. Ron Artest will not get us a championship if McGrady or Yao go down for the playoffs. And if you're suggesting we trade McGrady or Yao, neither will anyone we can realistically trade them for. Also, you realize that we won 12 games in a row on the road, right? And you realize that during exactly HALF of that winning streak, we were without one of our big two? And we tied an ALL TIME NBA record for most consecutive double-digit victories? Yet somehow, it all means nothing to you. The other teams were the only ones who had any kind of disadvantage according to you... And, according to you, a win doesn't mean anything if it was against a non-50-win team. But at least one thing you said is right. Facts are facts. The fact is that this team won 55 games with their two best players missing 43 combined games (never simultaneously), and went 19-7 without Yao, 8-7 withough Mac. We finished the season two games out of first place in arguably the best conference in NBA history. Unless you think McGrady is pretty much god, that speaks volumes for how much talent this team has, especially considering that there were several other injuries during the closing stretch, and we ended the season with a pretty tough schedule. The fact is we have a damn good core right now, and I don't see how your "opinion" could possibly be any different. What I'm saying is hardly even an opinion, AFAIC, it's a fact backed up by facts. It's debatable how much help we need, but it would be stupid to try to completely revamp this team (unless you have a different definition of revamp than I do).
I think the rox have been a house of cards since tracy and yao have been together. Their limited talent forces them to play above their ceiling just to make the playoffs. When they get to the playoffs and play the best teams, they don't have enough talent to go up a notch. They don't have enough difference makers/game changers even with a healthy yao. I appreciate the heart and hustle they play with, but u can't beat a team 4 of 7 with just that. That's why in 2 elimination games we've been blown out. When a more talented team plays with that same passion and heart, the talent wins out. People may take this wrong, but I'm going to use miame as a example. The 1st yr of shaq, they had jones as the pg and eddie jones playing good minutes at the 2. They had good chemistry going into the playoffs until wade got. Now one of those chemistry guys was forced out of their element and they lost. The very next off season, out were the standstill, 1 dimensional jones, incoming talented, yet troubled walker and williams along with solid pros like posey and payton. The heat struggled to find their way but the potetial was there. Even though shaq wasn't the shaq of the previous yr, but every playoff game it was someone different picking up the slack. Why did it work? At one point in their careers, walker,williams,posey, and payton were the primary players on their teams. So when teams overloaded on shaq or wade, those guys reverted back and became scoring options. If u look at the rox roster, who can do that when the defense tilt? Jackson is the only guy. No one other than tracy,yao, and jackson have avg 15ppg in a season in their career in the last 14 yrs! What I'm saying is the heat got rid of the limited guys in 1 off season and won the ring. As long as u have tracy , the team will be playoff worthy, but to be title worthy they need talent.
Gater has the misconception that EVERYONE else in the league has better talent than the Rockets and every win we get with Chuck or Shane or Rafer on the floor means that we got lucky. Until he reigns in his hate he's not worth arguing with.
Trade Yao, Luther Head, Steve Francis and T-Mac to New Orleans for Chris Paul, David West and Tyson Chandler. Takes care of the 2 extra roster spots for 6'3" and below. It fixes our injury problems.
No... Walker and Posey were not the reason the Heat won it all that year. They were a better team in 05. The reason they won it in 06 was because of Dwyane Whistle. The 2006 Miami Heat are by far and away the WORST team to win an NBA championship since I have been following the league. They were maybe the 4th or 5th best team in the league that year, and they should never be used in any argument for how to build a team. That was a fluke and a shameful June in NBA history. (And yes, I hate the Mavepricks, too.) P.S. We have someone on our roster already who is better than ANYone on that 06 Heat team other than Wade or Shaq was: Luis Scola.
If "all we did" was win games in part of the schedule laden with home games against EC pushovers and decent teams missing key players THEN HOW COME IT'S ONLY EVER HAPPENED ONCE BEFORE? Granted, you want to suggest that our team is low on talent, but aren't you then forced to argue that any team that has FAILED to achieve a 22 win steak (against teams with the same winning % we faced) is lower on talent? It's a puzzling argument you're trying to push there. _____ As far as 'the same munchkins' - you do realise that we lost 2 playoff games against Utah with our PG out of action? And then a third game when he got injured early in the second quarter. The first 2 games were far too close for comfort, and one wonders what might have been had Alston played - the results from the rest of the series would indicate a win to us. As far as spruiking the Lakers success against the Jazz: have they won in Utah yet? In the games Utah has lost at home, the Rockets have won 40% of them. AND - one more gripe: poor mathematics on the 49 win thing. We'd still have been the 8th seed (we were previously in the 8, so removing us and relocating us to 49 wins means everyone else goes up one spot and we get 8th, not 9th). As pointed out previously, that's as silly as saying "if we'd just won against Memphis and Miami in November we'd have been #1 seed". ______ Anyway, I'm happy to see the core of the roster remain, and peices be added. Bring in a 2/3 with size and the ability to create their own shot Add a backup C who can score in the post (FA) Draft a 2/3 who can shoot. For example: Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm and whichever rookie you prefer. Alston/ Brooks/ Francis/ Jackson McGrady/ rookie/ Head Ming/ Mutombo/ Mihm/ Woods Scola/ Landry/ Hayes/ Novak Battier/ Davis/ Harris We'd have to clear a 3 contracts before the season starts - I'd go Hayes/ Harris/ Woods. Then we have a nice amount of expiring contracts to use at the deadline to shore up whatever weakspots have arisen (ie: is TMac or Yao out for the year? Trade with the team looking to dump off a decent player with a 2yr or longer deal)
