This season there were supposed to be no excuses. Unfortunately, we had a hell of an excuse in the middle of the season when Yao went down. When he went down all the expectation certainly went down with him. I don't think you can pin the disappointments of 05/06 or 07/08 on talent gap. No team is going to compete when their stars are forced to sit. Scola and Landry have helped us bridge the talent gap in the frontcourt. Hopefully we can continue to upgrade the roster in the offseason. Certainly there are guys we wouldn't mind losing, but there's no reason to end the Tmac/Yao expiriment prematurely. Not every team has an Artest or Maggette coming off the bench. Statistically, we're good enough to compete with anybody when healthy.
Derek Fisher was a fantastic pickup for them. He stabilized the team and showed Kobe how to grow up and play team basketball. His play as PG is the reason the Lakers were even in the playoffs hunt this season.
All good points, the one thing we all must remember is that the Clutch City Rockets had to go down to Seattle on several occasions before they could but through. The journey to the NBA elite is a long one, unless you can pull a Boston. That being the case, we must start adding the 6'7" and 6'8" to quasi/on the verge/ superstar to the mix. It's a given we won 22 straight with heart and determination but that streak took a lot out of us. If that streak was indicative, then we should at least been playing for the WC title and not out in the 1st round. We haven't discussed that fact that age is going to start catching up to these cats. We don't have the quickest/most athletic team in the world. We don't get easy buckets in transition or halfcourt set (playoffs). Most of the shots made come with a defensive had in our face. CAN WE PLEASE GET SOME FASTBREAK Robert Horry, Otis Thorpe, Vmax, Mario Elie, Dream, Clyde dunks in a game. All we seem to want is the next great go to the 3point line spot of shooter. Let's get some ballers in here.
I really don't understand. Youre usually a very rational person. Do you envisage a team which can win more than 55 games given the same injury woes? If we can plug these injury problems with more solid bench players (now that we have the opportunity), then why should we restructure the team? It just doesn't make sense. We won 55. There was an easy part of the schedule and a difficult part of the schedule. However, we are in the most difficult conference, probably in the history of the NBA. THAT can't last either. 55 games plus these injury woes. Now we can mitigate the risks of injury. But you think we should scrap that and try something new? How does that make sense?
The team played well and hard despite the injuries and its always easy to say if the had yao, do the rox contain boozer if yao is on him? Last yr, Boozer did whatever he wanted to against yao. I will say this, if the rox had Artest on this team this yr even with yao being out, the rox would be playing L.A. right now. Artest, believe it or not, is just as big of a matchup problem as yao. Its no way around it, the rox need more talent. Ur success shouldn't depend on a journeyman like rafer. Even when the spurs had avery johnson @ pg, he was money from 15ft, and they had elliot,robinson, and duncan. Ideally, a guy like rafer is ur 4thr lower option.
Gater is fixated on the greyhound theory. The Rockets could get to the finals with simple health and a tweak here and there on the roster, IMO. Could they use better athletes? Sure, who couldn't...but brains is sometimes more important than athleticism. What you really covet is a player like Tmac who has both. DD
I'm not fixated on the theory, but if this team had more finishers, they would avg about 103 ppg. Of course I was screaming for Artest last yr, but getting players that can finish strong woul help this team. If landry wanted more 2m per, I would let him walk and trade for wilcox. Why? He bigger, longer, and more atheletic. Is he great? No, but he can split that spot wth scola, and back yao for some minutes. He can run the lanes and finish as well as catch a few passes over the top. plus he's 25. He's a guy that can help the rox.
changing the team up AGAIN is a bad idea. lets keep the starting unit in tact and improve the bench. this is a good team. and with an improved bench, we will be able to weather the injuries even better than last year. trading away key (young) pieces to get an upgrade in the starting 5 is robbing peter to pay paul. improve our depth by finding: perimeter offense off the bench. another backup center.
True, Yao might have had a problem w/Boozer but I think we had more big bodies to throw at him. Plus if Yao wouldn't haven't got hurt, we would have easily got the number one seed. Even w/out him, we only missed it by a few games. We probably would have been playing Denver in the first round while Utah would have been struggling w/SA or LA.
Very good point. There's no need to panic. If Yao is there, we're easily one of the top two or three teams. Granted we do need a little more athletiscm but what we lack in that, we make up w/BB IQ and heart. If we're reasonably healthy next year and at least one more quality player in the rotation, I fully expect us to make a good run in the playoffs.
I'd say keep Yao, T-Mac, Battier and Scolandry and upgrade Rafer. One out of the starting five isn't a huge tweak.
It's kinda scary to think what record we'll have w/Scola as a starter from day one and having Landry in the rotation from the get go as opposed this past season. To win 55 games, w/Yao misssing so many games and having Scola come off the bench and Landry not even in the rotation, is amazing. That's the reason I'm not panicing even though we lost in the first round. But in reality, most teams would probably done the same in the same situation. Back in 2000, when Duncan missed the playoffs, the Spurs looked very average losing in the first round to Phoenix. But to get Maggette, Artest or Petrius without breaking up the nucleus would be sweet.
3 definite needs to stay competitive: * Starting PG (Rafer should come off the bench) * 2 6'7" wing players that play tremendous D, rebound, and get to the bucket. You will notice I did't say score. Why, all we need is the second unit to hold the fort * 1 legit young big man that make teams at least think about driving. Deke is too much of liability on O.
I will keep bringing back this thread for those that think status quo is good for the rockets. * Guaranteed that Tmac and/or Yao will get injured. * Rafer will play hot/cold all during the season and come up cold in the playoffs. * Luther will play No D. * Novak will shoot well when wide open and do nothing else. * Bobby Jackson will continue to look older and slower * Fat Francis will give us nothing, he's too busy laying on his money
No more injuries. I know the history should teach us about that but I belive and I am sure Yao/McGrady will FINALLY stay healthly
If we operate under the assumption that tmac or Yao won't be available under the playoffs, then there's no point in trying to win the Title. We have to assume they'll be healthy, because that's when we're our best, and no changes to the roster can mask their lack of presence. However, the other parts can be dealt with. We all know about Rafer. But list one other point guard available who can outproduce Rafer without limiting our ability to fortify other weaknesses. I don't think Kirk Hinrich brings 5 million dollars worth of extra production to our rotation. The difference between Rafer and Hinrich is the difference between Battier and Tayshaun Prince, and their salaries are only 2.5 M dollars apart. Luther is grossly flawed. We all know. He also only gets paid 2 M. Its not bad considering he produces as much as Mike James, but earns 4 M less. Novak? We're complaining about our 12th guy earning 900k? Really? Bobby Jackson is not here for production, he's here as an asset to acquire a larger asset. At least he understands the offense. Last year, fat francis gave us nothing. He's also getting paid chump change. He's worth keeping given his salary. Regarding the proposed corrections: Rafer produces well for his salary. you want Two 6'7 wing players? Both of whom can slash, play defense, and rebound? But scoring is optional? If they can slash, but can't score, that turns them into 6'7 rafer alstons. You won't draw a double team if the guy can't score by slashing. The imaginary guy you want is a Kirk snyder with a brain. Kirk Snyder with a brain is worth a lot of money. Like Rip Hamilton money. One legit young big man. For comparison, Nazr Mohammed and Pryzbilla gets 6M, Darko gets 7M, and Okafor and Kaman gets at least 8M. Dikembe earns 1.5 M. You do the math. So, basically, you want to create something out of nothing, but more. Morey did that voodoo magic already turning a #25 to a #28 + 2 early seconds while still getting that guy we would have gotten at #25. Now you're asking him to do 50 M of upgrades with a 35M budget (cap space left outside of Yao/Tracy without luxury tax). And because of Luxury tax, that 50M is 65M, minus the money he would have received from other owners paying luxury tax. I say morey's doing pretty good.
If that's the premise, then we can stop right there, because nothing short of blowing up the team will fix it. Even the Spurs, defending champion and championship favorites, cannot survive one of their THREE stars being hobbled.
I dont think rafer is the problem he got better as the season went on and I really love the intensity he brings and you saw how important he was to this team in the playoffs and saved our ass when we beat the lakers to go 22 straight his second year under adelman should be much better. our problem is having a player that can create some type of shot for themselves at least 12-15 ppg that can play some type of defense if we can get that start mapping out the route downtown. but of course EVERYTHING depends on the health of tmac and yao because i like what morey and adelman are building around them just need one or 2 pieces
