Of course we are, let's look closer at that: 1) Last year we didn't have Yao, this year we have Yao. 2) Last year we had McGrady (not healthly in the playoffs) and this year you change him for Ron Artest who is finally getting healthly 3) Last year we had an injured Battier who was a non factor, and this year he is HEALTHLY That shows that we are clearly better than we were last year. Last year at this stage of the season we were at our's bets, right now we are only getting there. We have Ron instead of T-Mac which is a big plus. Of course, Ron is not T-Mac on offense, but he is a better defensive player and he is still a thread on the offensive end. And of course the big fella is healthly.
now----last yer Yao = Yao Artest > T-Mac Scola > Scola Shane = Shane Landry = Landry Brooks > Brooks Obviously we are better than we were last year.
I think we are better because we did not have the inside presence when Yao went out because of injury.
it's like we trade T-mac for a heathy Yao and Artest, Yes, we are better than last year's playoff team
Our defense has improved (Artest + Batman healthy) & now we have guards that can take it to the hole (AB, Wafer, Lowry). It's absolutely astounding that we held the cavs to a total 21 points over 2 periods.
Yes we are MUCH better than last year. Tracy,Shane, Rafer (inj.), Brooks, Head, Jackson <<<< Ron, Shane, Brooks, Wafer, Barry, Lowry Landry, Scola, Deke, Hayes, Harris <<<< Yao, Scola, Landry, Hayes, Deke Yeah, the improvement of Scola/Brooks and gaining Yao, Ron, Barry, Lowry, and Wafer more than makes up for any thing we had last year. Last year, they hustled for wins. This year they're actually better than the opposition.
sorry, you don't have any clue what you're talking about. tmac was insane during the 22 game win streak and the playoffs last year. is this team better than that one? yeah, probably. your individual analysis is just hating though. regardless of how tmac did this year (terribly and we're better off without him), you can't take away what he was doing last year.
I'd take last year's pre-Yao injury team over this one. But I will say that it's important to note that this year's Western conference < last year's Western conference. So we could very well advance far simply due to other teams falling off.
"T-Mac lovers" will still be here long after the current Rockets players are retired, and we'll then be "Future Rockets player X lovers". Whenever Yao retires, your ass will no longer have a reason to be here and you'll be long gone, thankfully.
By the choices in the poll, it took it to mean the level of play, not necessarily the personnel on the team. Player-wise, we improved depth. Play-wise, I think people are getting too high on it at this point. There are plenty of problems still out there, some new, some old. Comparing this point last year to this year, to me, we are not better. Will we become better? Hard to beat a streak of 22 games. Again, PLAYER-wise, I think we are deeper, PLAY-wise, not quite there yet.
When exactly last year? If the Rox go into war in the playoffs with this healthy team they are better: better D at the wings, Barry 3 point specialist, Scola is better, and very importantly Rox have a spark off the bench WAFER
i enjoy the team much better now than last year....the aggressive offense and constant attack is nice.
