well he can dribble, that alone makes us want him to start since ariza cant dribble. so what if its garbage time ,he showed some play ground dribble moves, which,may not win games,but atleast is better than turning it over which is what ariza would have done in taylors shoes. taylor > ariza. (im sure me and you both can shoot 3's better than ariza at our ymca so id take anyone.) in fact ,take out ariza,slide battier to sg, slide scola to sf, put cook at pf. Yes Ariza is that bad.
Nah the guy is just pi$$ed with team's play of late. Hopefully something can be done to save the rest of the homestand. Need to finish strong and win the next 3.
Um, where's that easy part of the schedule everyone keeps talking about? Atlanta, Denver, Portland, Phoenix in a row? Oh, I get it: the easy part is Lakers and Celts. Gotcha. Riiiiiiiight....
We wasted the golden opportunity here. Spurs lost again today that's three L in a roll at home(Bulls are playing out of their minds now.....consecutive win over suns, rockets and spurs....) Portland loses today, yet we are not able to protect the damn home court IF I got a chance, I would try to punch DM and RA in their face..... Their confidence on trevor is the root....
Time to push the group over the edge. If the Rockets pull a 0 for 6 home stand, and that can happen - There are no patsy coming to town, then will this group consider the lottery a better option? It's not like the West is a easy road and not getting into playoffs means the Rockets are what they are, 2 superstars short of a full deck. No one can win with this hand. I say bluff hard then fold. (play hard but expect to lose). It's not like Ariza is going to save the day. He will try for sure but that is the problem. There is no shame in losing if you try your best. Unfortunately for the Rockets, they will have to play at 100% to have chance to win and they are not going to be at 100% every game.
Jermaine Taylor time! He looked good in those custodial minutes, as if saying "Play me Rick". The Hawks seemed committed to stopping Brooks, especially in the 4th by having Horford or whoever to help Bibby. Landry was bothered by the Hawks height, Rick should think about putting him near the elbow next time.
Well, rox81....... ....I don't think anybody here could be blamed for expecting more out of these Houston Rockets than they could be realistically expected.... ...because the Rockets themselves laid that out. I just wanted to watch how the season unfolded and keep any commentary on it to a minimum, for my part, rox81. There were going to be too many moving parts and unknown quantities for the balance of the season for anybody to do more than be in love with the Rockets one day, and sick to death of them the next. But by the the time the all-star break arrives, I guess what will be certainties about these Rockets will become a bit clearer. Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry have emerged as all-star level players, at least for the first-half of the season. But any player can have a good, productive season and make the all-star team once or twice, given the right circumstances and opportunity. I tend to rate the productivity of a player (at least on a consistent basis) on whether he makes any All-NBA teams. Those elections aren't popularity or perception driven, and do tend to gauge just how much a player means to and does for his team. The jury's still out, of course, but Landry and Brooks are becoming the type of consistently productive players that the Rockets will need going forward. Luis Scola is the definition of professional basketball player, to me. He plays hard. He's relentless. He's fearless. And it's just icing on the cake that he has skill. Something a great many of us seem to overlook with Scola, but he's been a champion in European basketball because he can play. Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier do their best every night. But they have consistently been given on-court jobs and responsibilities that neither of them can consistently or effectively fill, rox81. I know the fan base and coaching staff love them both, but if ever there was a time to move either of them (or at the very least, reduce their roles), now is that time. I understand myself that this is not the team the Rockets hope to field next season when Yao Ming returns, but there are only so many "no-stats" players you're going to get away with having on the floor if you're trying to win. Trevor Ariza is who he is (and that is a role player). Nothing about his performance in the postseason with the Lakers last season should have led anybody to think anything differently. It didn't do that with Daryl Morey or Rick Adelman, despite anyone's assertions to the contrary. Ariza's job is too big for him right now, too. But because it is such a big job, it goes without saying that he would draw the ire of people who have adopted the Jeff Van Gundy mindset about team building (win the next game at any cost). Kyle Lowry is so much like Rajon Rondo in Boston to me that it's silly. If people truly value the "no-stats" aspect of basketball (like I do), then Lowry is the type of player that you assign that title to. He makes the game easier for all his teammates. He rebounds, he passes, he defends, he scores (albeit sporadically). He's also fearless and relentless. He's a guy who deserves praise for what his "no-stats" contributions mean to the team. Chase Budinger is another player that could become an all-star in the league someday. Not terribly surprising, really. He was one of the most highly-regarded players in college at Arizona. He was projected to be a lottery pick at one time. He has all the ability in the world. The Rockets were ridiculously fortunate (and subsequently, rightfully greedy) enough to get him where they did in the draft. He sort of makes up for what happened with the draft in 2006. You're going to need talent to win in this league. Systems help with that. So does toughness and grit and resolve. But a team of you and me running around an NBA court in Rick Adelman's system isn't going to get a whole heck of a lot done either, rox81. I would personally loathe seeing Brooks, Landry, Scola, Budinger, Lowry—and yes even Ariza—gone, rox81. Those guys are versatile, tough, and capable. Throw in Chuck Hayes for good measure, too. He's economical and versatile, too. Those guys, to me, would make a great team with the right talent around it. Oh, wait...that's what they are already, aren't they? The Rockets are not a playoff team, rox81. That may be premature, but I've said that since the beginning of this season when Yao Ming would not be present. The Rockets aren't struggling, to me. They're simply being who they are. A playoff team has enough talent to beat an opponent in a NBA playoff series four times in a seven game series. People have taken to the Rockets the way you'd take to a team in the NCAA tournament, where you've only got to be good against one team on one night to win. That won't happen in the postseason. The better TEAM almost always wins. Not the team with the marquee player or the better athletes, but the team playing the most consistently on both ends of the floor, and playing the game on their terms (read: team identity). The Rockets are still searching for that identity, rox81. At the very least, I'd like to think they deserve the chance to find out what that identity is.... ....but then..... ...this wouldn't be a fan forum, now would it?
