The Rockets tank is going to take many hits this season. I liken it to the koenigstiger: be proud red nation.
it's called making him a volume scorer ala kobe. you know he's going to get his so if you can limit him to 1 point per shot attempt, then I can live with that.
Look, I know the Rox competed hard, but this is the same team as last year, one that will win some games due to playing harder than their opponents, but one that is not good enough to compete when other good teams really care. OKC was clearly coasting, Durant looked disinterested for most of the game, and once the Rox got up on them by 12, they turned it on.....and pulled it out. It was like a cat playing with a bunch of twine. The Rockets tried hard, but OKC is just a much much better team. DD
Or the 2nd unit led by FLYNN handed back our 12 point lead to the Thunder in less than three or four mins. of "play". That was as much us as it was them, IMO. Sadly I really do think Flynn is trying his best. IF we are letting "the bear21" play himself into shape, THEN why not let Thabeet do the same? just a thought.
OKC is the better team. It would be interesting to see how good they really are.....against the Heat for the Championship
Man you sure have crashed hard from your reality check. At first you had the delusion that this group would eventually contend and now with the swing of a pendulum you have gone down and joined the debbie downers. You can call them mediocre or whatever you want, I'd just like you to know that your perspective of things is melodramatic right now, and is nothing new around here. We might be threading water right now but we're not drowning, we have breathing room, you go ahead and try that for yourself.
If we could have signed Nene and gotten Pau, we would have been on the upward path. That has been crushed. Now, reality is, if we get locked out of Dwight/Deron, which is likely, then we are going to the lottery. Yes, I thought this team cound contend if we added a top-notch center. But alas, it isn't going to happen, unless something materializes in Orlando. Reality is we won't be good enough to get past the Lakers, Blazers, or San Antonio this season even if we make a move for a middle of the road big. We've lost Chuck. He was an important part of our success. Most people don't understand what we lost when we lost Hayes. But, needless to say we went from a borderline playoff contender to perhaps one of the 5 worst teams in the league. Now, a trade for an above average center is simply going to make us competitive for a 7-8 playoff seed. That isn't going to get it done. This is the era of multi-superstar teams. You don't have to like it but you have to accept it. Boston and the Lakers led the way. Now Miami is leading the way into not just 2 but 3 superstars. You ahve to build a team that is going to be able to beat Miami, the Lakers, the Bulls, and others in a 7-game series. Just winning 50-55 games isn't going to get it done. If you aren't building to win a championship then it's time to tear down so you can get to the point of competing. I'm not throwing in the towel on the Rockets. I'm throwing in the towel on this group of players being able to compete for the playoffs. They're not good enough. Morey either has to make a major trade bringing in a superstar go-to player to play with our youngsters, or he's got to rebuild either at the trade deadline or after this pitiful season. Just expecting these guys to get better ain't gonna happen. And the other thing is if you are going to build on youngsters, realistically, we aren't going to be winning a championship for another 5+ years. If you decide to build around Lowry and Morris, per se. By the time you are able to add to that core and be really competitive for a championship, 4-5 years will have gone by.
There is the possibility of trading for expiring contracts and picks and using our own pick, NY's, the picks we receive to rebuild faster in the summer of 2012. This team is sad---painful---to watch. We have draft pick-players and Yao's role players. Keep D-Mo, Morris, Lowry, Ppat (maybe)....start rebuilding. Stern screwed us from our winning team. Now it's probably time to quit pretending that Miami's gonna trade us Bosh or etcetera etcetara. If any dramatic trade should occur, it will be at the trade deadline, when newly-signed contracts can be moved. I won't hold my breath on it.
Realistically though, if we trade away everybody and go with kids, we are looking at a minimum of 3 years before we become competitive. Superstars don't grow on trees and even if you are lucky enough to get one in the draft, it takes them a couple years to become dominant in today's game. By then, teams like Miami, OKC, Chicago will be in their primes. Not to mention Minnesota, Knicks, etc. We've got a long road to hoe if we don't get Dwight/Deron. Van Gundy was right. The busted trade set us back several years! Durn Stern!
I don't understand why Alexander didn't pull a Cuban and raise hell over what Stern did, taking the fine (sure to be a hefty one) like a man, but at least getting on the record. It would have been the perfect excuse for letting Morey do what I'm now thinking he wants to do, which is lose this season to get a high lottery pick. And Less would have felt better. Yet we've heard nothing from the man. I just think it's weird, but then I think he's a strange bird, anyway.
I don't buy that, if Nene and Pau came here, we would still not be contenders, and we would be drafting lower. I think the lack of trade sped up the rebirth, finally got it started. DD
Les isn't made of money like Cuban. IIRC his only investments are the Rockets and some china properties. He had stock in another investment but I think that is suffering major losses. I think its amazing he didn't go Robert Sarver/George Shinn and turn into Mr. Grinch by now. All the posters here bellyaching about Le$ don't have any idea how low penny-pinching owners can go.
