T-Mac=Boring(What he did in the SA game was classic, but what has he done since).This dude is all about hismself, he doesnt give a flying *Bleep* if the Rox are loosing or not(he's getting paid). This was a stupid trade that was gonna hurt us in the long run. Now were feeling the pain. I would rather loose a playoff series 4-1(all close games) than be b**** slapped all over the court in a game 7 by the mavs. Its sux to see SF struggle with the magic when he couldve been acting a fool with Yao right now. This was just as bad as voting for BUSH again. This has got to stop!!!!!! T-Mac>Steve & Cat(please stop and shoot yourself)Rox fans are in denial. Rockets(2003-04) 45-37(One of the most exciting seasons) Rockets(2004-05)51-31(Very Boring season)
Let's trade Swift and DWes for Mobley and then we can have TMac, Yao, and Mobley, which is undoubtedly better than Francis, Yao, and Mobley, and all will be well.
* The Lakers beat Francis' Rockets 4 games by a combined total of 38 points. * The Rockets lost 3 games to DAL by a combined total of 11 points without Howard, with Ryan Bowen guarding Nowitski and a horrible call where Finley was out of bounds. * Outside of Shaq and Kobe, the Lakers were a bunch scrubs...Payton and Fisher who got abused by Francis, Malone, Devean George and Fox. * The scubs on the 2003-04 Lakers mostly retired or moved on to further obscurity. A key member of the 2004-05 Mavs (Finley) is a rotational player for the Spurs. * WC playoffs teams in 2003-04 had a whopping 0.0166% higher winning percentage vs the EC than the 2004-05 playoff teams. Francis + Cato + the #1 pick in the draft Dwight Howard + HOF'er Grant Hill scoring 23 pts + Turkuglo scoring scoring 19 pts couldn't "dismantle" TMac + Yao + JHO + Wesley + Sura. They lost by 9 points. http://www.nba.com/games/20050120/HOUORL/boxscore.html But then, why would we let facts get in the way of a good rant?
he also forgot that THAT LAKER TEAM HAD 4 HALL OF FAMERS ON IT The Dallas team has maybe . . . one Rocket River
That's an opinion...yours. Let's continue with more facts... 3/5s of that supposedly better team went to EC added #1 D Howard and Grant Hill and were on par to maybe win 46 games (56.3% prior to Mobley being traded...50.0% over Mobley's last 10 in ORL). While the team you say was worse won 51 in the WC. Like I mentioned before, don't let the facts get in the way of a good opinion. 2 of those HoF'er were well over the Hill. Nice try. Read the above for more facts.
Two different seasons. Doesn't it ever occur to you that you never back up your opinions with anything substantial. It's always just a pocketful of marginal opinions. Every point you've brought up I've shot completely full of holes. Why don't you for just once try to evaluate something on an apples to apples basis. The team that you say is better, you're comparing to a playoff team minus Juwan Howard. But that's typical of almost every opinion you have. Discussing basketball with you is liking talking to a blind man holding an elephants tail. To a blind man, elephants are short and skinny. He has all the information he needs to form an opinion right there in his hand. Try stepping outside the box once in while and do some critical and factual-based analysis.
I was one of those who was leery about the T-Mac trade and really thought the 2003-2004 Rox should've gotten another season to play together with JVG. IMO T-Mac has lived up to expectations and as an all around talent is a signifigant upgrade from Francis. The bigger problem with the trade and the subsequent moves is the other players that went. In terms of chemistry a T-Mac + Francis team probably wouldn't work but if we could've kept Mobley and Cato I think things could've been a lot different because we would have some young and very athletic players behind T-Mac and Yao. For all of the criticism of Cato's boneheadedness he still filled in well on rebounding and even became something of a decent passer under JVG and all of us remember Cat's offfense and great D. What's happening to the Rox now is that while JVG managed to make some good short term calls on bringing in aging but smart veterans and squeezing a good season out of them but now age is catching up to guys like Sura, Barry, Wesley and Mutumbo. So with the injury to T-Mac and Swift's boneheadedness we've got a perfect storm of problems. Without the trade and some of the subsequent moves we would be looking at a different situation of players in their physical prime but still getting to their basketball smarts prime. More than likely we would still be groaning over boneheaded play from Francis and Cato but unlike now we would likely be putting a team out healthy enough and athletic enough to compete.
In that case, I hope I am NEVER EVER UNDER ANY UNIMAGINABLE CIRCUMSTANCES in a police lineup and you're in the same building.
If it were possible to reverse the trade, Orlando would do it in a heartbeat, now that Weisbrod is gone. TMac is clearly the best player in that trade by far. Is TMac better than Francis + Mobley? I think so. But I'd grant that it's arguable. But remember, the trade was not Francis and Mobley for McGrady. It was Francis + Mobley + Cato for McGrady + Howard + fillers. And the fillers eventually gave us Barry and James. The old team might be able to get into the playoffs. It had no chance of winning a championship. A team with TMac and Yao, on the other hand, has a chance to contend given the right role players. I said it before, Francis is the kind of player that is a curse, not of his own fault. He is a curse because he is a max type player but not good enough to lead a team to the championship. Teams with this type of players as their franchise player would be mired in the middle of the pack for years, good enough to miss the lottery but not good enough to go very deep in the playoffs.
Why do you think Kobe is better than TMAC? Is it because of the 3 rings that I got with the help of Shaq? Personally, I think TMAC has a much more complete game than Kobe, not to mention a better team player. Kobe's biggest downfall is his selfishness.
He said arguably. I consider them both great, if I have to pick one 2 years ago, I would definitely pick Kobe. If I have pick one half year ago, I would go for TMac for sure. But right now? With TMac's back injury, I don't know. That being said, there is no knock on either players in terms of skills and strength. I see them really on par, but as TMac admitted himself, those 3 rings made the difference. It's too easy to say that Kobe got the rings due to Shaq, but remember, Shaq alone can't get any ring either. Kobe gave Shaq the most support he needed, absorbed huge defensive attention as well, and he normally closed games for the Lakers. Last year's Kobe wasn't a real Kobe, the rape allegation and departure and all the dramas in LA did affect him. It's not fair to say that he can do nothing without Shaq, well who can do anything alone, nowadays? Kobe has super ego, so does Shaq and PJ, so does MJ and Dream and Bird. We critisize Yao not shouting "give me the damn ball!". Ego is just a two sided sward. People praise you when you win, but stump on you when you lose. What makes you think TMac has a MUCH MORE complete game than Kobe? What TMac can do, Kobe couldn't? I love to see them play one on one against each other (in the game that Magic lost on a missed last shot by TMac), because they are both great.
This is where I start to rant: Where in the HELL are these so-called "role" players, and why aren't they here playing for the Rockets. Exactly how many more YEARS will we have to wait before they finally show up?
Where is this crap about TMac being a selfish coming from? TMac's assist numbers are not that far off from Francis's, and he's not even a point guard. Also, it's dumb to imply that TMac doesn't care about playing, and that's he's in it just for the money. Have you seen how many times he has tried to go out on the court, without being fully healed? The dude wants to play and win, bad. Unfortunately, his injuries aren't letting him. The only realistic caveat to the Francis/Mobley-TMac trade is Tmac's injury history, which is serious. We essentially traded an A- (Francis), B+ (Mobley), and B (Cato) for an A+ (TMac). B players are a dime a dozen, and B+ players can be had, with a little luck (e.g. Sura last year). A+ players virtually impossible to get. What we need now is a little luck where we unearth a B+, and we'll clearly be better than the Francis' era Rox. IMHO, championship teams aren't simply good -- they're also lucky in personnel. Most championship teams uncover a hidden gem with a late round pick or lucky trade slightly b4 they win the championship (Cassell, Elie, Tayshaun Prince, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobilli). We had that with Mike James -- unfortunately Rafer is reversing the trend. Last but not least -- personally I thought last season's Rox had our most exciting season in the last 6 years. But that's because I like winning basketball, not streetball.
Thats your opinon and I respect it, but Franchise went out there and played his out heart out day and night(Whether hurt or not). Rockets have no passion now, and they took away something that couldve been great with that trade. 5 yeard from now, I hope I can say you were right.
Rednene, Your assumption is that the Rockets are losing because the trade to get T-Mac made the team weaker. WRONG! We became a better team, as evidenced by the fact that we made it to Game 7 of the 1st round, and would have made it to the 2nd round, IMHO, if Juwon Howard had not gotten hurt late in the regular season and then developed a heart condition. Our problems have nothing to do with with the T-Mac trade, unless you are saying that T-Mac's bad back is the problem. Other than that, the reason why we are losing is because our supporting cast has changed too much. Exactly why this is bad, I can't articulate very well. Last season Sura was huge for us, as were Barry and Wesley in stretches. We had Mike James, too. But Sura got hurt, Barry ain't playing, and we trade James to get Alston. Now we suck trying to win games with just Yao while T-Mac sits out hurt. If this season proves anything, its that most people on this BBS get sick of me when I point out that Yao Ming isn't a franchise player. You cannot build a team around him because he cannot carry his team. Without a healthy T-Mac, we will not make it to the playoffs. -P1st, S2nd
