Right now...the lowest moment in franchise history?

Since you're a newcomer, i remember the Rockets trading the nba mvp moses malone for a pack of smokes in 83. Afterward, we had the worse record in basketball ,but it netted us Ralph then Later after another tank job Hakeem, thus the lottery was created.

 

You just need a little sunshine in your life.
Fran sucks!

 

I have to agree with the notion Fran Blinebury sucks. This guy is one of the biggest bandwagoners I've ever seen. This is the same guy who praised the Rockets back during the glory days and now kicks the team when their down. But thats not the only thing, this is the same guy who will praise the Astros, even after a meltdown in the playoffs, and all Fran has to say is,"well they gave it the old college try, maybe next year". I'm tired of reading Fran's articles, so I take what he writes with a grain of salt.

 

don't know if it's the lowest moment, but it is a very pivotal year IMO.
This year, either we show signs of improvement, or something drastic must happen in the next off season.

By improvement I don't mean, we have to take on the Lakers in the Western Conf. Playoffs, but begin to show an understanding in offensive and defensive concepts, team play, and all the other things that make up a successful NBA team.

 

as rockets fans, we can try to spin it and gloss over it as much as we want...but if it isn't the worst period in fracnhise history, it's in the top 3 or so. this is a pretty proud franchise. I started really watching the Rockets in 5th grade...that was 1985. From 1985-1995, they were in the NBA Finals 3 times. There aren't just a ton of teams that can say that. But today, they've now missed the PLAYOFFS 3 years straight. That's not so hot considering more teams make the playoffs than don't make the playoffs!!! They're fairly restricted from a salary cap perspective, so they really don't have the flexibility to significantly dig their way out of this hole without some real creativity.

I LOVE the Rockets. But I think it's real easy to say, "Fran's a jerk!" Remember...Fran predicted the Rockets would win the title when no one else in the media gave them a snowball's chance in hell. He called Rockets over Knicks in 7 games at the start of the 93/94 season.

And he coddles the Astros??? please...i've read him trashing the 'stros on more than one occasion...particularly after the playoffs!!!

 

This is definitely the lowest moment since Blinebury climbed onto the wagon. That's why he's getting off.

 

The '82-'83 season when they traded Moses was the lowest point of this season. We only won 14 games in the '82-'83 season after winning something like 40+ the season before! That hurt. It was a double-whammy because we lost Moses and turned into the suckiest team that ever sucked all at once. Imagine a team where your highest scoring player averaged about 15 ppg.

 

The day the front office decided not to pursue Webber and sign Mo Taylor instead

 

I always thought the Supersonics and their "Conspiracy" zone defense in the early 90's were pretty low. Granted, we were in the playoffs, but I thought we would never get by those guys. Thank goodness for the Denver Nuggets!

 

I spent some time on NBAdraft.net this morning trying to kill a little time before my finals. I strolled over to the draft history for a quick look at who we've gotten. Our previous drafts have been really interesting, and quite pathetic in a sense. You have to believe that the lack of talent we have recieved through it is one of the main reasons we are in such a "slump" the past few seasons. I will explain why:

2001 Draft: traded 3 first round picks for Eddie Griffin. Ultimately, we will see the fruits of this trade b/c I believe he could be one of the top players in the league in a few seasons. BUT, with 3 picks in round one, the Rockets could have steadily and readily improved their overall team talent, which is something we desperately need!

2000 Draft: granted, this draft was top-heavy and didn't have a lot of depth, but at the #9 pick overall, we could have really nabbed a great producer. This draft is one where we really could have used another impact player to keep the franchise's "up and coming" and "explosive" statuses rolling, yet we picked, awfully and took steps backwards. The Rockets originally picked center Joel Przybilla but quickly traded him for Jason Collier and an undisclosed pick. Joel-P isn't really a prize at this stage of his career, but is leaps and bounds above Collier. Collier is and has been abysmal and needs to be cut. What a wasted pick. The we go and pick Langhi high in rnd. 2. It was like we had no talent scouts, and no player evaluation at the time. We could have gotten players like Jamal Magloire, Courtney Alexander, Turkaglu, Qunentin Richardson, or MoPeterson, with our pick.

1999 Draft: of course we got Francis from this draft, but we didn't draft him! Vancouver did.....and we all know the rest. We did come away with him, so some props have to be given to the organization, however, Francis orchestrated most of the trade with his displeasure of playing above the border. Anyways, ourpick was at #22 (pretty low) and we came out with KT. Not bad; would be great with a couple of extra inches in height. We did pass on players like Kirilenko, and Jumaine Jones, but overall-pretty good pick. Does anyone know who Tyrone Washington or Venson Hamilton are? These were our 2nd round picks!!!!

1998 Draft: Don't get me started! None of our 3 first rounders remain on our team. Michael Dickerson was a good pick at #14 and turned out even better b/c he was traded to the Grizz, along with Brent Price, and Othella Harrington and picks for Franchise. Nonetheless, our OTHER two first rounders, Bryce Drew, and Mirsad Turckan, at decent slots, are not in Rockets' uniforms NO MO! Plus we could have traded those 2 picks or all 3 for a chance at #9 Nowitzki, #10 Paul Pierce, #11 Bonzi Wells, #13 Keon clark. We did get the draft steal in Cuttino, in the 2nd round however!!!

1997 Draft: 1st Round pick Roddrick Rhodes, no longer with the team; #1 overall pick of the 2nd round: Serge Zwikker, who? NO LOMGER WITH THE ORGANIZATION!!!! Is there a certain trend going onn here?? Cato was drafted at #15 but by Dallas, not us.

1996 Draft: No first round selection. 2nd rd. picks Othella Harrington, Randy Livingston, and Terrell Belle NO LONGER affiliated with the Rockets!

1995 Draft: only pick was in the 2nd round: Erik Meek, who's, unfortunately not on the team anymore. What a shocker!

1994 Draft: No first rounders, and another guy, not worth mentioning, that doesn't play for the Rockets anymore.

Sorry this has been so long.....I just wanted to prove a point that the best way to build a franchise is through a draft, and the Rockets have been pretty bad at doing that over the years. Don't get me wrong, free agency has been good and bad for us, it's just that the Rockets have not really capitalized on talented players in the draft over the past few years (EG and Cat are exceptions), which is a really big reason for this slump.

talented players = talented teams = winning

 

Holden, is there a reason you put the sad smily face at the end of every single one of your posts?

 

Two words for you: Boston Celtics.

Those guys are the single proudest and most storied franchise in NBA history. *16* NBA championships. Before this season? Nothing but miles and miles of missed playoffs as far as the eye can see.

2000-01 36 46 .439
1999-00 35 47 .427
1998-99 19 31 .380
1997-98 36 46 .439
1996-97 15 67 .183
1995-96 33 49 .402
1994-95 35 47 .427
1993-94 32 50 .390
1992-93 48 34 .585

All things considered (even including this mess of a season), this rebuilding has gone pretty well, and this "hiatus" has been a mere bump in the road.

 

No, it's not.

 

Don't jinx it. It could get worse.

 

RNuss, your critique of the Rockets draft choices is comical.

It's much easier to look back on drafts to see who we SHOULD have picked. Hindsight is 20-20. All teams make mistakes.

Blaming them for not having their 2nd round picks work out, in the championship years no less, is ridiculous. You do know that most 2nd rounders don't pan out right? Esp late 2nd rounders.

Harrington was a hella good pick, and the only reason he isn't on our team is because he was good tradebait to help net us Francis. Livingston might have been good had he not blown out his knee(did pretty good in the playoffs this year too). Rhodes was a good athlete, but never worked on his game offensively. Still he helped us net Sam Mack in a trade to help in our playoff run that year. Drew was picked because the Rocks desperately needed a pg. Turkan was a bad pick, but they traded him for a pick we later used to obtain Terrance Morris with, so big deal. KT was a great pick. Oh how the Lakers wished they could have switched places with us that year to nab him. Pryz is not light years ahead of anyone, and that "undisclosed pick" helped us to have enought picks to get Griffin the next year, so good trade. They wanted Etan Thomas, but he was taken 2 picks before, so they gambled on Collie hoping he could be a center(a position they REALLY needed to fill that year) that could hit jumpers to stretch the defense. Langhi was not a bad 2nd round selection, he just didn't work out here. That draft class pretty much sucked overall. And as far as Griffin, I still think we stole him from NJ. I'll take a potential franchise player over 3 average players ANYDAY.

 

The Lakers certainly prove how important the draft is.

In fact lets see how three of the top teams were built.

Lakers - Shaq, Kobe, Horry, Fox all trades or FA. Phil Jackson FA.

Mavs - Nowitski, Nash, Finley, all trades, though Nowitski was a draft day trade same for Najera. Lafrenz, VanExcel trades.

Kings - Webber, Divacs, Bibby and the off guard who is like my favorite player - but I can't think of his name - all trades unless Webber was a FA.

 

Doug Christie, right? Wish he played for the Rocks.

 

Crisco and Pat, your assessments are very correct. I do agree with them. The reason for my earlier post was to try to get that type of feedback b/c I was skeptical about some of our picks. I also already know that few 2nd rounders work out like a Mobley.

I guess the real question is: how do we free up cap space to sign talented additions to the team via free agency, and will our new stadium, core of players, coach to player relationships, ownership, etc. be enough to lure top quality talent??

 

I have been a Rockets fan since Rudy played, and, from a fan perspective, I think this team plays the most boring, uninteresting, and unexciting brand of basketball I have ever seen including High School and College. I have seen Rocket's teams lose more consistently, but I have never followed a more frustrating and less entertaining Rocket's team. Yes, we have hit bottom. I think all the editorials on the team have been dead on. Dream on, fantasy boys!