1995 Rockets were the #6 seed and got hot at the right time. I'll take an 8th seed over higher draft picks any day of the week.
Go Rockets! Hey, I bet we'd have at least a 20% chance of beating the Spurs which is good enough for me.
The Rockets win two games against playoff teams that are each missing a huge piece of their team and 1 against a team who like the Rockets has a number of good players but no stars but is jelling, and then all of a sudden people think the Rockets have come together and will make the playoffs? Seriously, let's first see if this team as is comprised can even stay healthy, form a consistent rotation, and beat a playoff team when they are not missing a major player.
I read this as us getting another middle first round draft pick (even later than usual!). The Rockets have zero chance of making any noise in the playoffs as presently constituted, so the trip would be useless. Additionally, it would take quite a trade to make enough of a difference to change this fact. I would rather trade who we can so we can begin to retool/rebuild post-Yao.
Except we don't have the greatest center of all time on our roster and an all-star guard to go with him. And a supporting cast of championship role players. At this point, we're better off making the playoffs and at least ending the season on a good run, since we're not going to win the lottery. Build some momentum going into next year and see what we can get in the offseason. We could even build up someone's trade value (Scola or Martin perhaps) with a solid postseason performance by them.
Thank god the 1980-81 Houston Rockets didn't have this loser mentality! They got into the play offs with a 40-42 record and made it all the way to the finals! Anything can happen once your in the playoff!!
What's the point of washing your balls if they are just going to get dirty again? Why not just kill yourself now since you will die one day? We should trade anyone worth anything to the Lakers Boston or Miami.. why not give out my ATM pin number and let the neighborhood come over and run trains on my mom?
A few weeks ago, I projected the Rockets to win 36 games for the season. Now, the projection is up to 41. It is still not enough to be in the playoffs, unless both Portland and Memphis collapse. Portland has shown that they are pretty resilient. Hard to catch up.
The Rockets are not making the playoffs this year. The top eight teams in the West now are all better than them. Sorry.
Personally, I'd rather be a Clippers, Wizards or T-Wolves fan right now (and yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds). I would at least have something positive to focus on and hope for the future. Really? We won because we pulled together as a team? It didn't have anything to do with having not one but two of the greatest players that ever stepped foot on an NBA court? I don't care how much this team pulls together as a team, the BEST they can hope for is to barely squeak into the playoffs. What's funny about this point is that even you no that it's so inapplicable to this team that you follow it up with... There may be some truth to that. But our time will never come without an actual superstar player. And while it has always been difficult to acquire that superstar, it's harder than ever now that they all seem to want to gang up on the same major market teams. We've just seen it with the super friends in Miami and Amare going to the Knicks with plans to have his friends Melo and CP3 join him there. And now, for probably the first time ever, a player is not only demanding a trade prior to free agency, but has literally chosen his destination. The traditional list of acceptable destinations is out the window. It's New York or bust. And literally the only other superstars that may be available in the future are saying the same kind of thing. Chris Paul is known to want to go join Amare and Melo in New York and Dwight Howard apparently recently said he would be interested in playing there too. Nobody is talking about joining our core of solid role players. Historically, championship teams have almost always drafted their superstar, but that seems to have changed for the major market teams. Unfortunately, we're not one of those teams. No. If we're going to acquire a superstar, a true franchise saving superstar, we're going to have to draft him. I don't care how slim the chances of that are. That's not completely invalid but you're still reaching. Especially since Les has never been afraid to pay. Besides, if we maintain a roster like we currently have, with loads of A plus role players but no stars, we're not going to have the cap room to lure in a big free agent even if one appears on the market. No matter how financially successful a team is, the cap is still there. And we have no idea how that'll work in the next CBA. If there is a single GM out there who needs the televised playoffs to know about our players, he should be fired IMMEDIATELY. I mean, never mind that I'd expect every single GM to have league pass. I'd also expect them to have scouts, analysts, statisticians, and people compiling footage of every single player for the scouts and management. The ONLY possible advantage to our players receiving the exposure that comes with the playoffs is that if a player performs well in the playoffs it makes it easier for a GM to sell the fans on them being a positive acquisition. HOWEVER, you failed to acknowledge the flip side of that coin. If we go into the playoffs and get consistently destroyed and our players DON'T step up and perform, does that hurt their value in the minds of fans and GMs alike? For example, if Kevin Martin is terrible in the playoffs because he can't get the calls he gets in regular season games, does his trade value plummet? ***************************************** I doubt it. But I welcome you to try. I am still waiting for somebody to sell me on this concept. Flip the script, homie. Could it not be equally likely (or even more so) that you don't want to see the true value of being at the top of the lottery because losing is painful? P.S. We essentially have been stuck in mediocrity ever since Dream hung up his sneakers. It isn't Yao's fault his body wouldn't hold up. And hell, it wasn't even entirely T-Mac's fault that his body didn't hold up either. But consequently, our teams have pretty much always been just good enough to be an 8th or 9th seed but have we ever gotten out of the first round? Yeah. Once. I'm tired of it. I am actually to the point I yearn for the early days of Steve Francis, when I still had hope that we had a franchise player in the making and a future ahead of us. If that isn't sad, I don't know what is. P.P.S. I won't bother responding further to this topic, as I've expressed most of my views on the topic here: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=198089&highlight=jmwilliamson but every now and again I have to step in and back up a guy like Raven.
"Rockets make the playoffs" LMAO! the're recent winning streak(except Memphis) was a fluke... Utah- were missing Deron Williams and AK47 Nuggets- were missing Chauncey Billups(for most of the game) and Nene.. This team is not playoff bound, accept it!
Making it to the playoffs even as an 8th seed would be huge for building the confidence of players. To make it, we need DEN, MEM, and PHO to drop out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that DEN will deal Melo (even to NY) so that they fall out of the race. We just have to worry about MEM against whom we have the tiebreak. That assumes though we take care of winning.
Rockets can still win the championship, heres how: man, if we were still in the hunt for the playoffs..id be smashing windows and ripping encyclopedias right now.........-_-'' but it just goes to show our team is a F2(uking r****ded ensemble of scrubs (apart from martin and scola)... no rebounding, no hustle, no free-spirited will, no energy, and a whole bunch of chucked up 3's with no ***@9ng athleticism or style. here is what we gotta do!! battier to okc or chicago for a first round pick (charlotte's or la clippers') brooks + hill + budinger + 2011 lottery pick for Rubio + one of minny's future 1sts buy a pick in the draft around the 20's. trade hayes for a future 1st..his value is at an all-time high and we are not gonna get any better deals for him trade yao + jefferies for a bunch of 2012 expiring veterans - andres nocioni, antawn jamison, kirk hinrich lowry/hinrich martin/lee williams/nocioni scola/patterson miller that team will win about 25 games in the west let the tanking begin!!
Rockets will still make the playoffs... as a 6th seed. This was the Philadelphia game. Blind optimism for the win.
