Rockets return to glory days?

Rockets ready to return to glory days?
Pieces may be in place for resurgence in HoustonCOMMENTARY
By Josh Dumond
NBCSPORTS.com

Yao Ming is Hakeem Olajuwon. Tracy McGrady is Clyde Drexler. Jeff Van Gundy is Rudy Tamjanovich.

This sounds like a clichéd, road to the NBA title, made-for-television flick, doesn’t it? Fortunately for Houston Rockets fans, this year’s team may have the tools to turn that proverbial movie into original reality TV.

With the offseason acquisitions of McGrady, Juwan Howard, Dikembe Mutombo, Tyronn Lue, Charlie Ward and Bob Sura, it is evident that the ‘04-‘05 Rockets strikingly resemble the back-to-back Houston title teams of the mid ‘90s.

The uniforms are different. Players and coaches have come and gone, and the Rockets no longer play in the friendly confines of The Summit. Heck, the only constant during the past 10 years has been the raucous presence of the fans, but that may be the only constant needed for this team to win its third NBA title and raise its first championship banner in the Toyota Center.

While Olajuwon was the NBA’s version of the Nigerian Nightmare, Yao can now be considered as the league’s Chinese Chairman of the Board. Sure, Yao does not average the 21.8 points per game that Olajuwon did, and he definitely doesn’t showcase a move like the ‘Dream Shake.’ But his continuous improvement in rebounding, blocking, and defending indicate that he will be a player to reckon with.

More importantly, Yao has a better inside supporting cast than Olajuwon had. The Dream received key low-block contributions from Otis Thorpe and Carl Herrera, but he did not have a towering defensive specialist named Mount Mutombo to spot him. He also did not have the scoring presence of Howard and Maurice Taylor or the versatility of Jim Jackson.

The Dream did reap the benefits of having Clyde the Glide as his superstar counterpart during the Rockets’ ’95 title run, but Yao’s sidekick, Tracy McGrady, is arguably the best player in the NBA. Rather than finessing his way to the hoop, T-Mac elusively powers past defenders to the basket as if he was born to do so.

Clearly, the ‘04-‘05 Rockets have talent, but whether it will compare to the ’94 and ’95 teams remains to be seen.

Enter coach Van Gundy.

He will forever be known as the short bald man who clung onto Alonzo Mourning’s leg like a disgruntled 2-year-old during the ’98 playoffs. But let’s not forget that this guy can coach as he somehow led his eighth-seeded, injury-depleted Knicks to the ’99 NBA Finals. Van Gundy is touted around the league as a player’s coach who stresses defense, and now, like Rudy T, he finally has the talent to utilize his strengths and develop a cohesive team that plays tenacious ‘D’ night after night.

Unlike the many unsuccessful shows such as “Joe Millionaire” and “Married by America,” this year’s Rockets have the ingredients to be a reality hit and win the NBA title again. The players and coaches just have to concoct the right mix to do so.

 

That article is just bad overall...when did Hakeem average 21.8 points? Not during the championship years! If he writes the whole article based on a comparison to those championship teams, why does he use skewed (because they include the Toronto years) career stats?