SI.Com-Rox one of five teams that have taken a step backwards this offseason

I hate this article because I know Kelly is just calling it as he sees it, and I respect his perspective.

Nonetheless, I think the Rockets are actually a better team this year than they were last year. I'll take Battier, Snyder, Novak and Spanoulis over Wesley, Swift, Bogans and Lampe any day of the week.

 

I think (and Kelly can correct me if I am wrong) that Kelly is a Bulls fan but he has always provided solid takes on all teams. I guess that is why he is able to get his articles in SI. But everything he says is true, so I have no problem with it. If anything, he might be a little more optimistic than me. But even if I disagreed with it, I couldn't hold that against him...he has good musical tastes, especially with Queen.

 

I kinda like this guy

 

KD, stop stealing my posts or start sending me a check!

Seriously, I think he's 100% right. We have crying needs in areas that we didn't address in a satisfactory fashion, and we overpaid for Battier.

Not a good offseason for a team that needed one.

 

Everything depends on the health of TMac and Yao. If those 2 are at full strength, everything else falls into place for us.

 

That analysis is dead on.

 

We still need some more athleticism on this team. In terms of depth, we've done a tremendous job. Again, we NEED some athleticism.

 

I guess 50+ wins doesnt cut it anymore as being a good team..

Looks like we need to strive for a 60+ win next season or we are a bust in front of SI's eyes.

 

"That analysis is dead on."

Agreed, and he doesn't get into JL III and Sura as good possibilities to improve the team further. A lot really depends on TMac's health.

 

Can this team win if T-mac goes down again? I hope the answer is yes because we've acquired some nice young players, but last year even with Yao the Rockets couldn't even beat the bad teams.

I hope T-mac and Yao stay off the side lines this year or it's going to be another long season.

 

I think the most important point is that with a healthy McGrady, this team will still win 50 games. The homers will point to the addition of Battier & co. when the results will just be of status quo. This team needed to make the jump from pretty good to elite, and the front office still hasn't been able to put together a decent supporting cast year 3 into the experiment.

Bobby Sura and Mike James were much better than any 2 role players on this team.
Padgett was Novak-best-case-scenario.
Juwon is even worse than before.
McGrady is much worse.
Yao will be better but it remains to be seen whether he can maintain a high level of play.

So once again, we're banking on contributions from 3 "inknown commodities" in Snyder, Hayes, and V-Span. Terrible offseason thus far.

 

It's okay though, we have an awesome coach who can get more out of his players.

 

What? Players usually decline under Van Gundy in terms of production, defensively, now that's another story.

 

Well that is assuming our 2 main stars don't miss significant time again. The Rockets' biggest problem last season, other than the injuries to Yao and McGrady, was the lack of a 3rd scoring option. I mean, other teams' endure injuries to their stars and although they struggle without them, they don't go 2-18 or whatever it was when Yao and/or T-Mac was out. Look at the Miami Heat and their role players - Payton, Mourning, Damon Jones, etc. These are guys that were solid starters at one time in their careers and some were even all-stars. Can you say that about the Rockets' role players? Guys like Ryan Bowen, Chuck Hayes, Juwan Howard, Lampe, etc? Obviously, not - we probably have 3 starters that could start for any other team in the league (McGrady, Yao, and Battier) and 2 starters that are obvious bench players on the good teams (Howard or Snyder and Alston).

Throw in the fact that the Rockets gave way too much up for Battier, couldn't sign Mike James, never really addressed their weakness at the 4 spot, and that management kept telling us fans that the team was in "win-now" mode, thus the reason for trading Rudy Gay. Yet, they can't commit to a trade kicker to get Mike James AND they decide to sign an unproven Euro player in V-Span. Hell, they aren't in "win-now" mode - they are in the mode that they are always in - "don't know what the hell we are doing, we make it up as we go". And people (the realistic fans) on this board see this immediately and it frustrates the hell out of us.

 

Who were the other 4?

 

this is what i most agree on

just curious, would it be possible if we did keep rudy, let him prove himself in the summer league, then start fielding offers for him and whoever and see if we can get a real 3rd option out of it?..

 

i like how he interprets a 50-win season as a step back for a team that won 34 last year.

the offseason isn't over....

Yao 2006 > Yao 2005
Battier > Howard
Hayes > Swift
Synder > Head
Spanoulis > Brunson
Lucas > Norris

oh yeah, giant step backwards

 

You haven't read many of 03's posts - he hates Van Gundy (like me but even more) with a passion and was being sarcastic.

 

Awesome, Kelly is usually as wrong as rain in August in Austin.

So....the Rockets will win it all baby !!

DD