The Rockets seem like the little engine that could. They have games where everything goes smoothly and then they have games where nothing goes in the hole. Everyone around here keeps getting focused on YOF ROF TOF BlahBlahOF... Who gives a crap at this point. I think our obvious goal is the same, we all want the Rockets to bring us to the pinnacle of the basketball world. As I sit back and read the posts here lately, it seems split that half hate Yao and the other half just quite havent decided yet what they think. Those half are stuck on the fence waiting to see if he pans out or if he is just going to become a Rik Smits type of player. Who knows what his career holds at this point. From tonights game I dont think anyone can really complain at his effort. Sorry I just felt like getting that off my chest. Okay now on to the topic at hand. What are we to do? We have built this team to have Yao and Tmac carry the workload. I dont see a problem there. Now the pieces that are surrounding this tandem are the problem in the games we lose. Yao has his on and off nights as do many other players in the league especially for players that play year around and are only in their third season in the NBA. Tmac has been even better than I had expected, the stigma of him not being a team player and playing as if he doesnt really care have not shown while he has been a Rocket. Sura, I'm beginning to get dissappointed in his play. He, along with most of the other guys on the squad need to really work on getting the ball into the post quickly and stop hesitating and allowing the defense to get setup on the play almost everytime own the floor in the half court offense. Yeah he has a bad leg and he is coming off of surgery but please just learn to make a quick entry pass. Howard has picked his game up and I'll leave him at that. He is hitting his midrange straight away jumper more regularly. Wesley/Barry have been disappointing to say the least, I expected a lot more mid range and three point shots to be falling. Barry has the tenacity and the fire that we have been lacking ever since Elie left us. Wesley has only had mabey one or two good games since joining us, so why hasnt VanGuny swapped them and have Barry start over Wesley? The bench has been stcuk in second gear all season with spurts here and there but never a consistancy that allows them to make the defenses actually play a normal defense. Hmm... after the last couple of games I'm at a loss of what to think about my beloved Rockets. I think we should stay pat with the squad we have unless someone wants to take Mo or Wesly off our hands. Very doubtful to say the least. We need to have a players only meeting soon and decide who is coming to play hard every night on every play. JVG needs to have the players work on entry passes, NO it doesnt have anything to do witht the fronting schemes or the zones that we are facing. Watch closely and you will see at least 5 to 7 times a game that Yao or Tmac go down on the block and seal there defender only to have Sura or some other player hesitate and allow the defense to get set back up and deny the entry pass. Another helpful thing will be to run more...STOP playing half court ball every freaking time down the court. Okay... feedback time, I'm tired of venting.
okay well let me rephrase that then... a third hate ming, a third love ming only and the final third are sitting back and waiting things out which i have no problem with.
I think there is a very small amount if any that actually hate Yao. - Why don't you just call out the "Haters", who are they, who is this third you speak of, cause I don't think they are real?
I don't think anyone really hates yao. At least not anyone reasonable. However, a few on this board realize that he is not dominant and may never become dominant. He will be the second best center in the league and the second best player on our team for the forseeable future which is good but it doesn't warrant building a team around him.
This is one of the reason why I hardly post... Every topic ends up in some sort of Yao thread which is not what the main point of this thread was. My comment was a generalization not based on fact. Does that help you?
no kidding - most of us who like the big fella, don't chime in (or even read through) all the ridiculous trade Yao, don't sign Yao, etc posts Do not judge ROCKET fans by the posters on this board. You will find that most Rocket fans like Yao and appriciate when he has a good night (like tonight)
Well it is like the election process - if you do not vote "your voice will not be heard". You have to post as often as you can so that differing opinions will be heard otherwise casual visitors will think that the majority want JVG fired or Yao traded. Civil discourse is hard to come by these days because we are saddled with out biases and ulterior motives. We are always at each others throat. Wink, you asked what do we do now? Just keep fighting and stay focused. We will end up back in the playoffs this season. We just have to be seeded favorably so that we can be matched up against a team that we match up well enough on the floor. Major changes will not occur until the offseason with hopefully some more younger and lively/active players like Badiane, Bobby Jackson, Stromile, Spanoulis etc. We cannot do much now in terms of player changes - but we can improve cohession and chemistry by continuing to focus on the positives than negatives.
Ok...Here it is. We're an old team. The exec's of this team know this. We went after the guys we thought would help us do the best we can this year, to build for next. If we do well this year it's a bonus. Next year we will have more $ to play with, and more key guys to hire. I have known this from the start of the season. It's just that no person in the org. wanted to put the rebuilding tag on this team. Don't get me wrong, I think this team can do very well, but I know they're and old team, and this is what happens to an old team off a back-to-back...not to mention the fact that Yao has played like sh$%. Mostly due to the fact that, Yao does not like VG, and does not like the moves the team has made. I hope that there is a change in the coaching staff, or else...there will be a change at center.
How does getting a bunch of old guys help us rebuild for next year? Guys like Sura, Wesley, Howard, Ward, etc. are not going ot get any better. Their best days are far behind them.
The first is a fairly easy one to answer. Wesley has started 86% of the games in his career. Barry has come off the bench 95% of the games in his career. While you could swap them, they're both overwhelmingly used to a certain role. I'm willing to give it time. I agree wholeheartedly about the bench. Last year, Mo Taylor would come off the bench and score 10-15 points. I think he was easily considered one of the top 5 6th men in the league, and almost certainly the best offensive big man off the bench. This year, his play has been pretty horrid, and outside Mutombo, no one has really even played to what they have done in their careers (save Barrett, who has been impressive for an undrafted rookie). This team shows the flashes, and certainly hasn't been together nearly long enough to say one thing or another about it. I suspect we continue to tinker with the roleplayers for the next year or two.
TMac and Deke are the only guys who have played consistent for us. Yao/Howard/MoT/Sura/Barry/Wesley have been terribly inconsistent for us to be successful. We need Yao to come out every game and impose his will. Yes, bad calls have taken him out of games, but Yao isn't playing nearly as well as we expected him to this season. Guys like Howard and MoT need to be a more consistent rebounder and be able to hit that open jumper more than often. Our guards (Sura, Barry, Wesley) have all turned into streaky shooters for us. We need these guys to make their shots, its simple. We brought these guys in to make shots that TMac and Yao provide them, and for the most part, they aren't shooting well for us. There is no way we can win games if our guard rotation shoots 4-17. I quoted this in another thread, but I think it really sums up our season so far. "The only thing conistent about us is our inconsistency." We aren't going to go anywhere if we have a couple good games and then a couple bad games. I mean, we shot .077% from 3-point!!!!!
