OK, I felt the same thing that <b>thacabbage</b> said about this whole season being a HUGE waste. But, I'm just going to have a bad taste in my mouth, if I don't think about (1) what went wrong, and what we CAN do to change it, and (2) what was GOOD about this season. Sorta like in the Sound of Music, when they sang, "These are a few of my favorite things." I figure we'll spend much of this off-season prognosticating what we ought to do to make things better, and there will be people better than I who will detail that, and hopefully insiders like Doc Rocket and Oeilpere who will tell us what the Rockets will do about it. I know there deserves to be a whole bunch of threads which tell us all the bad, and we do need to rant and rave, but, as a part of balance, help me figure out what has been GOOD about this season, OK? I'll get us started... 1) HUMILITY: The public humiliation of bragging that they were so good, and had a goal of making the playoff, and then not making it, will cause some humility in the Rocket players. Next year, they will come back, knowing they have something to prove. Perhaps they will work harder in the off-season, knowing that talent alone won't get them there. Perhaps, they will listen to coaches now, or learn from others who've made it. They have no excuses about injuries. They just didn't show the heart of champions. Maybe now they'll learn. Also, since things went so badly, noone can complain if we do what it takes to change things around, whether that is trading, training, or new strategies. 2) DEFENSE: They were horrible last year. They turned it around almost immediately at the beginning of this year. Once they started trying to run it through Ming, they lost that, but it showed that if they focused on it, they could quickly change it. I think they can have an excellent defense next year, if they work hard on it. 3) HEALTHY: No injuries. Big change from last year. Noone having to get over injuries this offseason. They can just work on getting better. Taylor has fully recovered. Boki has fully recovered. Francis' ear problems seem to be over (although I wonder if he had problems in the last few weeks, that we haven't heard about). As long as noone gets injured in the off-season like Taylor did, we'll go into the season next year with healthy players, who will all have gone through training camp together. 4) MING: Ming turned out to better than anyone thought he would. It was just a delight to watch him. Remember that jai-lai pass off the floor? He's turned out to be intelligent, have incredible court sense, constantly improved and adapted, and could be one of the best number one picks in a long time. We have the next best thing to Shaq! He overcame the language and cultural barriers amazingly. As long as the Chinese don't wear him out, he will only get better and better. He's truly a franchise player, and I think he'll be a superstar, and refute all the critics, just as he did this year. He also brought a lot of respect to the Rockets. As a result of Ming and Steve, many are claiming the Rockets will win many future championships. 5) PAJAMAS: This is the last year in those danged pajama uniforms. Of course they'll look and act young, if you parade your team in pajamas. Look how they played when they put on the adult retro uniforms. They blasted the Magic. No more uniform humiliation! lol 6) CATO: Did anyone expect Cato to become a snarling, agressive, tough guy as a backup center? He actually came to play, and earned his pay. He could really have some trade value now... Although, I didn't ever think I'd say it, I think I'd rather keep him. (as long as Rice keeps him pumped up. Trade Rice, trade Cato) 7) DISUNITY: OK, addition by subtraction. For whatever reason, it doesn't appear that Steve would bolt if we traded his buddies. He actually has offered to play SG. He seems to realize the Cat won't get him to the championship. Now, we have freedom to trade Cuttino for a player that better fits this team. I don't see how we could trade Moochie, but now we could. We could probably even trade TMo, if we wanted to. Since things have gone the way they have, we can probably make all sorts of moves, without losing Stevie Franchise. Anything is better than what we just went through. I don't think we should, but Houston could even trade Stevie, and the fans wouldn't revolt. The management, coaches, players, and especially the fans, want things to change! <b>Ok, add to the list. </b> I need to think of some good things, to offset all this bad stuff going through my head. (And, if you want to rant, which we ALL DO, go to the other hundred threads for that.)
Add Rice to #3. Aside from a pretty brief (for him) stint on the IR, he's been healthy for the first time as a Rocket. The improved play of Cato, Taylor and Rice tie Yao's quick development as the best things about the season to me. With the exception of Moochie (now our worst contract), we're deeper than we have been in a long time.
You pretty much covered it all. But I found a small glimmer of hope in the fact that towards the end of the season, the Rockets seemed to be getting comfortable with their individual roles on the team. Cato coming in as a high-impact backup. Taylor settling in as kind of clutch offense. Cuttino managed to shoulder the defensive burden when his shooting was messed up with the finger injury. Even Posey seemed to be finding ways to contribute to the team's offense. Of course, there's still a looooooooooong way to go in this area. On many nights the Rockets played just as poorly as they had brilliantly the night before. I for one don't expect any SHOCKING changes to be made in the offseason. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cat and possibly Eddie or Mo get dealt for god-knows-what. But, Steve and Yao are going to be around for years. With the benefit of a desperate offseason and training camp next year, hopefully this team will enter next season with a sense of itself and some real hunger that seemed so lacking many of the times we really needed it after beating Phoenix the last time.
no more pajammas. i mean, we play like were half asleep so i guess theyre fitting unis. but its time to wake up and play next year
