suns fans dont you freaking get it? You had your window in 94-95 and lost to US your only chance at a championship. You beat us out by ONE game last year and Rudys cancer is what GAVE YOU the playoffs. I thank you though,because if we would have made the playoffs we would have kept Rudy and same iso,iso. Now with JVG we have the best coach in the league and will destroy you. I predict suns 8th,rockets 5th. Zach Randolph outplayed your boy Amare last week so your in trouble. zarko has done nothing. Quit having wet dreams of him that he is the next Dirk. Forget it. To weak to handle 4,to slow to play the 3. zarko cant shoot like Pike . Why is it I keep finding lately seattle fans,suns fans, memphis fans all declaring without a doubt they are better than us. Sheesh. You would think having the best young player in the league would give us more respect than that.
Blurb from Chad Ford Insider: Rockets forward Eddie Griffin, Cavs center DeSagana Diop, Nuggets swingman Rodney White, Magic center Steven Hunter, Hornets forward Kirk Haston, Raptors forward Michael Bradley and Nets guard Brandon Armstrong are the only players left from the draft class of 2001 who still haven't had their options picked up. One league source told Insider on Friday that it's still very likely that the Rockets will pick up Griffin. However, after his latest brush with the law, the Rockets must be seriously rethinking that. "We're concerned with him and his actions and his behavior, and we want what's best for him," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle. "But we also have a team to look after, so all those factors enter into the decision making. It's up to Eddie as far as his actions. But it's up to our organization to determine if he's doing what we think (he should)." http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/story?id=1648571&CMP=ILC-INHEAD
Thing is, take TD and Yao out of that post and we're actually much better than the Spurs. Hope Yao becomes a stud like Duncan soon.
Memphis has a nice team and they are a lock for #9, but unless there are major injuries, the West is a 5-3 conference and the dropoff to #9 is huge. Phoenix, Houston, Portland may finish in any order at places 6 through 8, but there is no way the Grizz can come close to that. It's true that the Grizz wasted the first 14 games and then played much better under Hubie, but the Rockets lost a lot of cheap games. Remember the first 10 games Yao looked like poorman's Frederick Weiss, and then there was the Larry Smith debacle where all the wheels came off...
I am not pissed.. I think the Houston Rockets are capable of making the playoffs this season... GOD...Chad Ford...*throws up*
The Rockets have one major trump card....Yao Ming. Please don't come back and give me Amare Stoudemire because he just does not have the type of offense that Yao Ming brings to the table nor does he affect a game the way Yao Ming does. Yao Ming is simply going to cause the same types of physical mis-matches that Shaq has. With his added weight and strength he is going to have a huge break out year. The difference from last year has been obvious to Rockets fans and flat out terrifying to non-Rockets fans that have watched Yao Ming during the pre-season. Add JVG and the fact that he has the Rockets playing damn good defense and I will not be surprised if the Rockets win 50 games this season. BTW you can average the age’s of the two teams anyway you like but Yao Ming is still going to be the most dominant basketball player on this planet for many years to come once Shaq retires and maybe even before. The best thing about that is that he plays for the Rockets.
The Rockets will make the playoffs. Is that really the issue? How long will it take before the Rockets win a playoff series - at least 3 years.
You think the West power elite will stay that untouchable for that long? Sacramento and LA are at that "window closing" stage, only Dallas and SA look like they have a 3 year title window, and even then an upset is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Sacramento's demise is overstated. Brad Miller is very, very solid. Bibby though overrated is still young and a good player. Peja will be good (shooters can play forever) and so will Christie. They have 2 big question marks: 1. Bobby Jackson (best backup PG in the league) will want a big raise. 2. Chris Webber's health. They can probably trade Jackson for a decent role player and pray on Webber. LA. Shaq can definitely go for another 3 years and so can Payton. Payton, though not as talented as Kobe, can get more players involved, including Shaq. That's a much better potential chemistry fit than Shaq/Kobe. Assuming Karl Malone can still play a solid 20 minutes /game in 3 years, they just need a little depth and they will remain dangerous. Also, Minnesota could be good for years. Garnett is a beast and if Olowakandi can uncover a smidgeon of his potential, that team could contend for a title someday. Until we crack the Top 4, we will lose because we're not a good road team and everyone above us will have played a lot more playoff games.
That is a sh-tload of assumptions to come true to think that the rox will not make it thru to the second round of the playoffs in three years.
Actually, it's not. Why? We're playing against the field. We all agree that the Rockets are a bad regular season road team. In the playoffs, that's magnified as the crowds are louder and tougher. We will definitely be wiped out this year. 2 more years? No way unless we place in the Top 4. Whether it's Dallas, SA, Minn, Lakers, Phoenix, or Sacramento is irrelevant. We have to beat out 3 of those 6 teams to get into the Top 4 and move on. No way we do it.
Sacramento is very vulnerable. Chris Webber remains as fragile as a Tiffany Egg underneath Anna Nicole Smith and they lost key bench players like Hudo, Keon Clark, Jimmy Jackson and Scott Pollard in exchange for a $65 million Brad Miller. He didn't exactly light up the center-weak east (on a team with not much less talent than the Kings). Outside of one good playoff run, Mike Bibby is not an elite guard and Vlade Divac is only getting older. Watch the Kings rip off 65 wins this year...lol. I just don't see them being a huge threat threes from now. They just don't have a superstar player they can count on in the clutch. I think the Rockets will have that in Yao and Steve. We shall see...
Are Payton or Malone even signed through 2006? Even if they were, you want to bet that they will still be around or anywhere near there current level which is clearly a notch below their respective peaks? And you're willing to bet on Shaq's health? And that's just the lakers. Your evidence that the Rockets are not a good road team in 2006 is premised on the fact that they weren't a good road team in spring of 2003 under the ancien regime, with a different roster. Again, a pretty weighty assumption. Come on, you know you are reaching here.
Payton can definitely play for another 3 years. He's a very saavy player and relies on his guile as much as he does his quickness. Shaq supposedly lost a ton of weight this offseason and he has added incentive to stay healthy for the next 3 years: He won't let Kobe Bryant have the last word. When Kobe leaves, he has too much pride for the Lakers to fail. That would mean Kobe was the real reason they had won all those championships. No way. Also, we all know that Shaq exagerrates his injuries because he hates the regular season. Is it a coicedence that he is so much better and dominant in the playoffs? Different roster? As long as Moochie Norris is our backup PG and Steve Francis is forced to play 40+ minutes, this team will suffer. It's unbelievable to me that we did not address this during the offseason.
