I liked Barkley. He took us to the Western Conference Championship. Barkley played hard and well. Plus he was entertaining. Tmac hasn't lived up to his billing. Plus I would have loved to have JUST TMAC. TMAC minus Orlandos baggage = a better trade. Here's another 'LOOK AT RUDY", but he got Tierre Brown, Brian Cook, they are playing well and hard. And they dont cost much. I like JVG but he's causing the same problem he had in NYC, a glutony of overated players.
wat makes one says that the last yr playoff is the best the ROckets team of last year can play? The one that showed up in every single game is Francis.... the other players just takes turns to dissappear on the court... granted, Francis made a costly TO in the end of Game 4.... but it still doesn't dump the fact that the other players on the team did not step up..... Yao included.... Fatigue? maybe..... no one can guarantee tat Yao will step it up in the whole of playoffs one day... or even most of the regular season games.... no one.... but YAO.......
I don't think the rockets played there best against the lakers JJ and Steve stepped up . .. and no one else did I don't think we have seen the bets of Yao probably the BEST OF YAO WITH JVG in fact those mistakes u talking about. . . . a few folx that made some crucial ones. . are still here and JVG loves them .. *cough* *cough* ball off foot and stepping out of bounds JJ *cough* Rocket River
Screw that It is NOT the Francis trade . . . it is WE GAVE UP 3/5ths of our starting Line up Trade IMO WE GAVE UP TOO MUCH!!! and received TOO LITTLE Rocket River I'm for getting Tmac. . but the cost was HIGH and we see the results on the court
Not to the same extreme but I feel the same way. We gave up why too much for what it boils down to 1 player. As good as TMac is he can't make up for the all that we lost.
It just seemed like last year we were finally starting to click and when we finally got back to the playoffs............We trade our whole team away expept for Yao and Mo. Who knows if we wouldve been better this year or not but we wouldve had a better chance for this season. The trade will be better in the long run but we need Cato or Mobley desperatly right now and it sucks. We completely ruined our teams chemistry and wasted last season pretty much with false hope for the upcoming years in our squad. In return we have what we see now........for now at least. There will be changes and we will get better. Hopefully the changes will start at the top.
You and I are basically in agreement about THIS year. Once I saw who would be playing with Yao & T-Mac, I immediately lowered my expectations for this season so I'm not as full of anger and disappointment as is others on this board. I simply didn't like the players that CD added to the roster save for Sura who immediately got hurt and only now is coming back. HOWEVER, I have grave reservations about CD & this organization possessing the knowledge, the plan & the smarts to build a championship contender given their dubious history. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but I feel that true and meaningful progress won't happen until they clean house at the top of this organization starting with the GM.
Also all of this 20-20 hindsight about the Houston-Orlando trade is bordering on the absurb. After that trade was announced, you couldn't find ONE person here who wasn't positively estatic about making that trade. Everyone was CERTAIN that the Rockets had found the new Shaq-Kobe combo. Anyone and I mean ANYONE who was not in TOTAL agreement with the trade was literally called names and shouted down on this board. Now, one MONTH into the season, the Rockets look average and folks here are in full panic mode. Just look at all the threads wanting JVG gone because the team and the players have failed to mesh and play uninspiring (and watchable) basketball. NOW, suddenly, folks are "unhappy" with the trade. There's even nostalgia for Frances & Cato - two guys for whom few tears were shed when they were shipped off to Orlando. Well what's done is done and it's time for all of this whining to stop because whether you like it or you don't like it, GET USED TO IT because this is the way it's going to be until Uncle Les wakes up and gets someone in here who has both a plan AND a clue as to how to put together a winning team.
i never liked the trade I understood it . .. but i did not like it I like SF I liked Cat and Cato The trade basically set us back AT LEAST a year I felt that this year with SF and Yao . . and anothe r year of jelling gelling whateverthef*cktheword is .,. . they would DEFINATELY makes the 2nd round but I'm not sure about this one Rocket River
Glyyde & Rocket River: You two were DEFINITELY in the minority I talked about. I myself was not totally in agreement on the ancillary aspects of the trade: trading away Cato for Juwann Howard (an average, short PF) and for getting Reece Gaines (a PG who can't play the PG position) as a throwin to make the deal work. Ever since we made that trade, we have needed a PG & PF. But at that time folks here didn't want to be objective about the trade nor was there ANY tolerance for those few who dared to look at this deal with a critical eye. I got blasted for pointing out the shortcomings of Howard, Gaines, Lue and even T-Mac. Well now that the Rockets are struggling big time, the majority of those folks who OD'd on the red koolaid are now filled with anger and frustration and the majority of their finger pointing is being directed at JVG and this trade. While he's certainly not blameless here, he's not the major reason why this team is struggling. That blame goes to those running this franchise. Getting T-Mac was a great move. Not doing much of anything to put the right mix of players around him and Yao (all the while doing it on the cheap) was dumb and you are now seeing the worst case scenario. In a sense, not one of us here should be the least bit surprised at the current sad state of events. All you have to is go back and look at CD's tenue as GM and you'll see exactly what you're seeing now. As if wrote earlier: learn to live with it because it's not going to get any better as long as CD is running things.
indeed, getting Tmac is a great move.... but after that, Rockets just didn't do enough to finish off what they started..... I really hope they acquired someone by trade of FA this offseason (get rid of JVG as well).... as it is, this Rockets team is damn hard to watch now......
Patience is a virtue. Getting TMac was only the first of a number of moves necessary to bring another set of championships to Houston. We made the first move this off-season. It'll take a couple years to get to a championship caliber probably , although they could gel and make beleivers out of us by the end of the season. If you had that trade to do over again, we'd all do it in a hearbeat. I'm glad ORL is doing well with Francis. That's a credit to our team, and the viability of this trade. But, in the long term, this trade will pay off huge. Everyone just has to get used to each other. I would have loved for HOU to somehow have traded Howard/Gaines to CHI for Chandler/Duhon and utilize Chandler for depth, starting Duhon, giving him a chance to develop. Our record would probably be worse, but we'd be farther down the rebuilding trail. Probably, JVG is working to build value from the players we have ... and perhaps this this will still happen this winter. We need a PF with muscle and rebounding prowess. We need Boki to step up at SF. We need a good playmaking PG. We have limited pieces to accomodate that, and that will take time to pull off, but the biggest piece to the puzzle has been found and put in place. I expect Howard, Taylor, Lue, and perhaps Gaines to be used with our TE and draft picks to add the additional pieces we need. In the meantime, TMac is getting used to JVG's defensive system, and everyone is out of synch. It'll be later in the year, but they'll gel, and get to some exciting ball. This isn't instant pudding. We're building a team that'll be great. Enjoy the rebuilding process!
you're short-sighted, RR. this trade wasn't about THIS year. the team you see on the court right now very clearly is not a championship contender. did you honestly think they would be?? if so, you fooled yourself. the idea of this trade was to pair up Yao and T-Mac for years to come, putting pieces around them as they went. you guys with the inflated expectations pre-season...and then doomsday approach during the season..just kill me.
Max, I understand that this trade is the future, but there is no defense of the way this team is playing. Right now, do they look the foundation of a championship team. I mean really, do they look like champions. You guys have your heads in the sand. Its not about the record, its not about the talent, its about the way they are playing. They were ready to give up Saturady until Sura came in the game.
I expected it to competitive I did expect it to be AT LEAST as good as last years team I guess . . i deluded myself in one aspect though I expected some excitement. . but that is no where near JVG Rocket River not unreasonable
