Guess who else is only 10- 12 games into the season and underperforming - teams like the Nets, Clippers, and Raptors. Guess who else is only 12 games into the season and underperforming. Teams like the Heat. Of these two groups, guess which one the Rockets peer group is now...again.
Let's assume you are right, how do they get out of it? I personally think Morey is doing what Les wants him to do.....especially regarding Yao. DD
While everyone argues about how bad the Rockets are they keep on losing. There is no major trades out there right now, until trade deadline. Teams wont make trades until they have to. There is two options, let the games play out, they wont make the playoffs. If trade is forced now you will only get 10 cents on the dollar. We wont make playoffs, so let them lose. Even if we made playoffs, we would go out in the first round, with a sorry draft pick. This is like a bad marriage, you have to let it play out.
Exactly..there are no 3 for 1 deals out there......there are no 2 for 1 season saviors..... It is what it is.....and most of that is because of Yao.... No, other star player will want to come to Houston as long as he is here and perceived to be injury prone. So, you are stuck hoping he stays healthy (a very low probability) or moving on without him. This offseason, what they do with Yao will be a major tell as to whether Les really cares about winning, or making money more.... Words from Morey and Les are meaningless, actions are important....what to do with Yao....that is the key. DD
DD, this is not only up to Les, but Yao. I do not think he will resign with a rebuilding team. He will be 31 years old next summer. He and his people want to win a title more than anything. My guess is that he will sign with the heat or thunder. Both are great teams but lack of a good center.
DaDa - again...it's not that you took a different point of view that i find frustrating. it's that you're now suggesting that it was "ALL ABOUT NEXT SEASON" and never really about this season...when out of that same mouth you told me we were serious contenders, "even if Yao only plays 24 mins per game." i don't care if you were wrong...i don't care if i was correct. that doesn't matter to me.
Yet here you are, continuing to post about it and saying it frustrates you. Yes, I thought they were contenders if Yao was healthy, and the team gelled. PSSST...I still do...... Doesn't mean they will or are, and maybe it is more of a hope than a belief, but so what? As for the next year bit, yeah, I have been saying that for 2+ years that Morey is actually focusing on that as a real starting point, if Yao is not healthy. Well, here we are.....Yao is not healthy, so, now the question is...what do they do about it? I think we are actually both in agreement that they need to move on, the question will be, how....and what does that mean as a franchise? Right now they are in a state of flux, they have some very good pieces to the puzzle, but not one true centerpiece to it. How do you get that piece, and who is available? Honestly, I don't think the organization has a clue in how to get a Superstar player, I think they have hopes that one shakes loose, but based upon history, that is pretty feeble, IMO. But I think we can agree, that the first step is to free the organization from the clouded injury history of Yao.... The difference is that I just don't think they can do that until next year, so we might as well buckle up for a bumpy ride this year. DD
What has Morey done to show they're not getting out of it? Yes, the Rockets have been perpetually mediocre to above average. But they couldn't have, at any point, given up on the possibility of T-Mac and/or Yao actually being healthy. To me, this season seemed have been the last "go for it all" season. And since it seems to have failed, everything looks in line for a rebuilding process. Salary will be cleared. Our pick will be high. And we still have a young core that can play together for many years to come. Morey rolled the dice this season and came out empty(at least for now). But he had to go for the jugular. If he had given up, then we could've potentially yet again be a "8th seed team" with a healthy Yao but not enough of a supporting cast.
Exactly what I think...spot on.....and they will ride that train into the ground the entire year, unless something miraculous happens and a true star player with a good contract comes available. DD
Wow max, looks like he's taking the controversial position that, if the rockets played really well, and won games, they would win games. THis is nearly as revolutionary as his "no, no, I like good offense AND good defense!" strategy from a few years back. Never have so few, posted so many times, and said so little, and had such an inflated ego for having said it. I think maybe he read Herman Edwards' autobiography.
its definitely a bad start and the sky isn' falling..yet...i'm not sure what the fix is, but why not start with Morey and Rick and lets go from there...
Says the guy with 30,000 posts, tons of internet 'rep', and a habit for following DD around and bashing him without recent provocation. *Clyde Drexler laugh*. Maybe it seems to you that the team IS gelling? Or maybe you think that there's a healthy Yao out there playing?
He is on my ignore for a reason. If you want to talk basketball, then great, if all you want to do is piss and moan about other people, then it is not worth it. He has been following me around in tons of threads trying to bait me.....he and one other...not worth it...just not worth it. DD
ZOMGZ OH NOES, TEH U POST A LOT 2 DEFENSE! HOw will I ever recover? **** me, I am checkmated. You idiots (and you 2, DD - I know you're reading this) need to realize nobody is following DaDakota around, the boy is following the internet around. When internet wakes up at night, it sees big boy pounding out his uncensored musings on spurs talk or whatever. And it's afraid, very afraid. Oh god, we're living in fantasy town with healthy Yao again. Please ****ing shoot me. And btw they sucked junk with him out there.
I'll withhold judgment on Morey until after December 15th when a lot of wheeling and dealing can occur (all those contracts league-wide that were signed in the summer can be moved etc etc). Can't help but think that he's working on something. He mentioned on 610 that this is an evaluation period league-wise, especially for new coaches, or coaches with their new rosters, and he also mentioned December 15 and how 40+% of players can't be moved til then. I'd lay the sorry start on Brooks (who plays no D, who pouted big-time after not getting his extension, and whose absence despite that isn't helping), Lowry (who showed up for the season wearing his new contract on his gut, which must have contributed to his back spasms), Yao's 24 mpg and injury, a weird rotation that has players not grasping their roles, and, above all, a coach whose time has come and gone.
I've read the Hollinger article, and I agree with his conclusions. For what it's worth, so does Morey. He's stated on numerous occasions that teams need superstars to be contenders. I also understand that other teams have taken bigger risks in the past, but I hardly think that trading your starting PG and SF for virtual unknowns isn't taking a risk. Artest, he of the ill-advised shot selection and explosive temper, was also a serious gamble. At the time, we had no idea how he would affect our chemistry, but Morey took it because he thought Artest's on-court production put us in contention. We'll never know because of Yao's injury, but in that case we gave up valuable assets to take a swing at the title. Martin's a big producer with an injury history. We offered to take on Brand's contract for the chance of drafting a star with the number 2 pick last year: certainly a dangerous move. It's also possible we have different definitions of risk-taking. Can you name some risks or rumored deals you think Morey should have made but didn't? My point is that our lack of a superstar can't be attributed to some psychological aversion to risk on Morey's part. He's taken a number of them. And he knows we need big stars. He says so all the time. We've been unsuccessful in getting them so far, but not because Morey doesn't like them: it's because every team recognizes their value and they're very hard to pry away. Until we can get one, the only thing to do is what Morey's already doing: accumulate the assets to make a deal and keep a reasonable cap situation. I'm confused as to what you think we could be doing but aren't at this point.
