Too many scrubs to win a ring

people dont realize what a big man does...when yao comes back deke can come off the bench, luther will shoot his 3's without a hand in his face at least 75% of the time. helps us defensivley, and opnes up the halfcourt game tremndoulsly

 

You are going to get flamed, but, unfortunately, you are speaking the truth. This is the dirty little secret (actually not much of a secret) that the Rocket's management spin machine will never admit. They have not done enough to assemble the right cast around TMac and Yao. They are operating on the notion that when healthy the team is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, the chemistry theory. Unfortunately, they are wrong. There is simply not enough talent on this team to win a series from the big three. There are many intangibles, so nothing is impossible. But, I agree, it doesn't look like the Rockets are going to the finals this year. A fun ride, yes. A good season, yes. Entertaining, yes. Championship, not likely.

If I were TMac or Yao, I would begin to put considerable pressure on managment to bring in more talent. It looked like they had in Wells, but he has been disappointing overall. The Rockets really do need a "splash" this offseason.

No, it is not over. Should be an exciting run into the playoffs. The return of Yao will be encouraging. TMac has been great. But the Rockets need more talent at almost every other positon. That was painfully obvious the other night.

 

Did you know that on the 94 Rockets team, nobody shot better than 33% (except K. Smith) from behind the arc. Cassel was 29%, Maxwell 31%, Horry was 32%. Yet, we now have Head 43%, and Battier 41%, Alston 37%, and T-mac 34.5%. Looking at these numbers, the 94 team is the "scrub", and ours is a superstar. Point is, when the double teams come, and they will, we have the aresenal to kill the opposing team. Just like the 94 team. None of the 94 team players were above average(except thorpe), especially lazy Horry, during the season and our records reflected that. But when playoffs started they came alive, and hit when it counted. The "scrubs" will do the same thing, they will come through, because this is the strongest support crew we have ever had.

 

I think most fair-minded fans already realize that.

We might be able to beat one of those teams in a 7-game series with Yao/T-Mac playing out of their minds and some consistent contribution from our role players, but we certainly won't beat all of them.

Anyways, let's just get past the first round and then we can try and add more NBA-calibre talent in the off-season. It does us no good to try and dwell on that fact now.

 

Those laker's teams did have decent role players in derek fisher and devon george. Lets not forget Dfish hit some big shots for the lakers. Hopefully shane or luther can do that for us.

 

Wow way to be a supportive fan.....lol

considering what we had just a few short years ago, I like the direction the team is headed in. I don't think it is finished by any means and they will undoubtedly continue to add draft choices and offseason acquisitions just like Dallas and Phoenix have done and we will improve steadily.

This team over the pre JVG? Mo Taylor, Kelvin Cato, Steve "Dribble the ball off my foot" Francis, Catino Mobley, Glenn Rice.....yeah thats a championship contender right there....

 

To me, part of being a fan is believing in your team. Believing in your role players and setting high expectations. To not expect a team with 2 great players to go to the top is ludacris to me.

 

You forgot Bonzi who will hopefully be consistent the rest of the way and get more and more solid minutes.

 

Every Rockets fan in his right mind knows we are underdogs to Dallas and Phoenix. That's why we have so many more losses than they do...

That being said, we have a chance to win, which is pretty much all we can ask for at this point. It's not the time in the season where we can make much change in the roster.

If we were to spend like Dallas, we could have better role players, but they are way way over the salary cap. Their payroll: 92 million. Our payroll: 65 million. Phoenix is only a little higher than ours: 67 million, but they ballon next year when Diaw's new contract kicks in. They'll be at 77 million committed while we'll be at 63 million.

We'll see in the offseason if management will spend more to take us to the next tier. But it will take lot. Dallas outspends us by 27 million, and that doesn't even include salary cap penalties.

 

I would too, but is there any player on the championship Pistons you'd trade Yao for? I'm going to assume the answer to that question is no because I happen to know that you're an intelligent guy.

How about any two players on the championship Pistons you'd trade Yao for? I still doubt you'll answer yes. Maybe you'd do it for three of their guys to surround T-Mac, but that's about it and I'd still call you crazy for parting with Yao.

And guess what? The same question goes for T-Mac! Did the Pistons have any player you'd trade T-Mac for? Absolutely not. It would even be difficult to trade T-Mac for any two of their players, though I must admit I'd be sorely tempted to accept a T-Mac for Billups and Hamilton deal. Those guys would be great to surround Yao with.

So yes. Obviously all of their starters are better than our supporting cast (although Prince and Battier may be pretty damned close), but BOTH of our stars are far better than anyone on their team. You conveniently overlooked that fact to make your point. Incidentally, the Pistons are one of the very few teams to win a championship with a cast of stars and no clear superstar. Historically teams have needed two superstars to get that job done in almost every case. So way to compare us to the one aberration in NBA history that can make your case instead of the general rule by which we compare much more favorably to.

p.s. I don't know that I think we're ready to contend for the championship this year either, but I think we're closer than you apparently do. Besides, I've got to hold out hope because if not the Mavs may just win a ring this year and that thought turns my stomach.

 

If Luther is going to be playing significant and key minutes at PG in the playoffs, I seriously doubt this team even beats Utah in round 1.

This insistence by JVG to play Head at PG is going to kill this team.

I am having flashbacks of Rick Brunson and Rod Strickland.

Hell Mark Jackson at 38 was a better option.

 

i dont see why people still see this as a real victory, dallas werent as good back then, and it was the preseason, that **** dont count

 

devean george can't be anybody off the dribble unless it's 40 year old Steve Kerr.

Barbosa and Diaw are good players, but with good defenders you can't take them out of the game.

we have at least 4 players maybe 5 on our team that can beat people off the dribble and score at will.

T-Mac
Yao
Bonzi
Snyder
on some nights, maybe Alston (but he is too inconsistent)

 

That **** wasn't preseason, and they had all of their players.


Much easier to excuse our losses when missing one or both superstars than the whoopin' we put on them.

 

I hope you are joking about that, though I doubt that. But I guess you will say you were...if so try one of these


That game was 11-4-06, the second game of the REGULAR season. I don't buy your argument that they were not good back then. They lost 4 str8 games and are 48-5 since. Good teams are the only ones that can use their game 5 against the Suns to turn their fortunes around and start winning.

Actually, the mavs were good back then, the roxs are the ones that have regressed b/c of Yao and tmacs injuries. With yao coming back and Tmac/patterson returning to orlando-form..our role players will look like all star players. Thats right---thats what happens when you have 2 superstars healthy--the role players have an easier time doing their role.

As long as everyone is (and remains healthy) I like our chance against ANY team in the Association/Any time. Period.

 

Next to Shaq and Kobe, in one or more of those championship years they had Glen Rice, Mitch Richmond, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, and even Ron Harper if I am not mistaken.

The Lakers had enough talent beyond their superstars to get it done. The years in which they didn't get to the finals and win it all were that one year when the Spurs had the "Twin Towers" in full effect and the one where they loaded up on talent in their starting lineup but lacked any legitimate depth to speak of.

Depth is very important in this league, I would take depth and a balanced roster over "top-heavy" teams like the Rockets any day of the week.