Too many scrubs to win a ring

aaaaannnndddd this is okay???? like i said,

the reasonable arguement's been provided elsewhere. i'm just pointing out a very real observation. even clutch admits, this team needs improvement i.e. the pg position. does that mean he's a bandwagoner too? sheesh, i dont' know how you tie desient with disloyality.

 

Interesting typo there, I think. I distinctly remember a happier ending in '95.

But everyone needs to lighten up here. New Yorker's premise is just frikkin' obviously correct. We are still lacking too much and we have to rely on 1/11 being great every game and pray someone else turns up huge: Robert Horry/Mario Elie huge.

The odds are decidedly against it. But I have to admit that if Yao and T-Mac are both dominant we've got a shot. A very slight one. A first round exit is quite possible.

 

Certainly. We'd likely be facing a very good Utah team and without the home court advantage. I don't know why so many people are expecting getting past the first round as a given. Expectations are way too high on this board.

 

if you're happy second round exits, that's your right. go forth and be happy.

but you're going to sit there and tell me the rocket's can take the title, the way the team is right now? even with yao healthy? i don't even think you believe that.

so, what are you trying to tell me, invisible? it's okay to be second as long and as long as the team is having fun? but maybe you do believe the rockets are going to take the title.

 

I realize we probably will not make it past the 1st round. At this point I do not see us beating Utah, SA, PHO, Or DAL.

We will be extremely lucky if Yao and Tracy stay healthy into the playoffs. I really want to win and think we are so far ahead of where we were with Steve, Cuttino, Cato, and Walt Williams, and a declining Hakeem. WSwe have a new arena - which Jeff Balke helped raise support for. Thanks Jeff!

I guess I'm easy to please- I'm really enjoying this season and being competitve. It has been a long time.

Most important New Yorker- You are right - we do not have much talent in our role players- our 4 is weakest in the West, and we have no depth at the point.

When we exit in the first round in shame you can celebrate you are right.

 

Sorry Declan-

I meant '05 when we lost in the 7th game to Dallas in humiliation.

 

I want to win, but the odds are looking poor to beat Utah in the 1st round - and that's if we are lucky and face Utah. If we end up 6th -we face SA and that would be bad. If we slip to 7th seed and have to play Phoenix-really bad odds.

 

I omitted a smiley face, I've had far worse typos. I am pwned!

 

I agree with alot of what New Yorker is stating. When Detroit won they were not just a bunch of scrubs. Billups was just having a great year. Rip Hamilton and prince did their roles. They got a great coach in Larry Brown. They acquired Rasheed Wallace. I doubt any of those guys are scrubs. Now look at the Mavs this year. Would you leave Terry, Josh Howard, dirk, stackhouse open? All those guys can take it from the three point line or try to bring the ball in. Heck look at miami? Scrubs? I think not. Shaq is still a threat in the post. Wade played spectacular. You can't just deny Gary Payton or Antoine Walker. They were allstars... The Spurs are just stacked... Heck when the Lakers won the Championships look at their roster... Rick fox was not a scrub at that time Ron Harper helped the bulls win. Derek Fisher, Big Shot Bob was there.... Heck go ahead and look at our Rockets team that won the championships... Scrubs...? Horry a scrub? Look at the rings on his fingers.. he deserved them too for each clutch shot he made. Sam Cassell.. a scrub? Vernon Maxwell? Heck kenny the jet smith... Ottis thorpe... and who could forget clyde... all this surrounding hakeem...

So now we should honestly look at the Rockets and the roster we have..... and i think new yorker broke it down just right...... When opponents come to face us they should be questioning if whether they let our role players beat them or our superstars beat them...

 

I'm really glad that you've showed us how to act mature.




Some of us can remember the naysayers in '94 and '95 and there were plenty. I've seen your type come and go for years and sorry, but ya'll suck. They attack individual players and just don't get the power of 'team' in basketball. Even as good as Hakeem was, no way were we supposed to win with our cast in '94 and esp not climb out of the deep holes against all those teams in '95.

What I said was accurate. You just harp on the negatives. I'll reiterate...did you mention the awesome defense? Did you mention 2 MVP-worthy players that were winning at 70% when on the floor together... and that was when TMac was ailing? Did you mention some of the best 3-pt shooting in the league? Rebounding?

This team has superstars, proven role players and team defense. When both are stars are playing, the role players will look even more effective. The defense will be stronger. Guys like Howard and Motumbo who got played-out will now get to recover and will be playing against other team's seconds instead of their firsts.

Dallas and Phoenix are impressive teams, but you cannot presume to guess what this team can do with Yao back, a rejuvenated TMac, Bonzi off the bench, Snyder in the rotation ... I expect it to surpass the previous 70% win rate and if this team puts it together before the playoffs our chances are just as good as anyone's. I feel the only thing we need to prove is the pitbull mentality and this team has the pieces to pull that off.



* * *


And tycoonchip, you aks who you'd leave open... Terry(.464/.427), Josh Howard (.461/.370), dirk(.505/.429), stackhouse(.423/.369) ?

Well d*mn, would you leave Yao(.522), TMac(.441/.342), Head(.427/.433), Battier (.447/.422), or Howard (.467) open?

And are you seriously acting like we had a bunch of all-stars playing with Hakeem? It was a great TEAM with a lot of heart, but individually they were all role players.

 

And for those of you so busy kissing the Sun's arses and hard on us losing to the likes of Atlanta and Boston, the Suns loast 5 games in the last month... including Seattle, Philly and Atlanta. That would be the 2nd weakest team in the West and the 2nd and 3rd weakest teams in the East.

 

Much as I agree in general with your point, I find the absence of Rafer in that list pretty amusing .

 

Well, missing from the Dallas list was Dampier and last I saw Stackhouse was off the bench so I didn't think it was just starters.

And fwiw, Rafer shot nearly 41% from 3 pt line in Feb. If he keeps that up they won't be able to cheat off him, Luther or Battier. How difficult can it be to design an effective offense with the best center in the league, TMac, 3 players who can shoot over 40% from long range, a 4 who's pretty much gravy from 15-17 feet (whom ny'er would cheat off of ... Juwan's shooting for the last 3 months is over 48%), and good rebounding?

 

Question for those who seem to believe we should be Finals contenders or Bust.

When was the last time a team went from lotto to the Finals in one year?

EVER?

most rational fans of the game know you have to work your way gradually up the ladder.

in the first year of the Tmac/Yao partnership, we got beat in a series by a better team, but just barely. We just didnt have the legs to keep up with them over 7 games.

Next year...in most building campaigns, you would expect progress to the second round....except for our awful luck I think we probably would have, but there is really no way to know since the entire team was out for most of the season....scratch this year.

now...we made many changes, Yao jacks up his level of play, things are looking good....then disaster! First Tmac, then Yao AGAIN!

but surpringly enough, the team manages to keep their heads above water.
Dont overlook how remarkable that is, how much heart and guts it took to overcome that blow.

So, taking out last year for factors beyond anyone's control, we are effectively in the year that most reasonable fans would be pleased with a hard-fought second round exit, we got ALOT of people clamoring for the Finals or Bust.

That simply isnt realistic....especially in light of the sheer amount of talent we have to compete against.

We have three VERY strong teams above us, teams that have been building for YEARS towards this. Teams that add a piece of two every year till they get where they want to be.

We are ddoing the same thing, but not quite as long.

Basiclaly, what Im saying is that realistically expecting anything more than the semis is setting yourself up for disappointment.

It would take all the stars aligning in our favor for us to win it all, it would require 12 games of PERFECT Rockets basketball for them to make it to the finals with our current cast, as much as I want to believe in a Finals win, history tells us that to expect that much is too much considering the circumstances.

Period.

 

I have to agree with NewYorker... we are not going to win a Championship this year...

not with the Cast we got...

im just hoping Yao and Tmac put on a good show...(Yao more so then Tmac.. since Tmac has won the scoring title twice).....

and some big name free agents want to come over and play for the Rox next year...

unfortunately the way things are looking... that may be the only chance we have in the next 3 to 5 years...

 

Really?

No one was betting on us before the season. After the first 23 games, we then went 13-12. Everyone thought that our 'scrubs' had come back down to Earth.

Why do you think so many here are still sensitive about those 2 championships? Even with Hakeem, many saw oyr championships as a fluke because we were made up of 1 superstar and 'scrubs'.

What team was intact? What are you talking about? Do you recall a mid-season trade because our record sucked? We only had 47 wins that year.

Oh, I think you can see I mustered up plenty more than that.

And we have 2 MVP-like players. So what's your point? Are you now admitting we had 'scrubs' per your definition... but Hakeem was so awesome he pulled the entire team up? Well what can 2 MVPers do?

But before those championship runs? Right. Kenny was ok beforehand. Cassell and Ellie were both off the bench and those 2 and Horry made a name for themselves for the grit they showed in the play-offs, not beforehand.

Using hindsight always helps, doesn't it?

First, I don't know what logic you're using to pick and choose from the 2 teams... did you forget about Otis and Vernon? Bonzi and Snyder?

And again, the 94 team made it's name in the play-off, not beforehand. This team has not had the opportunity yet.

Why not shut-up and let'm have the unfettered opportunity to prove their team just like we allowed the '94 squad to? There are solid arguments why this team may have all the pieces necessary.

Or you can just continue on as you are and quit on them like so many did in '94 and '95.