Nice Post, #1 seems kinda harsh but its true. Our success is based on Yao, his stats when we win vs. when we lose tells the whole story. Unless we get a superstar in return (T-Mac, Vince, etc...), Steve should stay a Rocket. With a year of completely changing his game and using a lot of energy on D, SF actually had a decent season distributing the ball. Anyone know the last Rocket team to have 5 players in double digits? We can't just have 5 players scoring for us, our lack of depth is also something that killed the Rox this year. I hope JVG works with Boki this summer and he starts seeing some real time.
I bet you $9 that Yao Ming will not return next season. I don't think Yao Ming wants to play at an NBA level.
1. I learned that ugly ball will forever live on as long as JVG is at the helm. (and I thought Barkley's *** dancing for 23 seconds was bad). JVG will never lead this team to a NBA championship, so I wish the Rockets would quit wasting mine and his time. I really wish the Rockets could have landed Larry Brown instead of this goober that ****'s big apples 24/7. 2. Sad to say, but Yao Ming must go. The guy will NEVER be able to dominate inside like we all hoped he would. He is just to slow to have any kind of an effect for any extended amount of time. I think he should take his slow dancing to the east coast, he'd probably be much better off. 3. Keep Steve Francis and bench everyone else. The only kicker is how do the Rockets obtain a new starting four? I guess Yao Ming is a good start. I'm not sure about 4 and 5 at the momment.
1. --- 4. SF3, with enough heart and not enough PG skills, must go. 5. But because individually He did a great job in the playoffs, even though as usual the team failed, he is going to stay, folks. I wish he can work on his shooting this summer.
I can't believe all of these posts that I'm reading about getting rid of Yao next year. He needs to quit playing b-ball over in China and just focus on his game here in H-town. I think many of you are forgetting that this poor guy plays year round, and sure he's leading a "good life", but no doubt that is putting strain on his body. He won't be able to keep it up. One poster called V.G. "mean spirited" and that his team probably can't stand him. The team needs to get over their individual ego's and play collectively as a team. V.G. may come across as a mean spirit, but I think this is just a guy who sees a strong potential in his team and believes they can win and expects nothing, but the best from them. Why would we want any other type of coach?
Wow. So if he goes 22 and 11.4 or 21.4 and 12, he's a bust, right? Never mind the fact that Hakeem Olajuwon only managed to exceed these lofty numbers 4 out of his 17 seasons (not including his 3rd season incidentally). I don't see a point in describing exactly why calling anyone who falls a little short of your unreasonable expectations a "bust" is silly, so instead I'll just give you one of these --> Of course, this assumes that you consider Steve a superstar. I don't. Sure he is a star player, and we should get a star player in return, but expecting a superstar calliber (e.g., Duncan, Shaq, or Kobe) player is unreasonable. This is stating the obvious and really is good advice for almost any team. Another blatantly obvious observation would be that we would win more games if we outscored our opponents more often. Whereas that's true, it's hardly really informative or helpful. There is as much hope for Boki to become Peja lite, as there is for Eric Piatkowski. Looking beyond the fact that Boki is a white Euro player, have you noticed that Boki doesn't play a similar style of basketball to Peja? I'm hoping Boki becomes more of a Ginobli lite. His strength comes from his slashing and quickness, not from his dead-eye sharpshooting from all over the floor.
Remember, that Phoenix game was the capper to a five game winning streak. RT excelled at getting the most out of his players when it mattered. JVG does not appear to have that ability. == Over 44 games: Van Grumpy went 23-21. Add in the 1-4 playoff run, and its 24-25 The combined RT/Larry Smith run was 20-24. == Cut it down to twenty games: JVG: 9-11 Again, add in the playoff run and its 10-15 RT + LS: 11-9 ==
1. Yao has improve a bit, but is still very weak. Needs even more muscles. 2. Mobley is not so much a ball-hugger anymore, but Francis is still the same. Did improve on his assist, but commited more turnovers then last season. 3. Jim Jackson is one of the BIG keys to making the playoffs again next season. He is better then I expected, and he needs to shot the ball more. 4. Calvin Cato improve so much, he is a key figure in the Rockets in the fact that he gets rebounds and is very aggressive. 5. The team did pass the ball more then last season, but they still need improvements for next seaon. Not improvement in players, but improvement in having a Team mentallity.
1. I am not sure Steve elevated his game in this playoff series. A lot of PG made their name against the lakers in the playoff. He still dribbles too much, and is extremely turnover-prone. 2. Yao need to get rid of some bad habits. 3. Why the facination with JJ? He is good, but often step out his role. Too many shots but poor percentage. He should know his role better. 4. Cat is inconsistent, but still a keeper.
Guess what, how many of you want to bet that Yao was really upset at his poor performance in the playoffs and want to improve? Are any of you genius and fortune tellers ready to say Yao is done? O, that's right, many of you thought that big Chinese stick in the mud couldn't play in the NBA and shouldn't be drafted #1. Still think that way now? Yao is VERY tired. He said so himself. He plays year round and will be playing in the Olympics this year. He will need more rest for his big frame to recover. This is his first NBA playoffs. I don't know if he'll be a 20 and 10 guy next year but I wouldn't count him out. But it really doesn't matter. If his stats are great, great. But if you don't think he affects the game in so many different ways then you haven't being watching the Rockets this season. Does Yao need to learn more and perform better? You bet. But who has the potential that he has on this team? I rest my case. As for Stevie, he does have heart, just needs to grow some smarts on the court. He needed to play under control and he is learning fast from the new drill sergant/coach. THIS IS A GOOD THING. One more year and he should be ready to be the 1 2 bunch of the Rockets with Yao. Trade him? Not unless you get equal value and you all know what that means. As to how to import a "better" PF. That's the hard question of the day. No first round pick, no real trade bait other than Stevie (you gotta give up quality for quality), then what is the Rockets to do?? Trade exceptions only work if the other team wants to help you out by sign and trade. If only Eddie G was not such a SOB. He was going to be the perfect PF for Yao to play with. That was such a waste of a pick and at the time we all thought we stole it from the Nets. That GOT the last laugh on that one. And imagine if the rumors of a Eddie for Seattle's SF was true... O well.
Well first off, you can't exactly compare the ending stretch as w/ both seasons we played different teams with different rosters than the year before. It's just not a fair comparison. And if you factor in VG's 1-4 playoff, you have to factor in RT 0-4 for lack of playoffs.
Do you remember what our offense looked like under Rudy: Dribble-dribble-dribble-shoot-clank At least under JVG the offense is more like: Dribble-Dribble-Pass to low post-turnover -or- Pass to low post-pass back out-dribble-dribble-dribble-turnover -or the most popular- Dribble-dribble-Pass to low post-fadeaway J-score Its all about options my man
Actually, his averages were 17.3 and 8.9, but I guess a lot of "busts" get those sort of numbers, right? My original point was that 22 and 12 (or 11.4 if you prefer) are an arbitrary and unreasonable marker for labeling someone a bust. Jermaine O'Neal for example only averaged 20.1 and 10 this season and Shaq only averaged 21.5 and 11.5 and nobody would call either of them "busts" either. So, 5 games is enough to label someone a superstar? I prefer to go with season averages and things I can view with my own eyes (e.g., unforced turnovers, mental mistakes, etc.). Of course, IMHO a superstar should be able to carry his team to victories in tight games too. It's also interesting that a center needs to average 22 ppg in your book just to not be considered a "bust", but a point guard can be considered a "superstar" with a season average of 16.7 ppg. Right now, the Rockets don't have a superstar. They just have stars. BTW Ray Allen is also not a superstar, but he is a star player and I would consider that trade. Every team would benefit from consistent shooters off the bench. That will be true as long as the goal of the game is to put the ball in the basket. Now some teams may have other needs first, but that doesn't mean that don't benefit from shooters. Boki has never shown an amazing shooting touch or a fast release. He could develop one, but so could anyone else with enough practice. Right now, his strengths are his length and his slashing ability. I'd like for him to work on his weaknesses, but he should focus on his strengths.
They didn't make the playoffs in 4 years because they never had a playoff-caliber team. Last year was the only year that they MAY have had a playoff-caliber team. After watching the team this year, however, with another year of experience together only win 2 more games, you can now say that they probably didn't even have a playoff-caliber team last year either.
Discipline comes from mom and dad, teachers, etc. Coaching is what an NBA basketball coach's job is. As we've seen this year, more 'discipline' does NOT equal more wins. But I agree, that's probably what Le$ was thinking. Grown more how? By having the worst shooting percentages of their careers? Francis' numbers were down across the board.
Nice post. The top thing I learned from this season: We didn't win not because we didn't play good defense, but because we didn't play good offense, whoever the coach is.
