http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html Only 3 out of the loss colum why we have been dealing with injuries plus a road heavy first half. Forget previous years if we are healthy Yao Scola Battier T-Mac Alston Bench of Artest/Brooks/Barry/Landry and then spot min from Wafer/Deke/Hayes is hands down the best 1-12 in the NBA and I'll take our top 9 over the LAL. Book it, we will cruise (if healthy) to the 2nd seed and I see a couple of 4-1 series and then we get the Lakers in the WCF. We get past them we should win this thing. Also Steve Francis sucks please stop the Francis threads Also Wafer is nice but he does not belong in the top 9 when everyone is healthy scoring will not be a problem but in certain matchups it is very nice to have Deke/Hayes/Wafer availible my .02 Go Rockets P.S. just bought my Rockets Plates today go get yours and rep around the H
So its Yao and Tmac, who aren't real stars, and then a bunch scrubs. Artest off the bench. Doesn't exactly inspire terror. Every team knows they can beat the rockets by baiting Tmac. Team ball vanishes, Rox implode. How will this year be any different?
You could say that about practically every team. "Kobe and Gasol and a bunch of scrubs" Besides Battier and Scola are hardly scrubs. The good teams don't need 5 superstars. They need players with different skill sets that mesh well together. And I do believe having Brooks, Artest, and Wafer off the bench will create matchup problems for other team's second units and will somewhat "inspire terror." I highly doubt any team would be eager to face a healthy Rockets in any round of the playoffs!
The Spurs or Hornets might very well win the Southwest division and both might finish ahead of the Rockets but imo this will only happen if we continue to have these injury issues. I'll stick by this and if I'm wrong bring the thread up in April. Note, what I mean by wrong is if we stay halfway healthy and don't finish with the 2nd seed
we don't have even one superstar on the team and we have the worst starting PG. ... no chance at all.
What is considered a "superstar"? The NBA is ENTERTAINMENT on the same level as feature movie or prime time network sitcom. So does a superstar mean like a Will Smith that can rake in the box office? Or is it like Jack Nicholson, who is an actor's actor and performs at a high level but doesn't really rake it in the box-office. There's also a Brad Pitt which can act (currently nominated for best actor but is not considered at the same level as a Jack Nicholson) and have some box-office drawing power. Is Yao more like Will Smith? You can't deny he is the biggest draw of the NBA if you count GLOBAL ATTRACTION. Where does Yao lie in the "superstar" spectrum?
Well if T-Mac does start that hopefully AD will pull his ass and let him know that we can win without him and to move the ball
Look I like the guy but the only way he gets time if we are healthy is if Barry/Brooks/Alston are having issues and minutes are created from poor play. I don't think the starting 5 will change and I can't see Landry/Artest/Barry not in the rotation so unless Barry is going to be playing lots of point Brooks will be in there as well and that is 9
You know, in the past, threads like this would bring everyone together, and the general sentiment would be "YEAH! LET'S GET 'EM!", even if everyone knew that things might not go our way in the end. It was just about the fact that we were all rallying behind our team, so the basic premise was "EFF the rest of the league, the Rockets are here, baby!" But now, it just seems like a bunch of emo kids have taken over the board, and everything is met with this depressed cynicism that seems to have taken over most teenagers today. Instead of "Go Rockets!" no matter what, it's now "eh, this team isn't gonna get it done this year....why get excited?" It's like there are a bunch of Eeyores out there.....I'm really tired of it, to be honest.
I think it's possible to get the number 2 seed - but to be in contention, i put up an analysis: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=161210
So are we assuming that Yao doesn't go down for significant period of time with another injury, as he has in the last 3 seasons?
We're probably gonna end up with the 5th or 4th seed again. We should be able to barely scrape by the 1st round given the fact the starters of our team has playoff experience playing together...and damnit Yao and T-mac, you guys have been in the 1st round of the playoffs for 4 or 5 seasons now, step up and own it please.
I think we will advance out of the 1st round this year, but that's not a major accomplishment. Really the key will be how healthy this team is and whether our defense of late is an aberration. My biggest concern is our lack of height at the 4.
