what the record would be if Rocket did not draft Yao?

0-59

 

Rockets won the first several games without Yao.

 

some old guys here keep reminding us they got 45 wins two year ago, they may assume they can still win those many games this years without Yao, that's BS. Look at this team, Francis and Mobley two men show can lead this team to nowhere. Francis is not AI, and not even close to Kobe, this gotta to be a big mistake to build a team around him.

Without Yao this year, Rockets would have been a Clippers equivalent and might win 20~30 games.

 

The record would be almost identical to what it is currently. The Rockets (without Yao) have enough athleticism to usually beat the sub .500 teams and occassionally surprise a playoff contender. Which is very close to what they are doing now.

My obsured point (and IMO the reason for much frustration on this board) is that they are under utilizing Yao. NOTE I did not say they were not trying to get him touches. But they don't cut to the basket after he's doubled and the can't run a PnR better than most high school teams.

 

Thats a hard question. If the Rockets didnt draft Yao then they probably would've pulled a deal to land some other players.

 

Actually, the Rockets probably would've landed Amare Stoudamire with the #7 pick. Rudy was quite enamored with him.

 

Hmmmm...... wonder what that would've been like.

Without Yao our record could have been better, or about the same. I dunno if it would have gotten much worse at all though.

 

The same team without Yao Ming would have done betterBecause there wouldnt have been all this tussel between the Guards leading the team and the Guards working towards a Center Dominmated team. What I am saying is that Mobley and Francis would have played so much better doing their thing if they didnt have to go through the mental anguish of loosing their leadership. (a slow process but it will happen).

 

SF + Cat - a servicable Dream = at most 30 wins

We might have a more fluid offence w/o Yao (cough ISO cough) but there's no way we'd have a better record, as history has already proven. Had Hakeem not play superb late in 2001 how many wins do you think we'd get?

 

45 wins already with Jay W.

 

I mean with Jay William, Rocket will have a real PG. But no real C. You got to give something up, right?

 

IMO, it still woudn't have made any difference. They would have continued to draft/acquire athletes (as opposed to basketball players) to compliment Francis and Mobley. The positions which needed the biggest upgrade was C and SF. Consequently, with 3 PF's they would not have drafted Stoudamire (although come to think of it, he does fit the athlete rather than the bball player mold).

There were no real strong centers which were highly evaluated so you wind up with the following question - Can a SF like Caron Butler have any impact within a poor fastbreaking ISO-oriented team? A team were Cato likely would have remained the Cato from the pre-Yao seasons.

To me, it's a .500 team any way I slice it.

 

riiiight.


...or did you mean 45% free throw shooting?

he sure did wonders for the bulls.

 

Without Yao the team would have been better. They might enter the playoff without Yao, but would never be a championship team. The coming of Yao broke the old style of the team and the chemistry between Francis and Mobley. Both the coach and the players are forced to make big changes because of Yao's court sense and the pressure from the media and the fans. They are not prepared for that. Rox is going through a painful transition right now. Usually things will become worse during a transition. If they succeed in rebuilding the team, they become champions, otherwise they will be more miserable than before.

 

The record probably would be the same if Yao were in another city.

I think Butler or Amare would be in Rockets gear, which would be great, but they'd be 5th wheels in the Cat\Steve offense just like Yao is from time to time. The defense would be even worse, if that's possible (at least Yao makes teams think about penetrating).

But one things for sure, the Rockets wouldn't be getting any of the attention they're getting now. The nation has never tuned in to watch Steve, but everyone wants to see Yao.

What would've been really interesting is if Yao never left China. There were some nice offers made (allegedly) for that #1 overall pick.

 

Well said rockyymf.

... fast forward to year 2005, after getting two consecutive championships the Rockets is the envy of all, again. And all are saying "see, that's the difference between with Yao and without."...

 

I think we'd be about 5 wins worse off. Although maybe not, if we'd nabbed Stoudamire.

At the very least, Yao gives us an inside option that we only otherwise have if Mo's having a very good game. That's worth something, and has probably been the difference a few times this season.

While some people overstate the value of Hakeem 2 years ago, he nevertheless did play a big role in the team's March push.

Last year, the team was a few games under .500 even w/Francis. That's where theyd' be again this year without Yao.

 

That actually made me chuckle, because with Yao, we get beat by sub-.500 teams much more than I'd like already!