Next season the Rox have to prove that they're a legitimate playoff team. But who has the most to prove individually? JVG - He replaced a Houston icon and HOF coach in Rudy T, a pill which most fans still have trouble swallowing. He has the reputation of being a disciplinarian and one of the best coaches in the league, but reputation gets you nowhere without results. Will he show us any? Stevie - An all-star PG who's never been to the playoffs. He needs to prove than he can get his teammates involved, play adequate defense, and be a team leader. When all's said and done, will he be the Franchise or the Failure? Yao - He says he's adjusted to the rigors of the NBA season and that he's ready to play. He's already the second best center in the league, but how much closer is he to being the best? Is he really the future of the franchise? Eddie - He was considered to be arguably the best player in the 2001 draft, his stock dropping due to personal reasons. Can he possibly live up to the expectations we have of him? Boki - We all hoped that Boki would be able to see a lot of playing time, but after his performance in the SL we all discovered that there was a reason why Rudy didn't play him. With Posey gone, Rice injury prone, Pike too small for the 3, and AG inept on the offensive end, Boki may have to see some playing time. Moochie - Be honest. You loved Moochie a few seasons ago. He even said that he was unhappy with the way he played last season. Is it possible that he's good at something other than dribbling? Cat - Simply because everyone other than me would be willing to trade him for some cereal and a pair of throwback dirty socks. I'm inclined to say Eddie - he was supposed to be a key player in our future playoff-championships runs, but now it looks like it might be best to dump him while he still have some trade value. I believe he'll be playing for a contract. Edit: And I notice the poll says 'nest'. Sorry. It's early.
... and "bingo" was his name-o. considering the fact that yao... -was rudy's last chance before getting fired (seriously, if yao wasn't in the draft last year and we ended up trading the number one pick for odom, i'm sure we still would have missed the playoffs... but would rudy still have been fired? ummm... no. les wants to keep yao "fresh" to the rest of the world, so the fact that yao... -is being catered to by having a team built around him, is the reason why the rockets' new uniform's font and logo looks like it has a little asian flavor to it, was reason a japanese automaker of the world's most reliable car is spending 100 million dollars over the next 20 years (helps them break into the market in china of course)... and all of this for a rookie who averaged 15 pts and 9 rebs a game? there's been many rookies (and fairly recent) that have put yao's numbers to shame and have made more of an impact on their respective teams, but none of these past rookies has gone through the troubles that yao has to get where he is today either. yeah... people are calling him the cornerstone. i don't know. i hope so. he has the most to prove imo.
I think it has to be Eggie. He has shown flashes of being the answer at PF, but he has got to take it to another level this season. Not to mention the fact that its time for him to justify the price we paid to get him. Honestly, when I think of the players who are most crucial to this team taking it up a notch, I think of Eddie and Cat 1st.
I say MIng because it time to move to the head of the class now. Eddie would be a close second. Both need to step up and take over.
All of them better improve and we should make the playoffs. We better. They better prove themselves.....as not a lottery team. HOPEFULLY BIG SPLASHING TRADE. But I think Boki and Griffin have something to prove.
Steve Francis by far, has the most to prove this next season, especially to his fans and JVG. He must show that he is the Teams Leader and Playmaker. He must strive to make everyone on the Team better by getting them involved and when they are open he must trust them by passing the ball. He must show that he listens to the Coach and obays his every wish and command. He must not waste time dribbling ther ball down the Court. He must only take high percentage shots.He needs to score 20pts a Game. He must reduce his waiting to get rebounds. He must play one on one defence. He must have more Assists and Steals. He must come to terms with the fact that the personality of the team is not that of a Guard Oriented Team any more. All this and no less, because that is what is expected from a 5th year top Point Guard that is the Starting Point Guard for the Western Conference. Go Steve you can do it! Remember we know you can, because we all saw the last All Star Game!
Jeff Van Gundy. Start a thread about a player and you get 30 posts and a couple of hundred views. Start a thread about walking dogs with the ex-coach's wife and you get 100+ posts and 3,000+ views. Any coach following RT will surely have a lot to prove. Does the average sports fan in Houston even know who Eddie Griffin is?
No, because MOST fans in Houston don't realize how special this team is/going to be. Sad thing about your post is that you're right haha.
it has to be eddie griffin. if he doesnt make a drastic improvement over last year then its likely that he wont improve much at all. he has been given his time to develop and now its time to see what we really got when drafting him as a high first round pick.
Eddie because he didnt have a bad rookie season but he did have a bad sophmore season. Some of his averages went up and some went down! I juss think if he really gave it his all he could b really really good!
Eddie Griffin. No question. We gave up 3 1st round draft picks for him. Before we got Yao, Griffin was going to be our low post savior, both on the offensive and defensive end. Griffin has the most to prove. He has to prove he can bang down low with the big guys, that he can score in the low block and get out on transition for easy scores. Griffin needs to become our 3rd option on this team behind Yao and Francis.
I'd say Eddie. He was the only player on the team last year (besides moochie, who obviously doesn't count) who, when given the ball, elicited screams of "No! No! Not.... Aaaaaghhh!!" from my home.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... man thats what i use to do everytime griffin made the impression of shooting a three when he was in the outside line.. I WAS LIKE NONONONONON... even calvin murphy and bill would get emotional about it... yep eddie has the most to prove
Yao seemed to pop in my head first, but maybe I was wrong in selecting him. On any given night our role players will have their games, but the core players need to bring it all the time. There should be another selection for Steve/JVG. These 2 need to respect and maintain communication. I noticed last year that Rudy was signalling Steve and it looked like Steve was ignoring him. Maybe I imagined it, because Steve was pretty upset when RT left. Then again, maybe he's upset because RT put up with a side of Steve that JVG will not tolerate. I'm not so concerned with Yao now and hope that EG will leave his bong at home and step up.
I will say Steve. Sure Yao and EG come close but think about this: 1. Yao is 22 in his second year, patience tells us that he needs time, which is true. There is no question that he's good and will get better, we'll just have to wait it out 2. EG? I don't know about all of you but to me he's a lost cause That leaves Steve. Think about it, Steve is known to have great handles and athleticism, but didn't we know that 4 years ago? In these years in the league he has made absolutely no improvements on the offensive OR defensive end. Not to mention he has proven, year after year, that he and Cat can't take us to the playoffs. So why is he the "Franchaise" then? I think he can be very good but he has to work much harder. But as far as it goes right now, he's not our saviour.
This is not a valid argument. In the west you need two stars plus a good supporting cast just to get to the playoffs. While Steve does need to work on his defense, I think that this is a given under Van Gundy. As we saw at the all-star game, the better caliber of players Steve plays with, the better he looks. I think the player with the most to prove is Bostjan Nachbar. The Rockets are a team in search of a legitimate 3. Nachbar is trying to prove that he has a future in the NBA as a starter. If Nachbar is healthy this year and shows nothing, I predict that he will never succeed in the NBA. Eddie, on the other hand, has the basic tools that will allow him many more chances in the NBA. He will get more of a chance to grow into his role.
