I heard this discussion on 610 today and really got me thinking. Which team would be hurt most by their best player missing? In football, there's absolutely no doubt the Texans would be crippled if Schaub is out again. Rockets are obviously dropped from contender to fringe playoff team status when Yao goes out. Astros it's a bit iffy, you could say Roy O or Berkman's absence would kill us (as it has in the last few weeks with Berkman out). It is sad that 2 of the 3 are true.. *Knocking on wood for a healthy season out of Schaub*
Hmm... among active players career-wise Berkman absolutely (woohoo Rice alum!) but I was kind of thinking of RIGHT NOW. It still could very well be Berkman.
I'll have to go with Andre Johnson. He is easily the best pro athlete, professional, football player, wide out, etc. He has remained in my eyes the face of the Texans franchise, has been thru all the ups and downs of this team (mainly downs) and has not complained one bit. No TO drama or Ocho Cinco show here. Even if Schaub ends up becoming a Pro Bowl QB I'd still consider AJ the face of the organization. That's why I had to choose other. He's a freakin' beast on the field too.
Hmm probably should've included him in the poll too but I just think that the quarterback position is way more important than a wide-out. You can be the best WR in the world but the ball still has to be thrown to you somewhat accurately.
Yeah, I'd go with Andre Johnson as well. Without Berkman, the Astros are below .500. With him they are sub .500. Same with Oswalt. Yao Ming can't carry a team on his shoulders. The Texans have played pretty decent without Schaub. Without the AJ threat, the whole offense grinds to a halt. Teams no longer have to single cover every other receiver on the field. And they can stack up against the run. That equals more 3-and-outs. And our defense plays better when we win the time of possession.
The Astros are a lot better with Berkman and Oswalt, their big flaws are one only gets 4-5 chances to do something in a game, and Oswalt only plays every 5th day.
except Oswalt gets 7 IP (assumed avg)*3 outs = 21 chances to do something over 5 days. Berkman gets 4 ABs (assumed avg)*5 days=20 chances over those 5 days. I guess you could count Berkman's D, but I wouldn't say his D is what this team really values any more than Oswalt fielding grounders or hitting the ball..
Yao (unfortunately), and I don't think it's that close. That's not to say he's the best player in Houston sports -- that would certainly go to Lance or Andre -- but when it comes to valuable, one star means far more to a basketball team than to baseball or football. It's just the nature of the sport.
Agree 100%...the others plus AJ are SuperStars and Schaub could take that next step this year,in fact I think he will, but we saw what happened with the Rox when Yao was ruled out for the season as it went from Championship to lottery/8th seed. My opinion is that the Rox change there whole philosophy when Yao goes down and while losing these other guys have hurt the teams, they have continued on with there game plan but not in the Rox case.
To hell with "what if" value. Yao's greatest moment of "value" to the Rox may well be whatever they get for him if they ever get the stones to trade him. I hate measuring value by how much it hurt when the guy was gone. The multitude of games Yao doesn't play, because he is as fragile as antique crystal, are a part of the sum of his value. And they bring his value DOWN. WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY down. Every damned year, it's when, not if, Yao will break AGAIN. This last year he made all the way into the playoffs!! Bully for him. Now we go an entire season without him. How much value does Yao have on the court for the Rox in 2009-2010? I just flushed equal value here about an hour ago.
I'd still have to put AJ as the MVP overall. He's been the best player on the worst team in Houston. Since you guys want to play the if game we can say if Andre were playing a sport that would allow him to have the ball in his hands during every possesion there would be absolutely no argument. He'd be the best by far. Andre hasn't gotten any of the credit he deserves for being a top 10 reciever even when his QB was sacked 75 times during a season or on his ass 90% of his time on the field. He's an example of great professionality and work ethic, he is the best player in Houston of any sport to this day.
