So do I. I will also say, at the potential expense of irritating Clutch, who I respect for what he's done for us here, that the somewhat tongue in cheek however seemingly serious articles and posts encouraging losing are the least impressive thing I've seen this site produce, and they only encourage this jake-ing concept of losing to gain advantage. Just my opinion, I hope that's alright. I still have no respect for the Spurs, or anything they do, for how they got duncan, and the Lotto system is in place to discourage this very thing. I will never see their team as legitimate for this very reason. It's my only way of clinging to a "cheaters never win" principle. When the Texans fans were encouraging this same behavior, it made me want to distance myself from such ideas, and watching them seemingly shank games really called their pride into question as an organization, for me. I'm less of a Texans fan because of it. In their defense, at least there it was a guarantee of the first pick, but that still does not make it acceptablle, in my eyes. So why are we trying to win? Many have said these things already, but I will say them anyway.... ...Because losing doesn't guarantee anything, When we got Yao we did not have the worst record, or the most lotto balls. ...Because there is no honor in quitting. ...Because the fans deserve better, whether watching on TV or going to the games. ...Because the league deserves better, and has put methods into place to avoid teams degrading the league and the fans with such behavior. ...Because of something that society seems to forget more every day....WINNING ISN'T EVERYTHING. You reap what you sow, and there is no honor in losing on purpose. It is disrespectful to the other teams, it alters the fate of other teams who have other designs on the post season/lotto. Had we lost on purpose the year Yao came into the NBA, we may not have gotten him. Sure, it's just speculation, but whoever DID have the worst record did NOT get Yao. Basically, it demeans the integrity of our players , our coach, our team, and the entire NBA. Sorry if that bothers you clutch... that's my opinion. Personally, I'd rather not become a better team by selling out our honor and dignity, and it's no guarantee that doing so would make us a better team. I have no respect for a team that would (spurs).
I agree with this... up to the part about the NBA. I don't feel that the NBA's integrity level is all that high, or they would tighten up on the officiating a little more.
Its just one win against a team playing a back to back. They will lose more games than they win. I feel like the Rockets will end up with the second worst record in the west by the end of the season. Catching Orlando and Toronto might be tough, especially since Bosh is out now. Dropping below Boston is still a good possibility.
I tried. I really tried to get on the "losing" bandwagon. The logical side of me knew that blowing the 13 point lead against Cleveland, giving up that 3 point play to LeBron would ultimately help the Rockets in the future. I should have been happy, right? After all, consider the fact that the Rockets' legacy has been built upon the backs of tanking seasons; '82-'84 they abused the draft system so badly the NBA had to institute the lottery; 2001-2002 I can seem to remember quite a few of our players resting up nagging injuries in preperation for the grueling off-season as we sprinted to the 3-15 finish. Yet even as visions of Brandon Roy and Joakim Noah danced in my head, watching the loss still hurt (maybe because they're out of our range regardless of tanking or not). As a fan of the team, a loss will still always feel like a loss, and I expect the same out of everyone in the organization except for the General Manager and his staff, who are paid to think long term. Not because they fear for the loss of their jobs, but because their dedication to the game should make every loss painful. Perhaps not "Adam Morrison 2 seconds left and crying" painful," but it should piss off the players and coach to lose. If the players don't care about losing, they're not players we should have on our roster. Besides, a bit of late season momentum never hurt anyone. Look at the way Golden State finished last season hot; they were a trendy pre-season pick to make the playoffs, and the fans were buzzing about the team's playoff chances despite their 11 year drought. After a rather disappointing season, the Rockets could give themselves a bit of tangible hope for 2006 with a good last 11 games, rather than having to whip out the injured Tracy excuse. That's why we should try to win.
We did not have the worse record in the league but we did lose enough games (15 out of 18) at the end of the 2001-2002 season to get Yao. But I agree with you that we should play to win.
Cos this is called professional player. They should win what ever they can. Otherwise they just go home!
I kind of doubt that those who are calling for the team to tank have actually played basketball, or any team sport for that matter, on an organized level. This defeatism is driving me nuts. Has the team even been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet?
It would be interesting to see how many times the worst record in the league got the top lottery pick. I know Pitino and the Celtics were certain they would be able to draft Tim Duncan. For some reason I think the Mavs and Bulls got screwed out of the top picks when they were by far the worst teams in the league.
Right now the Rockets really should be going for a high pick, the wins dont matter. (alot like when the spurs went for Tim Duncan). We arent going to get that good of a pick or that good of a player very likely but if we can get a high pick it will get us more options (better player, ability to trade the pick for a solid player).
Everyone has a price, it's just a matter of degree. Some's price is higher, some lower. Hypothetically, if Duncan was to come out in this draft,and tanking the rest of games secure 99% of chance for the 1st pick, you'd be out of your mind not to do it. All this talk about professionalism and pride is not the real issue. The real issue is some have higher prices, to tank must have high reward, and I have a lower price, being happy with a decent player in return, big deal.
To look at it from both sides: Tanking is dishonorable and is for p*ssies, and it does tarnish the reputation of a franchise (i.e. Spurs). However, this is a business, and it is no less dishonorable than the way any other business works to get ahead of the competition. All I know is that the Spurs are a pretty damn good organization right now with an MVP for a leader and a few titles. That's all I see when I look at the Spurs. Tim Duncan in no way, shape, or form should be hated on because of the Spurs' decision to tank. It depends on how you want to look at it. Right now, the Rockets dont' really have anything to play for anyways. We are out of the playoffs, but, I still would not want to know this team gave up towards the end of the season. BTW the team is trying to win and is still donig a good job of losing, so it's a win-win situation.
Players in their contract year don't wanna be kicked out. JVG in his terrible year don't wanna be fired. Yao in his top performance don't wanna reserve anything.
Because fans pay money to watch games, shouldn't the players do what they should do? I still enjoy watching Rocket win more games, don't you? If they play like they want to lose, that's pure unprofessionism. And plus, it doesn't seem to be a strong draft year anyways.
I think we should always play to win. However, let me play Devil's advocate for a bit. Let's pretend that T-Mac is slowly recovering and is now at 50% of his former self. Let's also pretend that it is now mathematically impossible for us to make the playoffs. Do we still ask T-Mac to come back and play these games, knowing that even T-Mac at 50% will make a big difference? Or, do we look towards the long term, and ask T-Mac to take the rest of the season off? I think most of us would choose to sit T-Mac out for the rest of the season. In other words, we would be sacrificing current wins for the benefit of future gains.
i cant believe some of you people. losing on purpose....what kind of dignity is that? Even though the odds are really against us, we still have a chance of making the playoffs. now if we were out of the playoff contention, then maybe i'd not mind as much. but still losing on purpose...NEVER the thing with the rockets is when we develop some chemistry amongst the team, we ALWAYS break it! you look at teams like the Spurs, Pistons, Suns, and Mavs....those guys have been playin together for a while and they're just gettin a piece here and there to improve themselves in weaker areas. I'm sure the Rox are not as fortunate as some of these teams with the players they have but we're never gonna go anywhere if we keep changing the roster. i'm startin to now really like our team. Stro is stupid but is really improving. Luther Head is something special and is gonna get better. I dont care what most of yall say, Raefor is playing GREAT!! Howard is doing what's expected of him. YAO IS THE D**N MAN! AND I HOPE T-MAC'S BACK IS GOOD NEXT SEASON SO HE'LL BE ABLE TO PENETRATE TO THE GOAL AND GET MORE POINTS LIKE THAT. have faith. we have a good squad. what we need is some consistant shooters. that's all. WHAT I WOULD DO TO GET J.J. Reddick!! Could you imagine how crazy that would be? Starting 5 Alston- PG Reddick -SG McGrady -SF Stro/Howard PF Yao- Center
