After reading the ever expanding pick for Payton thread, I see a lot of people saying that we are rebuilding this year, and that we shouldnt bother to try to contend. I just do not see the logic in this at all! This is how the league sits right now, you have SA and then you have everyone else. Miami has a way better record than us, but the way I see it, no advantage. IF we had Sura all year and played in the east, wouldn't we have a similar record. They are a mirror image of us 2 superstars surrounded with bodies. Sure Seattle, Phoenix, Sac and Dal have better records, but does anyone see that much of a difference b/w the rox and those teams. Maybe with Phoenix but in the playoffs, their gonna find things to be a lot different story than 48 minutes a game up and down the court. Personally I feel the Rockets would beat any of those teams in a playoff series as long as we have a good point guard. The logic that were rebuilding is partially right, we have 2 young superstars and we our definetly building around them, but if anything this year, the trades we have made have been indicative of us wanting to win now. We could have gotten Casey Jacobsen, Lampe and a 2nd rounder for JJ, or maybe the suns 1st rounder. Jacobsen would have been a decent piece for the next 5-6 years. And Lue is younger than Barry (I think) anyway. Instead we got Wesley and Barry, 2 guys who arent gonna be around 3 years from now. Look at it this way: The west is gonna break down like this, there is no way we our gonna catch S.A. Seattle Phoenix or Dallas, not with suras injury. I would even venture to say we arent going to catch Sac. L.A. has the 2nd hardest schedule besides us in the league left, so I seriously do not see them making the playoffs. Even if its Min or Denver getting the 8th spot, I dont see either ourselves or Memphis falling back to 8. We are basically locked into 6 or 7th. So thank god, I do not see us drawing SA in the first round. Logically, I dont see Seattle or Phoenix catching them. They are too steady and Phoenix has already played their best ball. So we are gonna play Phoenix and Seattle, pretty much guarenteed at this point. Then SA is gonna have to play Dal or Sac in the 2nd round, while we would draw Seattle, Phoenix or Memphis. (If we are 6th and win, we draw the winner of 2-7 I believe, and if we are 7th, we draw the winner of 3-6.) We are not gonna have to deal with SA until the WCF and I like our chances a lot in the playoffs against Seattle and Phoenix, but getting that far will probably defend on the next 24 hours for us.
We can't win this year. The zebras will see to that. Sorry, I am still a little bitter from last night.
Your putting too much into that 8 game win streak. Most, (all), of those teams were not contenders and the Rox blew huge leads late in almost every game except Wash and Chicago. We can't win because we don't have the depth to beat the top teams in 7 game series especially without home court. We don't have a true point guard to keep turn overs to a minimum plus o one on the team wants to shoot in the fourth quarter. Everyone is passing on taking the shot and then dribbling into traffic to pass it to another teammate whose just as afraid to shoot. Plus we need to stop losing big leads late in games. As much as I would like it to happen...this team is NOT going to win the title this year...ain't going to happen!
NO its not about the streak, its about the progression. Anyone that cant tell the difference b/w our team this year and our team last year is a fool. The team last year was playoff fodder, this team is not. 7 games of Tracy Mcgrady and Yao Ming, and look at my previous post, we are NOT going to play SA and as long as they hold up, we wouldnt until the WCF, and by the way, ask them who they DONT want to play and I guarantee its gonna be us. We beat Seattle in a 7 game series, even with out Home court, and I think that Phoenix is tougher but I like our chances. This team is way better than last years, this team is not fodder.
Also, even if we go to the WCF and the price is our first round pick (to get a point) who cares, that is a good deal. Playoffs experience, T-mac gets to prove his doubter wrong, and who isnt going to want to play on that team, even if its 2-3 years down the road.
Bad THREAD TITLE. Don't 8 wins convince you from posting a "we can't win" thread? Perhaps you want a 72-game winning streak? DAMN, why do I let this crap get to me... GO ROCKETS!!!!!
Did you read his post?? The question is "why can't we win this year? (that is, win it all - made perfectly clear in the post which followed the title) I think we can win this year! I don't understand why people think we can't! If healthy we are certainly one of the top teams in the league. Since a 6-11 start we are 26-11. If we had moved at the 26-11 pace all along we would currently be something like 38-16 - good for homecourt advantage! And no, that 26-11 streak wasn't against a weak schedule.
Dude... I was kidding... if he wanted to win the year, then it's still wrong... it should be WIN IT ALL or WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR or something like that... my understanding is that the title throws people off... ummm... GO ROCKETS?
I dont think that is a problem for people that read the title and the thread, I simply detect a lot of people on the board saying that we are rebuilding or cannot win this year. I want them to justify this instead of just making that 1 statement. I justified why I feel we can go deep into the playoffs.
There are some glaring weaknesses that could prove to be too much for this team to overcome once playoff time is here. We don't have the athleticism that teams like the Suns, Mavs, and Sonics have. Once playoff time comes, will we be able to keep up? There are some old vets that may tire out towards the end of the season. Yao, of course, could also wear down. Sura's has to play through an injury for the rest of the season and T-Mac doesn't look 100% healthy either. We don't have the playoff experience that teams like the Spurs and Kings have. Both of our stars do not have much playoff experience. Neither do our role players, who have basically played for lottery teams for most of their careers. I love the progression that the team has shown, but I would be shocked if they were able to get into the second round.
I agree and disagree... come playoff time (aka... slow it down half court time) I don't think that the athleticism will be as much of an issue. Playoffs are about defense and about inside out offense... two things we do well. If our shooters can hit shots and we improve our rebounding and defense... we can suprise some teams and ourselves. I say go for it this year. Barry and Wesley are around one more year at best.
OK. You've convinced me. If the Rockets don't win the championship this year, Jeff Van Gundy must be fired.
I'm not just talking about keeping up in a fast paced game. I'm also talking about which team will be faster at getting to those loose balls and rebounds. Seattle just destroyed us yesterday on the boards. They got their hands on every single loose ball. The Detroit Pistons proved last year in the finals that athleticism is important. They looked much more athletic, energetic, and younger than the Lakers, who looked like a bunch of old farts moving in slow motion.
I would also like to point out that the Rockets success has come mainly due to the Rockets moving to a more fast paced game and pushing the ball more. At the beginning of the season, we ran a slow half court offense, and we looked terrible. So if the playoffs really are all about teams that can execute in a half court offense, how well are we going to perform? Our half court has looked awful for most of the season.
Sam, yes, this may end up being our biggest problem, maybe more so than the point dillema. But still, come playoff time will have Sura and hopefully/maybe playerX. We are the best defensive rebounding percentage team in the league and we should not let last night get us down. No doubt with Howard and Yao upfront it is a concern, but rebounding is something that needs to be a team effort and Sura alone should not be looked at as a Savior in this regard. A team in the playoffs jacking up that many perimeter shots does not worry me, what happened last night will not happen for 4-7 straight games. Dont you feel the potential is there? I dont know what I see, but outside of SA things are wide open.
