Now that Wells signed with Houston, that bumps them up quite a bit. Which team do you think is going to be "scarier" and has a better chance of taking out a Dallas, San Antonio, or Phoenix in the playoffs?I'll post my take later.
Rockets IMO. They have a top 5 swingman in T-Mac, arguably the best center in league in Yao, tons of depth in backcourt, and now an X-factor in Wells (take a look at the Kings-Spurs series to see the kind of impact he can make). Don't sleep on Rafer or Battier, either, Rafer played really well for them last year and Battier will be perfect in JVG's system. Not to mention they have a pretty decent bench still, with Juwan, Snyder, Deke, Head, Bowen, and possibly Sura.If healthy, they are a very, very scary team.
Obviously the clippers. The rockets havent proven that they can be healthy yet. Bonzi is a nice addition, but it wont be enough to stop a VERY powerful and very deep Clips team. Cassel is still good, Brand keeps getting better and better, Kaman is becoming a top 5 center in the league, and Livingston is going to take a major step this year. Sure, Houston has a load of talent but they will never be fully healthy. I'm taking the clips.
I think both teams will be very scary, especially if TMac and Yao stay healthy, but with Maggete playing I definetly think that the Clippers are at better team. Mostly because you have Brand who will abuse anyone they put on him and Kaman has turned into a very good center. Cassell and Mobley, who are experienced guards and bring a lot(especially Cassell) to the team they are during the playoffs. Maggette can put up very good numbers I think if he can ever stay healthy. He's very strong and one of the best I've seen at driving to the basket and getting 3-point plays. I expect a good season from him. On the bench they have Tim Thomas who I expect to do a nice job. I like him a little bit more than Vlad, they at least don't lost much by Vlad leaving. Livingston should improve and become a better bench option for them this year backing up Cassell. He was looking pretter good at the end of last season to me.I love the Rockets. T-Mac is a great player and Yao showed how good he was in the playoffs two years ago. I just don't think their line-up is as good. They don't have a good PF or a really good PG. I'd take the Clippers in this even though both teams are scary.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Sep 29 2006, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think both teams will be very scary, especially if TMac and Yao stay healthy, but with Maggete playing I definetly think that the Clippers are at better team. Mostly because you have Brand who will abuse anyone they put on him and Kaman has turned into a very good center. Cassell and Mobley, who are experienced guards and bring a lot(especially Cassell) to the team they are during the playoffs. Maggette can put up very good numbers I think if he can ever stay healthy. He's very strong and one of the best I've seen at driving to the basket and getting 3-point plays. I expect a good season from him. On the bench they have Tim Thomas who I expect to do a nice job. I like him a little bit more than Vlad, they at least don't lost much by Vlad leaving. Livingston should improve and become a better bench option for them this year backing up Cassell. He was looking pretter good at the end of last season to me.I love the Rockets. T-Mac is a great player and Yao showed how good he was in the playoffs two years ago. I just don't think their line-up is as good. They don't have a good PF or a really good PG. I'd take the Clippers in this even though both teams are scary.</div>I understand where you are coming from on this, but 3 things:-T-Mac was the best swingman in the league in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 with the Rockets....Brand is a great player, but not T-Mac's caliber. Clippers have no 2nd option as dangerous as Yao. -They might not have a great PF, but Bonzi and Battier will greatly help with rebounding and toughness. Remember, Clippers aren't a huge team, either. Brand is about as tall as T-Mac, and Juwan/Battier could do a better job on him then say Duncan. -Rafer Alston played very well for Rockets last year, and him and hopefully a healthy Sura are good enough at PG considering T-Mac plays playmaker half the time.
The Rockets talent has never been questioned. It is the fact that they cant seem to stay healthy. If every team in the league had all of their players for the entire season, the Rockets would be among the top 7 or 8 IMO. But that just isnt the case. You know T-Mac will be out some which really hurts them. Sura just came off of a full year injury so he is vulnerable. And for a guy like Yao, he is just bound to get injured with all of the double teams and physical play that he endures. I hope that the Rockets can stay healthy, but I just dont see it happening. That is why I think the Clips are better.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Sep 28 2006, 09:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I understand where you are coming from on this, but 3 things:-T-Mac was the best swingman in the league in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 with the Rockets....Brand is a great player, but not T-Mac's caliber. Clippers have no 2nd option as dangerous as Yao. -They might not have a great PF, but Bonzi and Battier will greatly help with rebounding and toughness. Remember, Clippers aren't a huge team, either. Brand is about as tall as T-Mac, and Juwan/Battier could do a better job on him then say Duncan. -Rafer Alston played very well for Rockets last year, and him and hopefully a healthy Sura are good enough at PG considering T-Mac plays playmaker half the time.</div>Brand is a great player and is rising to superstart status. Maggette, if he's healthy can average 22-24 points and get a good amount of rebounds. I'd say he's a very good second option. Alston doesen't even compare with Cassell, especially int he playoffs and the Clippers as a whole are just a better team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Sep 29 2006, 05:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Rockets talent has never been questioned. It is the fact that they cant seem to stay healthy. If every team in the league had all of their players for the entire season, the Rockets would be among the top 7 or 8 IMO. But that just isnt the case. You know T-Mac will be out some which really hurts them. Sura just came off of a full year injury so he is vulnerable. And for a guy like Yao, he is just bound to get injured with all of the double teams and physical play that he endures. I hope that the Rockets can stay healthy, but I just dont see it happening. That is why I think the Clips are better.</div>They were healthy in 04-05. T-Mac missed only 4 games (season before he missed I believe 14, but in last few games just decided to rest and not play, not due to injury keeping him off court), Yao before last season never went below I believe 75 games, and now they don't have to worry about Swift and Barry's injuries. I doubt we will see nearly as many injuries hinder this team as they did last year.ASUFan- I see what you're saying, but with arguably a top 3-5 scorer in league and arguably top center in league, along with a very dangerous Wells, 2 great role players in Rafer and Battier, and a very solid bench, I just feel Rockets are a more dangerous team.
Very solid bench? It's a very bad bench... Clippers won't have anyone playing out of position. They have a very good center. Kaman is pretty young too and already became a top 10 center last year so lets see what he can do now. Cassell is the much better player in the playoffs than whoever the Rockets start at point guard. Bonzi has never been as good as he was in last season's playoffs so who's to say he'll repeat that? Maggette is a very good player, at least Bonzi's equal when he's healthy. Battier is good, but out of position unless they want to start Howard who isn't good at all. Brand is a great player and will be just as hard to stop as TMac with the Rockets' weak front court, or just as hard to stop for the elite teams. And the Clippers first two bench players should be more productive than anyone from the Rockets bench.
-Cassell is better than anyone the Rockets have at PG, but when you have T-Mac with the ball in his hands most of the time and creating the plays, that position isn't as important in terms of playmaking.-Rockets will have Howard, Battier, Yao, and Mutombo to help stop Brand from getting baskets in paint. Last year Brand was held below average in PPG and FG % vs Rockets (one of those games was without Mutombo helping out down low, and of course no Battier).-When did I say Bonzi will be as good as he was in last season's playoffs? He is still a 10-15PPG scorer and can grab 5RPG+, and can provide a big spark to your team (as seen in Kings series). Can he sustain that kind of production? Probably not, but that kind of spark can win games, and with a healthy T-Mac/Yao, the team won't need many big sparks by other players to win games.-Battier is undersized, but that won't be much of a problem considering Brand is only an inch taller and doesn't weigh too much more. If Brand is killing him in paint, they can just put Howard on him, move Battier to SF spot and sub Wells in for him and Mac. And it isn't like Brand is Shaq, he scores most of his points from 5-18ft, not powering his opponents to basket. -And who would those bench players be? Tim Thomas won't be as productive as Howard/Battier/Wells off the bench, and Sura/Snyder are just as productive off bench as Livingston. Rockets have a pretty decent bench.As I said before, NO ONE on the Clippers matches a player the caliber on T-Mac, and you can argue who the better player is between Yao and Elton. And I know last season shouldn't be a holy grail in telling how the stars will perform against each team, but Yao averaged 23/13 on 57% shooting against the Clips in 4 games and T-Mac averaged 28/6/4 on 43% shooting in 3 games vs the Clips (scoring was increased by about 2pts and FG % up 3%). In other words, the Clips have NO ONE to stop either player, and inside and out, and on bench, the Rockets have a good-very good defense that will cause Magette and Brand lots of trouble. I could see Cassell having a great series, but not Brand or Magette. You can argue who has the better bench, but Rockets clearly have better starting 5, the best player on the floor in T-Mac, at very least top 2-3 center in Yao, and other great role players to compliment these 2.
This entire thread is about the Rockets staying healthy.... people, McGrady said his back was feeling better than his 31ppg season with Orlando after this one softball game he had, and a week ago on ESPN he said his back is 100%, I think Yao is pretty much good to go for the season, and Nobody else had any MAJOR injuries, the rest of them had little nagging injuries that are hopefully gone.
Let's see we have the rockets who have a dominant duo, great supporting cast and are championship contenders. Dominant duo's win championships and the rockets have one. Clippers don't. So yeh rockets easily
Rockets would be the scarier team to face. Their supporting cast isnt great, but idf TMac and Yao both go off one night, then you have a small chance of beating them. TMac and Yao provide alot of fire power. I dont know if they will have the better record than the Clips, but if both of these teams are playing their best, Id rather face the Clippers to tell you the truth.
Yao and Mac are allstar starters, the only other team who has that is Miami, and they won a title, Rockets have gotten so deep this summer and should be a top 5 team, no doubt the Rockets, I think McGrady will have an MVP like season.
<span style="font-family:Book Antiqua">The Clips have a better chance of knocking down the Mavs or Suns or some other top team in the Playoffs than the Rockets do simply because the Clips star player, Elton Brand, doesn't remain injured for an entire season. He's there when the team requires him. Also, Sam Cassell, a past Houston Rockets' player, can provide the playmaking the Clips require to win games. In the other hand, the Rockets may have two star players, but neither have proven anything for the team. Of course, without T-Mac, the Rockets lose more games than they win, but then again, without Yao Ming, the Rockets get nowhere. The Clips don't have to rely on two people to provide the wins. If Elton does get injured, please believe that Sam Cassell will insure that the Clips remain championship contenders. Of course, the Clips won't be anywhere without Brand, but they'd be like the 2005-06 Rockets if Cassell didn't resign.</span>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Illosophee @ Oct 8 2006, 07:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><span style="font-family:Book Antiqua">The Clips have a better chance of knocking down the Mavs or Suns or some other top team in the Playoffs than the Rockets do simply because the Clips star player, Elton Brand, doesn't remain injured for an entire season. He's there when the team requires him. Also, Sam Cassell, a past Houston Rockets' player, can provide the playmaking the Clips require to win games. In the other hand, the Rockets may have two star players, but neither have proven anything for the team. Of course, without T-Mac, the Rockets lose more games than they win, but then again, without Yao Ming, the Rockets get nowhere. The Clips don't have to rely on two people to provide the wins. If Elton does get injured, please believe that Sam Cassell will insure that the Clips remain championship contenders. Of course, the Clips won't be anywhere without Brand, but they'd be like the 2005-06 Rockets if Cassell didn't resign.</span></div>Before last season, Yao missed only 2 games in his whole career. Before last season, T-Mac only missed more than 7 games once since leaving Toronto. T-Mac is as healthy as ever, and Yao is feeling good (exceptn bruised toe from teammate stepping on it, but that won't be a problem).
T-Mac has constantly said hes 100% on ESPN, and Yao doesn't have problems since it was just a BROKEN BONE, broken bones heal, they dont aggravate for 10 years like some injuries.
So what if T-Mac says he's 100%? Amare says the same and no one believes HIM after all.The Rockets were a lottery team last season, while the Clippers were a rebound away from the conference finals. Thus until the Rockets prove themselves the Clippers get the nod.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (falconman1130 @ Oct 10 2006, 11:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>So what if T-Mac says he's 100%? Amare says the same and no one believes HIM after all.The Rockets were a lottery team last season, while the Clippers were a rebound away from the conference finals. Thus until the Rockets prove themselves the Clippers get the nod.</div>Amare has never said he was 100% healthy. T-Mac, along with his trainers and such, are saying he is in the best condition he has ever been in. D;Antoni says Amare has to earn a spot on starting lineup and still has questions about him, so no, it's not same thing. And for the record, T-Mac went 5-10 with 17pts and 5 assists in 18min of work in his preseason game today. Not saying that means he will go for 34PPG in 36min of work in season, but it is a good sign that he is healthy and playing well.When Yao and Mac played together they were at 21-10....68% winning %....4th best in league. NOT saying they could have sustained that throughout 82 games, but they are a VERY good team with both of them on floor. In 2004-2005, they ended season 35-15. When both players are healthy, despite who the role players are, they are an extremely dangerous team. Add Wells, Battier, Alston, Howard and other good role player sin mix you have a potential championship contender if everyone is healthy.
