Not really. A 24th pick for a one year rental if the Rockets don't get passed the first round. Teams sell those picks all the time. Not every team is a championship team, and not every team is a playoff team. Getting passed the first round is not a big deal, championships are. In 04, the Rockets gave the Lakers a run for their money. If the T-Mac deal happened a year sooner the Lakers would have been swept. In 05, JVG should have tanked a little because the standings were skewed in favor of the 6th seed who faced Seattle instead of a cheating Mavs team. Rockets lost in 7 games. In 06, Yao/T-Mac injured In 07, the Rockets lost to the Azz in 7 games. In 08, Rafer/Yao injured. Game 2 was badly officiated. Rockets lost in 6. The Rockets have consistently made it to the postseason in the toughest division in the league. They haven't won anything, but they've been a successful team withstanding many roster changes, injuries, cheating, and a tough conference.
Not a dramatic change???? From 2 years ago, there are 3 new starters, and a completely new bench what team are you looking at the only thing consistent is that they have lost in the first round,...damn that hurts to say I think Ron will stay.....Les better suck it up and go over the cap if just for next year, then let tracy's contract expire, Toyota center will be burnt down if he doesn't TMac Rocket career====OVER...I'm not even counting him any more....and nobody else should either I've been saying that to everybody I know PLEASE tell me what center will be available better than Yao. Battier is the only other main stay, and there is no reason to give him up
Thanks for correcting me. I forgot they missed the playoffs in 2006. That only strengthens my point. You brought up several players on the Rockets roster in the past years, but their core has remained constant, along with their first round exits. Despite the myriad role players surrounding this core over the years, the results have been consistently disappointing. This is a sign that their core could be the reason for their postseason woes. While very talented, it boils down to the Rockets core being extremely injury prone and the fact that they just haven’t been getting the job done. (McGrady has a history of first round exits). Yao has played 55, 48, 57 games during the past three seasons. McGrady’ is currently out, playing a total of 35 games this season, 66, 71, and 47 games the previous three seasons. If they fail to advance past the first round it will be the fifth season where they fall to expectations. And, of course, every team looks to improve their team. However, the Rockets have to strongly consider making some major changes to improve their team. The Rockets lost in Game 5. I don’t think that qualifies as a run for the Lakers’ money. But at the end of the day, teams are measured by results, not excuses. Things like a poorly officiated game and players’ injuries don’t cut it in the grand scheme of things. Their regular season success is meaningless if they cannot match that success in the postseason.
Why was Kyle Lowry sub-par with the Grizzlies and now he's fighting for a starting spot for one of the top teams in the West? I swear there is a curse on Memphis.
New starters are irrelevant--what's relevant is who is on the team. You have to excuse me, I don't follow the Rockets as much as you, but the team, or at least the main rotation seemed to be: McGrady Yao Battier Mutombo Hayes Howard 4 of those 6 are still on the team.
the rockets have made major changes. in 03-04, the main guys were yao, francis, mobley, jim jackson, mo taylor, and kelvin cato. in 04-05, it was yao, tmac, juwan howard, bob sura, david wesley, mutumbo, and jon barry. in 05-06, stromile swift was brought in and rafer alston replaced bob sura. in 06-07, the main guys were yao, tmac, howard, alston, head, battier, and once yao went down mutumbo. in 07-08, it was yao, tmac, alston, scola, battier, bonzi, landry, hayes, and again eventually mutumbo. this year, the main guys are yao, artest, scola, landry, battier, brooks, lowry, wafer, brent barry, and hayes. the only constant is yao. the only other guys who have been with the team for two playoff appearances are battier and hayes. they went through a drastic change when tmac was brought in. then they retooled the entire supporting cast. now tmac has basically been replaced with artest and the almost the entire supporting cast has been changed again. i'm not sure what else you want to happen other than for the rockets to move yao which of course will not happen.
Over the course of six years, major changes have been made. But I’m referring more to the McGrady era, so the last five years, really. The role players have changed, but the core, McGrady, Yao, Battier, has remained the same for what will be three years and the first round losses have followed. Why is this not an indication that, after what will be the fifth year, a change will need to be made to the core? Why should you expect anything different next season?
If you watched the series you would know. You can't say the Rockets need to make changes because of the last 6 years without knowing what the hell has happened to this team in the last 6 years. Some teams fight to make the playoffs. Only one team wins everything. Regular season success is entertaining. Championship success means everything.
I'm suggesting the Rockets make major changes to their core. I'm not saying the Rockets should trade Yao, but I do feel that he shouldn't be labeled as "untouchable" anymore.
I actually did watch the series. The Rockets played well considering that it was their first playoff appearance in quite a while, but the Lakers were the better, more experienced team. Still, I don't know how a Game 5 can be considered giving the opposition "a run for their money". As for the changes, I just know there was one thing that was constant during that span: Yao and T-Mac. Seems to be more than a coincidence that arguably the best duo in the league has yet to advanced past the first round. I don't really understand this. Are you justifying the Rockets consistent failure to advance past the first round?
I don't know how well you remember the series, but I remember it vividly. Jim Jackson missed a winning three in game 1, game 2 was very close till the end, game 3 was won by Houston, games 4 and 5 were both very close IIRC, with one of them being an overtime game. Considering that the Lakers team we faced matched up better against us at almost every position, we were able to give them a scare right off the bat. Well, it's not like the Rockets were favourites in any of the first round exits. And as for your thing about Yao, I don't know who there is on the trade market who can provide as much impact as Yao is. He's the core of this team, undoubtedly, and deservingly so. We just have the problem of not going to him; when needed, he's there, and he plays his role on the team perfectly. Trading him is definitely out of the question. It's a matter of surrounding him with the right talent, and honestly, I think what we have right now is the best group since Yao's arrived. You've got perimeter defenders protecting him from fouling at the basket, shooters at every position to stretch the D, and a smart hustle player in Scola preventing defenders from swarming him in the post. The only change I'd make to this team is to do something with TMac's contract. Battier's value to the Rockets far outweighs what we can get for him in a trade, and it is thus pointless to do so. We're maximizing him in our system, and I doubt Morey will want to move him anyways.
the only way for the rockets to make a change to their core that would be considered bigger than the things they've already done would be to trade yao. so that's exactly what you're suggesting if you say their moves so far don't constitute a major change but you want them to make a major change.
Francis messed up game 2. Under 2 minutes to go the Rockets were up 8 at LA. He dribbled the ball off his foot with 18 seconds on the shot clock. T-Mac would have iso'd and shot it with less than 3 seconds or found the open man. Francis started losing his quickness that season. He never learned how to become a better basketball player similar to Tracy. Both ran with their money and quit once they started losing their athleticism. This dude is acting like he knows a thing or two about the Rockets because he's watched a couple of 4th quarter Lakers playoff games. The Rockets had a great starting 5 that season. A prime T-Mac would have swept Kobe in that series.
Winning in 5 games isn't that big of a scare, doesn't matter how you win, a win is a win Did the Rockets not have homecourt in both Utah series? Anyone with homecourt obviously has a better record and is the favorites.
last year the rockets clearly were not the favorites. they didn't have yao and alston missed the first two games. they were lucky to stretch the series to 6. two years ago, it was basically a toss up. the rockets had homecourt but they also had yao coming back from his broken leg and he definitely was not at 100%. pretending now that the rockets were really the favorites back then is just not correct.
The point is we took it to them, and had a couple balls bounced differently, we would have pulled off an upset of the 2 seed. We blew that team up anyways so we'll never know how it would have turned out. As for the favourites thing, in 07 it was a toss-up. There was no surefire predicted winner. You guys matched up really well with us, and we had Chuck Hayes starting at power forward. Last year we had Scola but no Yao, you can't honestly say you expected the Rockets to win.
Not true. Although we did have homecourt last year in the playoffs, we weren't considered the favorites. We didnt even have YAO MING! Also the series in 2005 against Dallas we were 5th seed Dallas was 4th, some considered us the favorites against dallas and we didnt even have homecourt.
Another thing which seems to be consistent with the Rockets is the excuses. The Nets back in 2002 also had many close games against the Lakers in the Finals. But I wouldn’t say they gave the Lakers a run for their money. The Rockets have consistently lost in the first round and many of their series have been relatively close, yet they have consistently failed to advance. You can only use “the ball didn’t bounce the right way” or “the officiating wasn’t good” excuse for so long. At the end of the day, teams and players aren’t measured by excuses. Rather, they are measured by results. Furthermore, the Rockets losing to teams in tight game situations suggests an inability to close out games well. It also seems to be more than a coincidence that the players they are building around, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, have never made it past the first round despite, as everyone said, being on “drastically” different teams. What is the relevance of them not being the favorites? All that shows is that the Rockets were not thought to win, and the Rockets did not win. This does not change the fact the Rockets have consistently failed to advance or make the playoffs. I’m not advocating a rigorous attempt to trade Yao Ming. I do, however, feel the Rockets need to seriously explore all options, including if that means shedding the "untouchable" label off Yao. Their two best players are almost 30, injury-prone, and have histories of not winning in the postseason. Go figure.
Losing because of an injury to McGrady and/or Yao is a sign that the Rockets have built their team around injury-prone players.
