Why are you guys doubting the strength of the Rockets?

what's up with the news on spree....is it just a rumour or are we really trying to work out some kind of sign and trade with someone????

 

I too think we'll be behind SA, simply because they have the experience...right now, our team looks great...on PAPER...so therefore, until I see the necessary results in the season, I will be hesitant to glorify the Rockets as the next best thing...I still would like a legitimate point guard and still think we have way too many combo guards, but thats nit-picking...this offseason has been brilliant, IMO...

 

About Tracy's shooting percentage against Dallas....noone else would take the shots against them....at least from what I saw...not only that, but some of his missed shots were when they passed it to him with about 3 seconds left on the shot clock looking for him to bail them out so you also got to factor that in as well...

About ranking?...I'm not worried about ranking a this time in the summer...we had a great summer just like last year....you can make all the assumptions you want, but we won't find out till season starts....just like how we started out mediocre when we thought we would come out with a bang....cause of Tracy....I'm just saying...that before we put a number rank on ourselves....we should watch the games first....I will say that we are one of the top teams in the West and one of the better teams in the League...but we shalll see

anyways....anyone want to fly me down to Houston for a game?

 

^^^^yeah if you pay for your plane and my game ticket.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post"> Uuum........Talk about making no sense. That's the whole reason we got Derek Anderson, and Stormile. Not only do we have a legitimate 3rd option, we also have a 4th and 5th option. If Derek Anderson isn't a good 3rd option, then who is? We're not going to get a superstar. I don't know how realistic your expectations are, but are offseason has been near perfect. Ok maybe Tmac didn't shoot that well, but it wasn't because of Bowen. I watched the games, and Bowen was in foul trouble most of the time.</div>
My bad about the Andersen thing, I didn't know he can still put up around 16 at this time in his career. All I actually wanted was someone to put up around twenty points if absolutely necessary and maybe 15 on an other night. Apparently, we already have that in Andersen. About the Bowen thing, there was really only one night where he had foul trouble. Here are his fouls in those games- 3, 4, 3, 2. Courtesy of ESPN dot com.

 

dunno bout you guys but I really hate to see Padgett go. He hit a LOT of big shots last season and that's one less "money" 3 point shooter on the team.

DA is alright but way to streaky and inconsistent.. which will probably result in inconsistent minutes (since we have so much depth in the backcourt).. and inconsistent minutes usually leads to even more inconsistency..

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting johnny33:</div><div class="quote_post">dunno bout you guys but I really hate to see Padgett go. He hit a LOT of big shots last season and that's one less "money" 3 point shooter on the team.

DA is alright but way to streaky and inconsistent.. which will probably result in inconsistent minutes (since we have so much depth in the backcourt).. and inconsistent minutes usually leads to even more inconsistency..</div>
DA inconsistent??...Padgett reminds me of all the other white guys that ever play in the ROX, all were just known for their <u>STREAKY</u> 3's (sure they contributed to the team but they weren't anything great).

Bullard, Chilcutt, Mat Maloney, Brent Price, Piatkowski, Barry, Sura...and the list still continues (excluding Langhli, and Collier = major worthless good for nothing draft picks and will forever be trash ...at least Nachbar has potential )...all were nice to have (xept the other two I mention) but they were nothing special really)

 

We dont need padgett. We got swift now, so he cant get any real minutes. HE could have played the three, but now we have anderson, and he wil do that job.

If we start mike james, he could make a nice third option. He proved he could put up big points when we did start him. Though we lost those games, that was cause no one was backing him up. I havent seen DA put up big numbers in a while. A more likely third option then him and if not mike james, would be swift. HE put up 10 in 20 minutes, so about 35 min should get up 15 points, 9 boards, and 3 blocks.

 

Finally got time to read everyone's post. A lot of good points. I agree with whoever mentioned the fact that the Rockets should drop to the 6th/7th seed in order to avoid playing San Antonio. We can try passing there W-L record at first, but if we just cant by the final 10-15 games just try to fall to the 6th spot.

If we do not pass San Antonios W-L record then we will be forced to play them (considering the fact that we are stuck at 4th seed) after the 1st round is over. UNLESS, IF WE DO REALLY GOOD against San Antonio, which is A BIG IF, then we should just stick to the 4th seed. I think we are better off going head to head w/ them in the WCF rather than 2nd round.

 

^^^^
Sorry man, I don't agree with that at ALL. We should try to go up as much as we can and show the league that we are a force to be reckoned with. We want to get into the playoffs to win a championship, not to simply get out of the first round or the 2nd round. If we really want to see what we're made off, then I don't mind facing off with SA before the WCFs. If we lose to SA, then we're not ready. Either way it doesn't matter what seed we end up as, as long as we maximized our potential and ability to get to the top. Just my 2 cents

 

agreed. regardless, if the rockets want to get to the finals they have to go thru san antonio.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting igotask8board:</div><div class="quote_post">Finally got time to read everyone's post. A lot of good points. I agree with whoever mentioned the fact that the Rockets should drop to the 6th/7th seed in order to avoid playing San Antonio. We can try passing there W-L record at first, but if we just cant by the final 10-15 games just try to fall to the 6th spot.

If we do not pass San Antonios W-L record then we will be forced to play them (considering the fact that we are stuck at 4th seed) after the 1st round is over. UNLESS, IF WE DO REALLY GOOD against San Antonio, which is A BIG IF, then we should just stick to the 4th seed. I think we are better off going head to head w/ them in the WCF rather than 2nd round.</div>
I don't think running from San Antonio and dropping games is going to win championships. That method is used by only people who settle for mediocroty. That's kinda like your sending a message that we're scared, and we don't want to play San Antonio. The Rockets can beat San Antonio. I think overrall, we have a BETTER team than they do. The biggest obstacle is MENTAL.

 

You also have to think about it this way. If we get the fourth seed or whatever and face San Antonio in the second round and actually beat them, our confidence would shoot up out of the roofs. It would give us a mentality that we cannot be beaten and I would actually like for this team to have that cockiness. I really see no difference in meeting San Antonio in the second round or in the conference finals, its the same team really, just that we would be a lot more tired in the conference finals. The only good thing that we can say if we drop games to avoid them in the second round is that we got to the conference finals, but that doesn't mean anything compared to a championship.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">You also have to think about it this way. If we get the fourth seed or whatever and face San Antonio in the second round and actually beat them, our confidence would shoot up out of the roofs. It would give us a mentality that we cannot be beaten and I would actually like for this team to have that cockiness. I really see no difference in meeting San Antonio in the second round or in the conference finals, its the same team really, just that we would be a lot more tired in the conference finals. The only good thing that we can say if we drop games to avoid them in the second round is that we got to the conference finals, but that doesn't mean anything compared to a championship.</div>
good point..........We need that cockiness to help us get that mental edge over most teams. I think we started getting it at the end of last year, but Dallas' talent won at the end. Now that we have enough talent, we should come out the gate swinging

 

^lol come out the gate swining lol

I dont doubt the strentgh of the Rockets. I know they have a great coach in Gundy a star Center in Yao Ming that can learn things, and they have a super star in T-mac. Plus they got Stro and got luther head in the draft, so for me i dont doubt them i think theyre actually pretty fair, well rounded team. The reason why you guys wont come out on top in the West is because of the Spurs are to talented.(but sooner or later theyll fall off) Last season one of the only downsides i noticed was inconcistency.

 

The Rockets' biggest weakness, as it looks right now, is simply lack of experience together as a team...and thats to be expected when you make many offseason additions...I see this year as the year that they go deep in the playoffs and fall just short, and next season will be the year that they put it all together and win the big one...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Eduardo:</div><div class="quote_post">^^^^
Sorry man, I don't agree with that at ALL. We should try to go up as much as we can and show the league that we are a force to be reckoned with. We want to get into the playoffs to win a championship, not to simply get out of the first round or the 2nd round. If we really want to see what we're made off, then I don't mind facing off with SA before the WCFs. If we lose to SA, then we're not ready. Either way it doesn't matter what seed we end up as, as long as we maximized our potential and ability to get to the top. Just my 2 cents </div>
I don't think our goal should be to show the league we're a force to be reckoned with. How we finish in the regular season shouldn't be an indicator of how good we are as a team. The 1995 team finished with a 47-35 record but then won the championship, and we were still regarded as the best team in the league.

Whether we play the Spurs in the second round or the WCF will be of great significance because we are not as experienced and will need all the motivation we can get. The Spurs will take advantage of any lack of confidence we show and we'd be much more confident if we are just one round away from the big dance instead of two rounds and a matchup with the defending champs.

 

Sometimes I like to play it safe, but yea I think you guys are right about not throwing games.

I hope we beat San Antonio at least 3/4 times this season. I think that should put us ahead of them. I am sure the Spurs and Rockets will be within 5 wins of each other by the end of the year (excluding there 4 games against each other) so if we try hard to beat them every time then I see ourselves as the #1-2 spot. We will be way more confident once we face them as a lower seed!!! Especially if we have more wins over them!

EDIT: I was looking over Houston and San Antonio's schedules for this year, and I like what I see for the most part.

<font size="4">I predict this:</font>

-<u>Firs time we meet</u>, @ SA. November 17, 2005
Houston will be at the end of a 5 game road trip with the last game at San Antonio.
<font color="Red">San Antonio Wins</font>

-<u>Second time we meet</u> @ SA. March 12, 2006
Houston will have had a 3 day rest before playing against them. SA will have just arrived home from 3 road games. They played Phoenix as there last road game, and come home to face the Lakers. With only one day to rest and face us again.
<font color="Red">Houston Wins</font>

-<u>Third time we meet</u>, but in HOUSTON. March 18, 2006(Spring Break-I will go to this game!)
San Antonio will have just faced the running Suns the night before, and will be exhausted before they face us. Houston will have 2 days to rest before playing them.
<font color="Red">Houston Wins</font>

-<u>The fourth time we meet</u>, Last game of the season for Houston & San Antonio in HOUSTON! April 19, 2006
Well this ones tough. We will both have a day to rest, but we will have the home court advantage. It will be the last game of the season for both of us and we will both want the win, especially since both of us will want the season to end smoothly b4 the playoffs.. I think Houston will want it more. They will want to impress our fans just as well.

I have a good feeling that...
<font color="Red">Houston Wins!!!</font>

It would be a VERY FUN game to watch if the last game between them determines who takes the 1st/2nd seed, and who is stuck at the 4th seed.

One can only dream.

 

Let us see what happens once the season starts.