[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by willha418

Compared to last year. Houston's role players are actually hitting shots. Rafaer Alston is suprisingly becoming more of a consistent 3 point shooter and his on the floor leadership is growing. Their defense has picked up and it seems as though the rookies for Houston has really stepped up (Carl Landry, Aaron Brooks, and Louis Scola). The offense under Adelman is pretty good, there is more movement in the offense thanks to the high post and slashers/cutters. As far as what the OP was mentioning, it is true that Houston gets no respect from TNT/ESPN or any other NBA Analysts. Hopefully they can make it out of the first round and make some noise in the playoffs, so they could atleast get a little exposure of what a great team Houston is.

Houston isn't great by any means. People throw around the word great far too easily. The only great team in the NBA right now is the Spurs. Without Yao, Houston isn't even worth mentioning in the same sentence.

[willha418]

Then I guess Lakers, Pistons, Celtics are all mediocre.

[TheAcAvenger]

You can be better than mediocre without being great.

The Pistons have proven they can win a championship. They are consistently one of the best defensive teams in the league. They get the job done.

Phil Jackson has more rings than Sonic the Hedgehog, Kobe's the best player in the NBA, and Pau Gasol is an all-star.

The Celtics have an MVP, the best pure shooter in the league, and a verstaile 3 man.

The Rockets without Yao are T-Mac, and a bunch of role players, at least half of which would not be starters on the teams you'll have to go through to win a championship.

We're not saying you're bad. You're slightly ahead of Mediocre. The Spurs are a great team. The Lakers, Pistons, Celtics, Mavs are exceptionally good teams. The Hornets, Rockets, and Warriors are very good, still unproven teams.

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by willha418

Then I guess Lakers, Pistons, Celtics are all mediocre.

They are good to very good teams, not great though. Pistons are very good, they've proven they have what it takes to get to the Finals.

Houston doesn't really have Championship experience or has their leaders made it out of the first round.

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by TheAcAvenger

You can be better than mediocre without being great.

The Pistons have proven they can win a championship. They are consistently one of the best defensive teams in the league. They get the job done.

Phil Jackson has more rings than Sonic the Hedgehog, Kobe's the best player in the NBA, and Pau Gasol is an all-star.

The Celtics have an MVP, the best pure shooter in the league, and a verstaile 3 man.

The Rockets without Yao are T-Mac, and a bunch of role players, at least half of which would not be starters on the teams you'll have to go through to win a championship.

We're not saying you're bad. You're slightly ahead of Mediocre. The Spurs are a great team. The Lakers, Pistons, Celtics, Mavs are exceptionally good teams. The Hornets, Rockets, and Warriors are very good, still unproven teams.

Exactly.

I hate it when people categorize others has "haters" when they simply have a realistic point of view. I'm a Laker fan, they arguably have a much better team than the Rockets. However, I'm not going to call the Lakers great. Calling your own team great when it hasn't accomplished anything significant means you have lower standards/expectations for your team or it is homerism.

[willha418]

haha.. I've been a fan of the Lakers since the 80's, but am defending the Rockets because they do not get the respect that they do deserve. Spurs to you are a great team, to me, they are only a great team if Duncan or TP is healthy. If one of those players are out, then I believe their greatness will be gone. Manu is the only other player that could step up and do something. They do have the experience, but the players they have are ancient old. I want to see if they can still bring it in the post season.

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by willha418

haha.. I've been a fan of the Lakers since the 80's, but am defending the Rockets because they do not get the respect that they do deserve. Spurs to you are a great team, to me, they are only a great team if Duncan or TP is healthy. If one of those players are out, then I believe their greatness will be gone. Manu is the only other player that could step up and do something. They do have the experience, but the players they have are ancient old. I want to see if they can still bring it in the post season.

What respect do they deserve? Respect is earned.

They are only a great team if Duncan or TP is healthy. What kind of statement is that man? Every team is only as good if their stars are healthy.

Ancient old? Dikembe is ancient old (still darn effective I must add).

[willha418]

What kind of statement is that man? Every team is only as good if their stars are healthy.

The Rockets have won 3 without Yao (Star on the Rockets). I know 3 is not much, but their bench really filled in nicely for him for those games. If TD went down, who is gonna fill his shoes in scoring? Kurt Thomas? Robert Horry? Matt Bonner? A team is only as good if their stars are healthy seems fine if you are a one man show.

[Hunter399]

Originally Posted by 'Cane

Nah, you were a little over the top there.

not at all

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by willha418

What kind of statement is that man? Every team is only as good if their stars are healthy.

The Rockets have won 3 without Yao (Star on the Rockets). I know 3 is not much, but their bench really filled in nicely for him for those games. If TD went down, who is gonna fill his shoes in scoring? Kurt Thomas? Robert Horry? Matt Bonner? A team is only as good if their stars are healthy seems fine if you are a one man show.

You said, the Spurs are only a great team if they have TP/Duncan healthy. Well TP was injured for quite some time and Manu stepped up.

My point is, any team is not a great team if their main players go down. Same applies to the Rockets.

You won 3 games without Yao. One was against an injury plagued Wizards who is missing their 2 best players (and then a couple of more) and the other was against Memphis, the second worst team in the NBA without Mike Miller (their best outside shooter, 2nd best scorer). The other win was against a very poor defensive team the Denver Nuggets who you beat at home. Sorry, not impressive.

[willha418]

If you can go and check the records without TD or TP, their record was below average aka not great. Wizards? yeah they are missing Gil and Caron, but they still had Jamison and Stevenson. Rockets trounced them. Memphis is missing Mike Miller, oh no. They still had Rudy Gay. Denver had both of their stars, Melo and AI playing, oh no they lost. The point is, Rockets are winning with out Yao by their bench/role players. Like you said, Every team is only as good if their stars are healthy. Yao is out and they are still winning. That's what makes a great TEAM a great TEAM, winning without your star(s).

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by willha418

If you can go and check the records without TD or TP, their record was below average aka not great. Wizards? yeah they are missing Gil and Caron, but they still had Jamison and Stevenson. Rockets trounced them. Memphis is missing Mike Miller, oh no. They still had Rudy Gay. Denver had both of their stars, Melo and AI playing, oh no they lost. The point is, Rockets are winning with out Yao by their bench/role players. Like you said, Every team is only as good if their stars are healthy. Yao is out and they are still winning. That's what makes a great TEAM a great TEAM, winning without your star(s).

Wizards are 29-30 against a weaker strength of schedule (EAST). Memphis is 14-45.

You don't replace PPG 21.4, RPG 6.80, APG 4.5, PPG 22.4, 4.4 RPG, 5.9 APG. You are delusional.

You're standards are obviously low. A GREAT team wins Championships. Period. You clearly missed my point earlier.

Beating a 14-45 team and 29-30 team without their 2 All-Stars is nothing to brag about, Yao or without Yao. Beat them without TMac and Yao and then you can talk about being one of the best worst teams in the league, because that's what the Rockets would be.

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by willha418

If you can go and check the records without TD or TP, their record was below average aka not great.

Tony Parker was out all of Feb up until the 21st. The Spurs were 7-1. Since when was 7-1 below average? This year Tim Duncan has played and started for 54 games.

Did you just make up that stat or can you back it up next time?

[willha418]

From the top of my head. I believe it was during the month of December when TD or TP was hurt. They lost to the Lakers, Suns, and I believe to Memphis. Lakers at that time didn't have Pau I believe. Memphis at that time was still Memphis.

[willha418]

Originally Posted by OC 335i

Tony Parker was out all of Feb up until the 21st. The Spurs were 7-1. Since when was 7-1 below average? This year Tim Duncan has played and started for 54 games.

Did you just make up that stat or can you back it up next time?

The Spurs were actually 2 and 4 without TD.

[willha418]

I'll be back tomorrow to discuss some more! Seeya guys later!

[nyczyang27]

FIRE ISIAH....

CRAWFORD IS A BEAST

KNICKS FAN 4 EVA.

[txusa03]

Let just say the Rockets are playing great at the moment. True, many teams they won againts are not top teams, true many of these wins are at home. But a win is a win and I rather see TMac smile then cry. Damn, hommie cried last year on TV because they got kick out of the playoff.


Go Rocketssssssssssssss!!!

[PresaMat]

I dunno... I live in houston and used to be a huge rockets fan (had season ticket floor seats). Back when they were good. When they actually had some... fire under their asses. Back when we had hakeem, drexler etc. Nowadays i find them rather blah. Yao was cool but IMO nothing AMAZING. I think people talk about him like he is a god but compared to players of old he is not much besides being tall. I wish the rockets luck and i still root for them but I dont seem them doing anything interesting this season.

Mat

[Main33vnt]

Alrite here it is.... Rockets.... Rockets are a "good team" with YAO.... without Yao i really dont see them going anywhere... the West is rediculous this year.... imagine that theres going to be a team with over a .600 winning record not going to make it while the east has 2 teams under 500 that are... Everyone is throwing out comments on this team can win this that well... I'm a lakers fan till death but Spurs are proving that they cant be beat.... If denver makes the playoffs and Spurs are in first... I HOPE for an upset so it can be easier for LA.... the only team that is feared right now for Die Heart Laker Fans are Spurs... Simply because they are a monstrous team..... Hopefully BYNUM and Ariza are back and ready to take over.... Golden State doesnt have what it takes to take out Spurs so itll be a waste.... Denver last year proved they have a chance to tear shit up so lets see what happens.... This is going ot be the best playoff year of all time I think.... Lets see what upsets go down...

[Eazyrock]

Originally Posted by Main33vnt

This is going ot be the best playoff year of all time I think.... Lets see what upsets go down...

+1

[Couch]

I may have "misremembered" what I heard on the radio. But I believe they said that the Rockets now are currently in almost the exact same spot they were back in '93/'94.