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TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:41 pm
by bballCT
I'll be rooting for Houston this year, I think Artest is exactly what the team needed. Having Battier or Scola off the bench is ridiculous, they are both savyy and sound players. I love the team's grit and I really hope for you guys that key players remain injury free and that Artest will find a way to focus on winning. Enjoy the season!

SG - Tracy McGrady

McGrady has been an NBA celebrity ever since he signed a contract with the Orlando Magic in 2000 and won the league's Most Improved Player award. However, that celebrity has started to dim as people are beginning to realize that as talented as McGrady is - and that is very - he doesn't have the indefinable intangibles that make a team win. Aside from the storied Playoff failures he is a player that has quit on one team while they were losing (the 2003-2004 Magic) and entertained thoughts of retirement a few years later when Houston was having a rough go of it (2006). He's continually expressed frustration with the process of team building and has an obsession with instant results.He has made no apologies for his me-first interests on every team he's played for despite also insisting that he needs more help from those around him. If Houston can make it deep into the post-season this year then McGrady will pass into his 30's with a newfound pedigree for winning. However, if he flames-out again the fact that he's crossed the big 'three-oh' will no doubt only expedite his departure from Houston.


SF - Ron Artest

If coach Rick Adelman wanted to be really daring he could put Artest at the power forward slot and start Shane Battier here, but given the size of most of the Western NBA power forwards (Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, etc) the safe bet is that Artest will start at his natural power forward position. He has a preexisting relationship with Adelman from their Sacramento days, all positive, and so there is a chance that he'll actually behave this year and play up to his potential. However, people have been throwing around that circumstance for years without satisfaction, so just because he is in a contract year that shouldn't insinuate we'll be seeing a golden boy Artest. If he can play his game and stay relatively healthy then his importation will have been a success. If not? At least he's an expiring contract.


C - Yao Ming

The frustrating thing about Yao Ming is that he should be the undisputed best center in the NBA. He's huge but he's also skilled. He's world famous but he still works at developing his game. He has all of the tools and he knows how to use them. However, he is only able to use them for precious few games per year. Yao, like McGrady and Artest, is a fragile body that has every fan holding his or her breath every time they make contact with another body or the floor. For all of the strategic and personality reasons that one could knock the Rockets down a peg or two for, the fact that Yao simply hasn't been able to stay healthy far exceeds any other. Talking about Yao in any other capacity at this point seems not only fruitless but irrelevant. Until he can prove that he can stay healthy there is no reason to expect that he will and, thus, there is no reason to expect that the Rockets are going anywhere when their best player can't stay on the court.


http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=249762&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_nba

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:35 pm
by Transistor
fellow Torontonian?

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:50 pm
by bballCT
Ottawayan, Raps fan at heart

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:29 am
by Sports Arsenal
As much as I wish I could disagree with this material, I find myself unable to.
All and all its really pretty much "spot-on". Our team is getting old fast. Tracy turning thirty is huge especailly since he has been in the league for so long coming straight from high school. Alston has little fuel left in the tank and Yao has to find a way to stay on the court
But on the positive side we have a team now that is clearly able to win a championship. With two of the best defenders in the NBA and 3-4 proflific scoring options our team will be a major force to reckon with.

As far as the Lakers go
Fisher=Alston
Bryant>Tracy
Odom<Artest
Gasol>Scola
Bynum<<<Yao
Laker Bench<Rocket Bench

As far as the Celtics go
Rondo=Alston
Allen<Tracy
Pierce=Artest
Garnett>Scola
Perkins<Yao
Celtics Bench<Rocket Bench

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:31 pm
by The_Pope
ShaqSux wrote:As much as I wish I could disagree with this material, I find myself unable to.
All and all its really pretty much "spot-on". Our team is getting old fast. Tracy turning thirty is huge especailly since he has been in the league for so long coming straight from high school. Alston has little fuel left in the tank and Yao has to find a way to stay on the court
But on the positive side we have a team now that is clearly able to win a championship. With two of the best defenders in the NBA and 3-4 proflific scoring options our team will be a major force to reckon with.

As far as the Lakers go
Fisher=Alston
Bryant>Tracy
Odom<Artest
Gasol>Scola
Bynum<<<Yao
Laker Bench<Rocket Bench

As far as the Celtics go
Rondo=Alston
Allen<Tracy
Pierce=Artest
Garnett>Scola
Perkins<Yao
Celtics Bench<Rocket Bench

Lol.

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:55 pm
by PocketRockets
How can you say our bench is better than the lakers or celtics? Our bench sucks. Even if we have scola or battier coming off the bench...we still have to play other scrubs. You ever play in a pick up game where there's one decent player and a bunch of scrubs? No team has an advantage and the games are fugly. If anything the benches are equal in my opinion.

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:50 am
by K-Roc
PocketRockets wrote:How can you say our bench is better than the lakers or celtics? Our bench sucks. Even if we have scola or battier coming off the bench...we still have to play other scrubs. You ever play in a pick up game where there's one decent player and a bunch of scrubs? No team has an advantage and the games are fugly. If anything the benches are equal in my opinion.


Horrible? Yes we have some guys that are going to be pretty risky to play but if they do what they are ask are going to be great bench players. Dike and Dorsey(IMO the next Ben Wallace) about to sign they solved there big man problems. Francis looking to come and play hard, then you have Battier, then Head if he can bouce back. Then hopfully we can get Landry back. Also don't sleep on DJ Strawberry.

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:37 am
by OhMyBosh
His assessment of McGrady was complete trash.

"He has made no apologies for his me-first interests on every team he's played for despite also insisting that he needs more help from those around him."

This guy has not watched a Rockets game in the last 2-3 years.

Re: TSN Season Preview: Houston Rockets

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:34 pm
by King Roosk
The_Pope wrote:
ShaqSux wrote:As much as I wish I could disagree with this material, I find myself unable to.
All and all its really pretty much "spot-on". Our team is getting old fast. Tracy turning thirty is huge especailly since he has been in the league for so long coming straight from high school. Alston has little fuel left in the tank and Yao has to find a way to stay on the court
But on the positive side we have a team now that is clearly able to win a championship. With two of the best defenders in the NBA and 3-4 proflific scoring options our team will be a major force to reckon with.

As far as the Lakers go
Fisher=Alston
Bryant>Tracy
Odom<Artest
Gasol>Scola
Bynum<<<Yao
Laker Bench<Rocket Bench

As far as the Celtics go
Rondo=Alston
Allen<Tracy
Pierce=Artest
Garnett>Scola
Perkins<Yao
Celtics Bench<Rocket Bench

Lol.


For the record, Boston would most likely have been bitchslapped in the postseason had they been in the West. Yes, they beat the WC champion Lakers, but Boston's road to the finals was laughable. Being taken to 7 games by the 8th seed with a sub-.500 record, then being pushed to 7 games again by Lebron? Yikes. Not to take anything away from your championship, but quoting a Rockets poster's assessment and then responding with "lol" isn't exactly smart on your part.