A Friendly Reminder: the next 10 months never happened
by grungedave on Nov 29, 2011 8:16 AM CST
in Random Commentary
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PrintThere are a few things we Rockets fans can agree on:
Hakeem is the greatest center of his generation;
the Utah Jazz suck;
Rudy T needs to be elected to the HOF this year;
Robert Horry is the greatest role player of all time and should never have been traded for Barkley;
oh, and...
the 1998/99 NBA never happened. You hear me? It never happened.
The Rockets never traded for Scottie Pippen.
I repeat:
Scottie Pippen is a horrible person and never, ever played for the Rockets.
Also, the Spurs did not win their first ring until 2003.
(Never happened I tell ya!!!)
Now, with that out of the way, why is that relevant to anything taking place today? Follow the yellow brick road to find the answer. Also known as "the Jump".
With the backstory about the 1998/99 season out of the way, you can probably see where I am going with this.
I am extremely conflicted on how to feel about this truncated 66 game NBA season. I mean, I guess it's kind of neat that I'll have something to do on Christmas Day other than fret about Jake Delhomme throwing playoff INTs for the Texans. But... Yao Ming still is not walking through that door. The Rockets will have about one week to sign draft picks and free agents and make any necessary trades. And while Daryl Morey would rightly be insulted by merely being labeled "awesome" that is quite the tough task for a GM that needs to find a legitimate starting center and some size on the bench for a team that has been rather mediocre the last few years.
Also, are we really going through with the Kevin McHale experience? That was not a joke? Ummm, interesting. Okay. I really cannot wrap my head around any of this. It is all simply too bizarre.
The only thing that does make sense is that the NBA players' association caved yet again.
Who did not see that coming?
Also, I'm must admit that I was more than willing to forego this season in exchange for the players and owners to get together and fix the system. This is not the NFL. The NBA is not flush with cash. Without the services of Michael Jordan as a player, the league is no longer printing money from TV and other contracts. Even the crazy awesome Maloof brothers are broke as shit and almost had to sell the team. Yet the NBA continues to have the highest average player salary among any professional sports league in the world. (I use the term "professional" because no one out-spends NCAA football boosters!). That is simply not a feasible business model going forward. No way should Chuck Hayes have any right to demand $3M+ a year. And yet someone will give it to him within the next two weeks. Just watch.
Until everyone wises up and realizes the NBA needs to cut four teams (Sacramento, Toronto, Indiana and Charlotte), we can just mark our calendars for the next lockout/strike in 2018. It's coming.
Back to the point though. Whatever happens this year is going to be bittersweet if the Rockets do well. Because it will not really count. When Morey catches Orlando off guard and swings a trade for Dwight Howard... I will not feel right bragging about our multiple championship rings until at least 2013. Just taking a look at the list of available free agents makes me nervous. There ain't much out there. At least no one that is worth the money they will receive from the owners (not even with the new cap rules in place. The owners cannot help themselves.)
The Rockets might make the playoffs this year.
They might also be the NBA's Astros.
I really have no idea what to expect from the team this year. Granted, I am hyper excited to see what Patrick Patterson can do in Year 2. I'm excited to see if Kevin Martin can finally make an All Star team -- oh, wait, will there even be an All-Star game this year?? I'm not at all excited to accept that we will never see Yao suit up for the good guys again. That's gonna be tough to handle. I refuse to accept it right now. I'm also not exactly that excited to see what that rookie from Kansas does. (Because he kinda sucks, you see.) I am VERY excited to see what Donatas Motiejunas is able to do. I think he could be quite good. I also think we won't see him play at an NBA level for another couple of years while he learns the NBA game.
Basically, with all this lockout mess and new salary cap world....... I am terrified that the Rockets trade Luis Scola. Because I think it is about to happen. I just do not want to accept it. Just like I refuse to accept that the Rockets ever traded for Scottie Pippen. It did not happen. You hear me?!?! IT NEVER HAPPENED.
Just like the results of this upcoming season. A year from now I'll remind you all it never happened.
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yeah
New Orleans can at least economically support a team. Indiana is basketball country and yet they cannot even show up for an NBA game. High school basketball is king there.
Who photoshopped Pippen in a Rockets jersey???
"Boxing is like dealing with a ho"
-Bernard Hopkins
Yeah, that's nasty.
Just goes to show how depraved the internet is.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
So....
how drunk were you when you wrote this?
by Mike Kerns on Nov 29, 2011 8:58 AM CST reply actions 4 recs
Except there were some good things from that 1999 season
Cuttino Mobley’s rookie year was that season, and while the Rockets did have
someone wearing #33, they did finish 5th in the West. I remember the Rockets went 0-fer on NBC that year too. If you want proof, just go look at the schedule. Anytime a Rockets game was on national TV, they sucked…and they sucked HARD.
That said, I think Marcus Morris will be a big boost for this team. He’s got Carmelo lite written all over him, and I think he’s more dedicated to defense and hustle than ‘Melo ever was. Here’s my Christmas Day lineup
PG: Lowry/Dragic
SG: Martin/Lee
SF: Morris/Budinger
PF: Scola/Patterson
C: Nene/Hill (hey I’m a believer)
B^2
Organic Chemist PhD Student by day...Houston sports fan by night!
You'd bid for Nene?
No thanks. I’d rather not waste large sums of money on an aging slightly above average center because he’s taller than Chuck Hayes.
My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased
by BD34 on Nov 29, 2011 10:17 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Report out there that the Celtics would trade Rondo
I just looked at his contract, and it’s brutal. 46 million over the next four years. Lowry is half the price, and I think he’s right there with Rondo. Wouldn’t say he’s better, but it’s close.
by twinkilling0303 on Nov 29, 2011 10:25 AM CST reply actions
Lowry has an outside shot and lesser defense.
This Rockets team doesn’t have a known commodity for production outside of Martin and Scola. Lowry’s ability to drive and (hopefully he continues his ability) to shoot are more invaluable than getting a point guard who only shows as strong as he does because he plays with 3 all stars and two sure-fire hall of famers.
My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased
Yeah I was just throwing it out there
not saying we should get Rondo. The more I think about it Lowry might be better than Rondo. I can’t believe we got such a steal with Lowry’s contract.
by twinkilling0303 on Nov 29, 2011 11:52 AM CST up reply actions
I don't agree with that
I know Rondo has a tremendous supporting cast, but he is the class of all NBA PG’s on defense and he is a top 3 distributor as well. His shot is about non-existent, but he’s elite in nearly every way. Lowry is a good shooter, a good distributor, and good defender, but I don’t think he approaches Rondo overall at this point. Rondo’s contract is more than fair in my book, but I wouldn’t go after him for the simple reason that we have more holes to fill and that we need to save $ across the board.
Keep this in mind though—Rondo was arguably the best player on a number of teams to go deep in the playoffs. He’s pretty damn good.
Check out The Dream Shake.
Follow @PatrickHarrel
by Patrick Harrel on Nov 29, 2011 1:08 PM CST up reply actions
I would want to see him on a crap team
and see the effect of the stars. Some guys look really good even if their star counterparts are struggling, simply because of their presence on the court. Hence, the subject of the article.
"Listen here you beautiful bitch, I'm about to fuck you up with some truth" - Kenny Powers
I don't get obscured by his individual standing.
When team defenses are focusing on taking away your three primary threats you’re going to look great because defenses just plain aren’t accounting for you. His distribution is because Pierce and Allen open lanes and Garnett forces some holes as well. When it comes to the Rockets there are more glaring deficiencies, as you said, so salivating over positions of non-need is just ludicrous for any Rockets fan to care about right now. Primarily because I don’t want to hear the crying for 4 more years when we sunk all our money and trade options on a point guard or shooting guard rather than a center.
My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased
There are those who think Lowry might be the best defending PG in the NBA.
That’s not coming from me (am not “those”).
Also, Lowry can make a FT. A PG who can’t finish games because he can’t hit a FT – that’s a problem.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
So Dave, let me sum up
we should not do anything terribly foolish over the next month or so because the next several months will be an asterisk pretending to be an NBA season. Grand moves made in the context of the previously mentioned asterisk will be doomed to the same hellish dimension that brought us the evil photo above.
By the way, nice to see you, (all of you actually), posting again.
basically, yeah
If the Rockets win a ring this year, you won’t see me at the front of the parade, because it will feel cheap and wrong. Kinda like Scottie Pippen being in the HOF
no, it's true
This season is just going to be … weird.
but I’m not worried about having to disprove your statement.
I'll disagree.
Should we by some miracle hang a banner this season it will be just as real a banner as any other – Phil Jackson’s assholery notwithstanding.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
It's not true.
There is talent on the Rockets roster. Adding young talent hasn’t been largely neglected for 7 of the last 10 years.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
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