Highs and Lows: Houston Rockets
Tracy McGrady (photo. Marc Morrison)Opening Night is right around the corner. While we wait for the ‘08-09 schedule to start, we’re going team-by-team, from 1 to 30, exploring where each team’s ceiling is for the upcoming season and where their basement is. In other words, what are the realistic best-case and worst-case scenarios for each squad?
Additions: SF Ron Artest, SG Brent Barry, PF Joey Dorsey, SG D.J. Strawberry.
Losses: SG Bobby Jackson, PF Steve Novak, C Dikembe Mutombo (??).
Ceiling: Western Conference Finals
Remember when Steve Young took over for Joe Montana in San Fran, and for the first few years he couldn’t win the big one? The Niners didn’t get over that hump until they surrounded Young with a super-squad and, most notably, brought in Deion Sanders. Far from a proven winner (having played in Atlanta his entire career before that), Deion immediately brought an attitude/cockiness, he shut down half the field on D, and most importantly, he made everyone stop focusing on Steve Young not being able to win the big one, because they were instead talking about what antics Deion was going to do next. That Deion Factor is what Ron Artest can and should bring to the Rockets. Attitude, lock-down D, and a diversion from the 1,001 stories about Tracy McGrady not being able to get out of the first round. These Rockets will win with defense, between Artest and Shane Battier on the wings, Yao Ming swatting and altering shots at the rim, and a host of high-energy scrappers like Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry, Luis Scola, D.J. Strawberry and Joey Dorsey to fill in the gaps. They will also win with versatility, as coach Rick Adelman can play with several looks — running T-Mac at the point, putting Artest anywhere from the two to the four, going small with Scola or Dorsey at center, putting Artest and Battier on the court at the same time, etc. One problem area in the past has been not having enough shooters to capitalize on the double-teams being sent at Yao and T-Mac’s playmaking ability, but free agent signee Brent Barry could help fix that, along with Luther Head and (when he’s on) Artest. The Rockets will be very good this year, possibly great, and while I would like to put their ceiling somewhere closer to an NBA championship, given their history, let’s just see them get out of the first round for now.
Basement: Another first-round exit
Let’s try to get through this whole thing without mentioning injuries or the dreaded “If So-and-So Can Stay Healthy,” OK? Cool. While Houston has the elements on paper to be one of the League’s elite teams — two legit superstars, an All-Star caliber third wheel, a potentially suffocating defense, a deep bench, and an NBA Finals-certified coach — there are definite cracks in the system. Artest could easily kill their offensive flow, as he’s done so often with every team he’s been on. Ron-Ron may be good for 15 to 18 points a night and is a streaky-effective long distance shooter, but at the same time his offensive contributions can be counter-productive; sometimes he plays like that guy who’s stuck on 48 points with Kobe on NBA 2K9 and is dead-set on getting to 50, time-and-score be damned. Point guard is also an area of concern; Rafer Alston is decent, but still throws up a ton of bricks and can get eaten up by really good opposing PG’s. Backup Aaron Brooks is improving but he’s still young (as a backup, a definite notch below someone like Jordan Farmar), and Steve Francis is a wild card at best to even be active for 40 games. Up front, the Rockets have 14 power forwards and not one of them you’d want to run a play for offensively. And as good as the defense is, I’d be a lot more comfortable with their interior D is they just re-signed Mutombo already. Oh yeah, and they have to stay healthy and avoid major injuries. (Dammit!)
‘08-09 NBA preview archives
10/22 — New York Knicks
10/21 — Denver Nuggets
10/20 — Philadelphia 76ers
10/17 — Dallas Mavericks
10/15 — Indiana Pacers
10/14 — Golden State Warriors
10/10 — Detroit Pistons
10/9 — San Antonio Spurs
10/8 — Chicago Bulls
10/6 — Oklahoma City Thunder
10/3 — Washington Wizards
10/2 — Utah Jazz
10/1 — Charlotte Bobcats
9/30 — Memphis Grizzlies
9/26 — Toronto Raptors
9/25 — New Orleans Hornets
9/24 — Atlanta Hawks
9/23 — Sacramento Kings
9/22 — Miami Heat
9/19 — Portland Trail Blazers
9/18 — New Jersey Nets
9/17 — Minnesota Timberwolves
9/16 — Cleveland Cavaliers
9/15 — Phoenix Suns
9/12 — Milwaukee Bucks
9/11 — L.A. Clippers
9/10 — Orlando Magic
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:55 am
josh tha roc says:
Artest for MVP
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
blah says:
deion played for the cowboys (and won a ring) before he arrived in San fran.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:07 am
webbie352 says:
@Austin Burton
ceiling - western conf. finals???
you couldn’t see their ceiling being nba champs???
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:16 am
Kermit the Washington says:
Excellent excellent analogy with the Deion Sanders joint. Nice work on this article.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Ian says:
austin
in all preseason predicions ive seen the rockets get the 4 seed in the west behind hornets lakers and jazz
guess which team gets the 5th seed. the spurs if that shit happens its buh bye rockets in the first again (if manu is ok of course).
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
jackass says:
them rockets are legit, last year they would’ve made some noise in the playoffs but injuries plagued them. this year??? oh man celtics better watch out.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Austin Burton says:
@blah — Nope, Deion played one year with the Niners, where he won a ring, then he went to Dallas. Remember how that first Niners/Falcons game was such a big deal because it would be Deion going up against Andre Rison?
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Prof. TX says:
The Rockets will have the best defense in the league this year, and defense is what matters most in the playoffs. Last year the Celtics just barely edged them out as the better defensive team, but Artest has been added and Boston won’t be as hungry/fierce this year now that they have their rings and lost a good defender.
It really is about health. Despite what everyone says about McGrady and the first round, it was never about heart. Tracy always steps up his game (check the stats) for the months that matter most and just hasn’t had the help that he needs. If Yao is there with him and they get the Artest that they want, no team in the West will be comfortable seeing them in the first round. They’ll be the team that nobody picks to win it all, but nobody wants their favorite squad to have to deal with them either.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
SWAT says:
hopefully this year will be the rebirth of clutch city. We just need these cats to knock down some damn shots. Luther head…I’M LOOKING AT YOU!!
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
YOUNGFED says:
Damn Austin you might be juuuuuust a lil to into sports (lol). That’s alot of knowledge son.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Yoooo says:
Word Neon Deion definitely played for the Niners 1st.
Austin whatever happened to Merton Hanks??? No homo but dude had the longest neck ever. Nope, even with the no homo it was still flagrant…
Being that Royal is from NY do yall ever bump into him? Cuz for YEARS yall have made fun of ol boy
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
johnsacrimoni says:
Their ceiling is the championship if T-Mac and Yao can stay relatively healthy.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
Good shot out to my Niners. Yeah “Prime Time” definitely played for the Niners first. Those were the Sega Genisis days where he would always wear the Sega bandana.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Austin Burton says:
I think Merton Hanks works for an NFL team in the front office. It might be the Niners, but for some reason I think it’s Jacksonville. He was nice back in the day — like Ed Reed in that he was always around the ball — but that chicken dance just looked silly.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
dapro says:
Good analogy AB
He was with the Niners first, he even fought with Andre Rison in his return to ATL
He ran a pick back for a TD and I think he hurt his hammy doing his “Prime Time Strut”
I picked the Rockets and Celts in the finals, I going with the Rockets and Celts again this year
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
David Brandon says:
@AB,
this was a great post btw man. put it down…
and you gave the big shout out to my niners. lol
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
doc says:
They said Merton Hanks neck was on steroids so he got suspended.But the Rockets ceiling and basement is 1rst round exit.We all know it lets stop kidding ourselves.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
E$ says:
Nice Read! GET RED!
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
GEE...Built yourself a little fort? F$#@ yo fort!! says:
Houston up!
Huh? So by all rights and passages since Deion came in and they got that ring, you basically saying that Ron is going bring them that trophy. I’ll take that. LOL
For real though, first things first, I Poppa.. wait, it is pretty much this order:
1. All the stars got to stay healthy (I promise the strength and conditioning coaches of Houston should be fired).
2. Point guard play is the weakness, so hopefully two average guards in Skip and Brooks can at least make 1 decent guard.
3. Make the playoffs (Don’t matter the seed really cause when playing at full steam, the squad is a problem for most and ain’t nobody sweeping and that is even if they win)
4. Get out the first round (Trouble don’t last always!)
5. Championship! (in the voice of dude who drafted T.J. Whosyamama on that NFL commercial.)
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Three Stacks says:
A lotta Niner fans here. Lemme just apologize for J.T. O’Sullivan, lol.
It’s been said over and over, Houston just gotta stay healthy. No clue what their ceiling might be if they stay healthy, but if Yao and Mac get hurt again, it’s possible they miss the playoffs entirely. I guarantee they’re not going on another 22 game win streak, and they still only made it to the postseason by like 2 games.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
craig990 says:
FinallY!!!!
I think our Celing should be the NBA Finals but its cool!
Nice read!
Houston is going to mae some noise this postseason! I guarantee!
October 24th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Sinn says:
poor T-Mac…always hurt…
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