Yao Speaks Out

[NYCdog]

Ahh............finally a little excitement on this board.

And the way I see things form my view up here in NYC (.......or should I say down in the basement where my Knicks reside?) this will be a rivalry soon enough.

First off, the young Rockets remind me of my mid 90's Knicks under Pat Riley as being a team that walked around with a swager and a chip on there shoulder. And when they were winning, they had a mean NY attitude too. Fast foward to know, where virtually the entire Knicks staff has been assembled in Houston together again with Pat Ewing added into the mix. Add to this that this Rocket team has had there swager-in-the-step well before there arrival. You can tell that by Steve Francis's "freedom of speech" when it comes to the Mavs. Bottom line is, when this team starts winning they will have the attitude of the "Riley-era" enforcer Knicks, which will spark many rivalry's in the NBA for this team.

And once Mo Taylor puts down "the Joint," Piatkowski gets healthy and Eddie Griffin gets "a life," this team will be winning alot more often.

And as for those who make the "your not in the playoffs but we are" jokes, dont laugh to hard. Under the rein of my man Van Gundy, this team will make the playoffs.........there is no doubt about that. Remember, Van Gundy did what your coach Don Nelson couldnt do before him............make my Knicks winners. Now JVG will do the same for the Rockets.

And as for Dallas...................to all who say "were good but have no "D", no chemistry, blah, blah, blah,.............to win championships," your the real whiners in this arguement even though you have a valid point.

Why?

Cause your owner is Mark Cuban.

And as long as he is owner of this team, they will "ALWAYS" have a chance at winning a championship every season no matter what happens. He will make sure of that. He will make trades to improve the team. He will probably even make one this season seeing as he has way too many squeaky clean "star players" and not enought "role players" to do the dirty work to help the team win (....like Theo Ratliff[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] )

So you guys have nothing to worry about either.

And oh yeah, am I forgetting about another NBA team in the great state of Texas.

That's right, everyone's favorite and absolutely "BORING" San Antonio Spurs. There gonig to be winning for as long as Tim Duncan's ankles are healthy. Who know's how long that could be.

So in short, it looks like there will be a very interesting "Three-way interstate rivalry" in the state of Texas with all cities now having damn good teams.

Who needs that lame-ass LA-Sacto "Cali rivalry" now? That will be weak compared to this "three way war!"

[Nash13]

Let me put my thoughts in.

First of all, to clear up a subject, the Rockets are not the best team in the Midwest. They are 5-2, and the Mavs are 6-3. Although the Rockets have a better winning percentage, the Mavs aren't any games back of them. If the Rockets beat the Suns tonight, then they'll be a half game up.

As far as the past, the Rockets have the same asterilk around there titles as the Spurs did in '99. And statistically, we do know what would've happened if Jordan played. Before the Rockets won their 1st championship, the Bulls won 3 straight prior to that. After the Rockets won their 2nd championship, the Bulls won 3 straight after that. And in all of those Bulls championship run, Jordan was their leading scorer.

Aexchange, the better question is, how many times have the Rockets won anything when Jordan is playing in the league?

While i'm on the subject of Jordan and the past, the Houston Rockets had a chance to draft Michael Jordan, but didn't. Maybe then, the Rockets would've been considered one of the better teams of all times instead of having an asteriks put beside their titles.

Now on to the current Rockets.

Who was that guy last year in the Rocket's front office that said last year's Rockets were the greatest team ever assembled?

I hope you aren't putting all of your hopes on JVG building Yao into some kind of machine. Yao has not only been shut out by Shawn "The Mantis" Bradley, but has also been shut out by 6'9 Brian Grant, and 6'8 Danny Fortson. When JVG built Ewing into a machine, he was in the East who's best player was a SG(Michael Jordan).

Say something statistical to prove that the Rockets are a good team. Not they have the potential to be a good team, or are going to be a good team in the future.

[Nash13]

And as for those who make the "your not in the playoffs but we are" jokes, dont laugh to hard. Under the rein of my man Van Gundy, this team will make the playoffs.........there is no doubt about that. Remember, Van Gundy did what your coach Don Nelson couldnt do before him............make my Knicks winners. Now JVG will do the same for the Rockets.

I guess winning 1100 games and making winners out of GS, Milwaulkee, and Dallas weren't good enough accomplishments huh?

[NYCdog]

As far as the past, the Rockets have the same asterilk around there titles as the Spurs did in '99. And statistically, we do know what would've happened if Jordan played.

Jordan was playing in 1995. Shaq and the Magic took them down in the second round as the Bulls could not match up with the Magic's dominating interior. The Magic eventually wnet on to have there assess handed to them by Houston in the Finals.

And in 1994, regardless of Jordan being there, my Knicks would have finally whooped there asses. Our defense was stellar, our low post was as dirty as ever. There would have been no way the Bulls interior could have matched up with our NYC dirty interior which would have dominated the series.

So technicaly, the Rockets should have NO asterisk by their titles.

[NYCdog]

guess winning 1100 games and making winners out of GS, Milwaulkee, and Dallas weren't good enough accomplishments huh?

But did he make them Champions..............or atleast guide them to the Finals. No

And when Nelson failed in NY and was fired in the 1995-96 season by the Knicks, who succeeded him and guided the team to winning seasons the next five years with THE SAME TEAM NELSON HAD.

His assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Van Gundy also took the same team to the NBA Finals.............something Nelson hasnt seen since his playing days riding the coat tails of the legends of the Celtic Empire of the 70's.

[Nash13]

Jordan was playing in 1995. Shaq and the Magic took them down in the second round as the Bulls could not match up with the Magic's dominating interior. The Magic eventually wnet on to have there assess handed to them by Houston in the Finals.

Jordan played in the last couple of games that season. You can tell they weren't the same team.

And when Nelson failed in NY and was fired in the 1995-96 season by the Knicks, who succeeded him and guided the team to winning seasons the next five years with THE SAME TEAM NELSON HAD.

So what? The only time in the 90s the Knicks went to the finals was when they had that half season. Take a look back in history. When Nelson left Golden State, they started losing. When Nelson left Milwaulkee, they started losing. Before he was coaching the Mavericks, they started losing.

There is a reason why he has over 1100 wins. He's a good coach. Regardless of whether he failed in NY. Riely failed in Miami. Wilkens failed in Toronto. Karl failed in Milwaulkee. Silas is failing in Cleveland. That doesn't mean they're not great coaches just because they didn't have success for one team.

[NYCdog]

sorry I'm a little late on the reply, I had a life to live. Hopefully, you'll understand..........

I would have not replied because I was so late..............but, I just had to correct you on a few things and straighten out the facts.

If your going to bring up the past to validate your point, atleast get it correct.

The only time in the 90s the Knicks went to the finals was when they had that half season.

The 1993-94 season WAS NOT a half-season.

Take a look back in history. When Nelson left Golden State, they started losing.

Actually junior, they started losing when Nelson was still coach and GM of the team. In the 1994-95 season, a well-publicized falling out with Webber undermined the Warriors’ season. Nelson suffered from physical maladies as a result, and resigned as head coach in February.

The Warroirs had a 14-31 record at the time of his resignation.

And Golden State wasnt a winner all the time under Nellie's rule either. The team quite often alternated winning and losing seasons each year.

Lets take a trip down memory lane with Golden State's "Run TMC," shall we. In 1988-89, Nelson's first season as the Warriors' coach, the team went 43-39 and advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals. The win total was 23 more than the previous season, one of the better turnarounds in league history, which IS A MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT.

But the following season, the Warriors went a dissapointing 37-45.

In 1990-91 they improved to 44-38 and advanced again to the conference semifinals.

For the 1991-92, the Warriors led the league in offense that year and raced to a 55-27 record. But Golden State was upended by an upstart Seattle club in the first round of the playoffs.

However in 1992-93 the Warriors managed just 34 wins against 48 losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Then they bounced back again in the 1993-94 season to a 50-32 mark

And you know what happened in 1993-94.............

In fact, if you look at Nellie's coaching history, you will see that most of his teams were built around the "small ball" concept, which ALWAYS worked in the regular season, but ALWAYS FAILED in the postseason as his Bucks had never been big, quick, or fast enough to prevail over the Boston and Philadelphia teams of those years. His Golden State teams suffered the same fate as well getting upended by upstart "bigger" clubs like Seattle with a then-young Shawn Kemp.

"Small ball" didnt work for the Knicks either. But Jeff Van Gundy's defensive schemes did.

So in the end, while Nellie has one of the highest winning totals in the game as a coach, his coaching style and philosophies such as "small ball" have never lead to the WINS he needs to succeed in the playoffs.