illiniguy

If you had to pick two years to really be awful, these were probably the two.

They can take Bruce Weber. I loved Klee and Tate telling illini fans to be careful what they wish for because Weber has been contacted about job openings. Lol, go ahead Bruce take one. Hypothetically speaking I don't know which is worst. 5 more years of Bruce Weber, or allowing Ron Guenther another opportunity to hire a coach. Loren Tate is a senile moran, DIA apologist. /end rant I'm thinking we are better off keeping Weber until Guenther is gone, since he has righted the ship with recruiting. Although I am really hoping he wraps up some of the '11 guys soon.

They can take Bruce Weber. I loved Klee and Tate telling illini fans to be careful what they wish for because Weber has been contacted about job openings. Lol, go ahead Bruce take one.

Harrison Barnes is the top player in '10

it would be so typical of the cubs to interrupt his development right when he's starting to dominate as a starter I am very afraid of that. Jim needs to tell Lou no way he's not coming up until it's time for him to start.

Who is talking about potential? I'm talking about what his career points to which is 60-70 games. You are acting like he won';t play at all. 1 game with Yao is better than 0 games. Even if he can only play half the games that is still much better than what we had this year. Maybe, what if he throws off the chemistry of the team? He might not be able to play the same tempo that the rest of the Rockets want to play. At this point if I was a Rockets fan I wouldn't be expecting anything out of him and then just be suprised if he did anything. Guys over 7 feet that have leg problems generally don't give you much, think Ewing at the end of his career when he looked like he was running on ice. Ewing got old and broke down. Yao is still under 30. Definitely a chance he will never be what he was but for a guy as young as him who had an ankle injury that has been proven to be fully fixable means he will likely still be good. I thought that big Z was a decent player after he got hurt and a nice role model for Yao. Not the franchise guy he was going to be though.

Who is talking about potential? I'm talking about what his career points to which is 60-70 games. You are acting like he won';t play at all. 1 game with Yao is better than 0 games. Even if he can only play half the games that is still much better than what we had this year. Maybe, what if he throws off the chemistry of the team? He might not be able to play the same tempo that the rest of the Rockets want to play. At this point if I was a Rockets fan I wouldn't be expecting anything out of him and then just be suprised if he did anything. Guys over 7 feet that have leg problems generally don't give you much, think Ewing at the end of his career when he looked like he was running on ice.

Name one center who hasn't been just as good if not better after having surgery on their feet. Hell It practically turned Bill Walton's career around.

You are not going to have three guys score 20 a game? That's crazy. I guess I wasn't clear. I wasn't meaning those are the stats they will put up. Those are the stats they have put up and are the type of players they are generally considered to be. I expect Brooks to score less but have more assists with Yao back. I expect Yao and Martin to be around 20 pts per game with Yao likely being just under because his minutes will be limited to around 30-32 minutes a game. I would imagine that Brooks and Martin will both continue to be awful shooters, both around .430 or so thus nagating a lot of their points per game. I think that Ming will be a shell of what he was. He just missed a whole season with an injured wheel and isn't getting any younger. I think that with Ming back Socla will lose a lot of his offense, sense there are so many shots for a team and if you assume that the other two guard won't take a hit in their offense someone has to. I think you overachieved a lot this year and that some of the other teams in the West have the potential to gain on you more than you have to move up.

You are not going to have three guys score 20 a game? That's crazy.

I find it pretty funny how the older stars are getting p.o.ed that he's getting star treatment. Guys, he's a superstar. The Lakers are the last team that should be complaining about superstar treatment. They've gotten it for 30-40 years straight. That's because they have always had superstars. That's also why it behooves you to have one rather than an entire lineup of above average players. That's why I prefer the college game as it seems you have to be more balanced.

Yeah cause he's always missed a full season. He's played in a majority of games in every season and played 77 games before missing this entire season. Will he ever be as healthy as he was in his first three seasons, probably not but it's moronic to say that his missing the season didn't play a role in the Rockets only winning 42 games this season. Oh and the 42 wins I consider a huge victory. Brooks proved to be the real deal, Martin is a good player that got Ariza to realize he isn't ever going to be more than a defensive stopper who can shoot 3-pters, Scola stepped up huge at the end of the season, Budinger proved to be a very undervalued player in last year's draft and Hill has good potential to be a good rebounder off the bench. All this sets us up to be very good next season (assuming we re-sign Scola) when we add Yao, a lottery pick and likely some 2nd round steal that we get every year with Morey. This lottery doesn't seem to be super deep, if you want to improve a ton you probably need to move up in it throught some luck. I don't expect to get a great player who will be a starter. The Rockets already have a great starting lineup assuming we re-sign Scola who has said he really wants to stay and Morey absolutely loves. No rookie is going to start over Brooks, Martin, Battier/Ariza, Scola and Yao. I do expect to get a good bench player though who along with Lowry, Budinger, Ariza/Battier and Hill will give us one of the deepest teams. How do you have a great starting lineup? Utah is probably better at most if not all of the postitions and they are usually a 5 seed in the West?

Yeah cause he's always missed a full season. He's played in a majority of games in every season and played 77 games before missing this entire season. Will he ever be as healthy as he was in his first three seasons, probably not but it's moronic to say that his missing the season didn't play a role in the Rockets only winning 42 games this season. Oh and the 42 wins I consider a huge victory. Brooks proved to be the real deal, Martin is a good player that got Ariza to realize he isn't ever going to be more than a defensive stopper who can shoot 3-pters, Scola stepped up huge at the end of the season, Budinger proved to be a very undervalued player in last year's draft and Hill has good potential to be a good rebounder off the bench. All this sets us up to be very good next season (assuming we re-sign Scola) when we add Yao, a lottery pick and likely some 2nd round steal that we get every year with Morey. This lottery doesn't seem to be super deep, if you want to improve a ton you probably need to move up in it throught some luck.

I'm quite happy the Rockets didn't make the playoffs. I've had two years in a row with our best player/s not healthy for the playoffs and thus no real shot at a championship. I'm not so desperate for the playoffs that I would root for the 8th seed just so I can say my team made the playoffs at the cost of the lottery. Oh and 42-40 in the Western Conference >>>>>>>>>> 41-41 in the Leastern Conference. Can you not talk about your team in the Playoff thread, I don't wanna get confused. Don't we have a non playoff team thread? Wasn't the one that brought it up but feel free to keep being a prick. Why are you always trying to tell everyone else what to do? And seriously I just didn't want to get confused, I thought we were talking about playoff teams in this thread. Not the Houston Rockets.

I find it pretty funny how the older stars are getting p.o.ed that he's getting star treatment. Guys, he's a superstar.

Just get this to Aramis.

I'm quite happy the Rockets didn't make the playoffs. I've had two years in a row with our best player/s not healthy for the playoffs and thus no real shot at a championship. I'm not so desperate for the playoffs that I would root for the 8th seed just so I can say my team made the playoffs at the cost of the lottery. Oh and 42-40 in the Western Conference >>>>>>>>>> 41-41 in the Leastern Conference. Can you not talk about your team in the Playoff thread, I don't wanna get confused. Don't we have a non playoff team thread?

Anyone else. Samardzija is right now the worst pitcher in the pen. Agreed. But obviously the Cubs aren't ready to accept their $10 million as a sunk cost just yet. If you spent $10 million on an unproven relief pitcher (lets not argue the merit of drafting/signing him in the first place), wouldn't you give him way more chances to prove himself than lets say Justin Berg? If I gave him 10 million it would be because I thought he could start, thus I would have him at Iowa working on starting.

Klee's been hinting at it for the better part of 2 months. There are 2 open spots for next year but there's not much out there (that we have a chance at) that are really worth stealing a scholarship out of the '11 or '12 class. What about James Siakam? He reclassified to '10. I know he was on Illinois' radar for class of '11, but I don't know how strong the interest was. Would he be worth a scholarship, or would Illinois be better off just hanging on to it? He's a 6'4" pf. I like his game, but understand why our staff has some doubts.

What you expect from the leadoff hitter. I sure hope that wasn't Milton Bradley's fault again.

Another rbi for Casey McGehee. Good lord.

Way to set the table guys.

Come on Z get crazy here.

If you're gonna swing 3 and 0 that's what I like to see happen.

You mean like how he pitched really really well for us in his first start? How many World Series did Jeff Weaver help us win again? Pretty sure there were a lot of guys who had a helluva lot more to do with their WS victory than Weaver. Like, you know, the best player in baseball. Pretty sure the starting pitcher has a bigger impact on a game than any single hitter.