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Post by moltreszwarriors on Sept 5, 2009 8:56:13 GMT -5
GM Boris Yelnikoff has taken over the Rockets. Expect the Rockets to dominate the league for years to come.
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Jan 11, 2010 20:43:57 GMT -5
The Rockets beat the previously undefeated hawks, moving to 5-6. This victory was important to the rockets as the hawks had beat the rockets twice this season after the rockets had built an early lead. Chris-Douglas Roberts came up with two clutch steal in the ending minutes. The Hawks looked like they would win after houston had an early lead again, but douglas-roberts won the steals category for the rockets, 37-36 with his steals, probably securing his starting SF spot over Shane Battier.
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Jan 17, 2010 23:38:57 GMT -5
miles got a game winning assists with 7.9 seconds left to keep the orlando magic winless and got houston to 6-6.
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Apr 4, 2010 10:43:37 GMT -5
The Rockets season is over after a 9-11 record.
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Aug 11, 2010 12:45:28 GMT -5
The Rockets have changed their futures in free agency. The main people leaving were Trevor Ariza and the #4 pick. Coming in were Andrew Bynum, Gordon Haywood, Brandon Haywood, and Aaron Afflalo. The Rockets can hope for a contending season next year.
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Feb 16, 2013 6:00:31 GMT -5
Mediocrity.
Since entering the league, the Rockets were outstandingly mediocre. Season after season, they barely missed the playoffs. The one season they lucked out and got the #1 pick, they traded it away, giving away what turned out to be a top 5 point guard for a collection of mediocre players. After another season of mediocrity led by a surprisingly dominant performance by Andrew Bynum, the team had enough. It was time for rebuilding.
GM Boris Yelnikoff didn't trust Bynum's sudden health, and after the end of the year, he knew he had to deal Bynum while his value was so high. He traded Bynum and the overpaid Haywood for Ibaka and Kevin Martin. "The trade was to make Ibaka the player of the future," Yelnikoff said. "We loved what he brought to the table, and we were going to re-sign him. Martin was a terrific scorer, but we didn't really care what we got out of him because he was definitely walking after this year."
Houston has always had one of the lowest payrolls in the league. "Ultimately, the NBA is a business," Yelnikoff said. "My job is to build the best team for the least money." But last year during free agency, Yelnikoff had an idea. "I decided that I had no reason to rebuild. The free agency class was deep, and we had far more money than everyone else. I decided to sign marquee free agents to massive one-year deals."
Boris Yelnikoff gave huge offers to Nash and Bryant. Hastily, he traded away Miller with the expectation that he would get Nash. Suddenly, though, Nash and Bryant signed elsewhere for even more money. "That really caught us off guard," Yelnikoff said. "We thought that we had outsmarted the rest of the NBA, but suddenly, we found ourselves with a completely talentless roster. So we went with Plan B, except we didn't really have a plan B. We just spent the money on Garnett, Terry, and Metta World Peace." Suddenly, the Rockets were finally poised to end their mediocrity and become one of the most atrocious teams in NBA history. Then the season started.
"We won our first game," Yelnikoff said. "Suddenly we won another one, and another one, and we thought, heck we may actually make the playoffs. When we are at 3-0 we saw that Aaron Brooks had become a much worse player than he was just a few years ago. The point guard of our future was now a backup struggling to get playing time, and our only other point guard was Daniel Gibson. We desperately needed another point guard so we could see where the season took us."
Then, GM Boris Yelnikoff struck again. He traded Aaron Afflalo, Wesley Matthews, Enes Kanter, and the Brooklyn 1st he had gotten for Miller for Jose Calderon, Stephen Curry, and the Golden State first round pick in 2015. Yelnikoff said, "It was tough for us to trade Afflalo and Matthews, as they were just destroying everyone at the beginning of the season. Matthews is a free agent next summer, and we'd love for him to come back. But we were getting crushed in assists game after game and Stephen Curry is just a terrific young point guard. In my opinion, he is a top-10 player, and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have him be our point guard of the future. World Peace was playing out of his mind, so Afflalo and Matthews were two players we could sacrifice. But we really wanted Calderon on the team too. We loved his playmaking abilities, and we were ecstatic when we got both Curry and Calderon in the same trade."
As the season went on, the Rockets simply never stopped losing. At 13-0, they could start dreaming about an undefeated season. That dream was ruined by the Las Vegas Gamblers, but the Rockets have clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference and have their GM thinking title.
"It looks as if we'll play Washington in the first round," GM Yelnikoff said. "They're an incredibly balanced team and I don't want to jump the gun here, but this is a star-driven league, and with an injured Rondo, I think we have a good chance to beat them. Afterwards, we'll have to face Tampa Bay or Brooklyn, and let me tell you, they'll be tough. How Brooklyn still hasn't won a championship after all its success is a mystery to me, but they are an absolutely stacked team, and Tampa is the defending champion. We've beaten Tampa twice and Brooklyn once, but they were weakened by injuries then, and it will just be a terrific conference finals if it gets that far. I do believe that we can advance, but it will be a tough, hard-fought battle."
The NBA finals have Yelnikoff simply terrified. "I look at the West, and I see two terrifying teams: Las Vegas and Utah. Vegas is actually the only team we've lost to all year, but Utah is just head and shoulders ahead of everyone else in the league right now and they are the only undefeated team, and we think we'll face them if we get to the finals."
Boris Yelnikoff is ready for a showdown with the Jazz. "We're facing them the last game of regular season, and while the game is meaningless, I think it will be good predictor for the finals. Right now, it's incredibly close and impossible to call. But that team is just stacked. They have Deron, playing well even in a down season. Felton has got to be the best backup point guard in the league, he'd start for most teams. Faried rebounds everything in sight, and Gasol and Horford are two all-star centers. Wesley Matthews also ended up over there, just playing great, and we've heard that he wants to beat us really bad. It will really be a terrific series. We know how hard it is to win an NBA title, but we think we're as good a bet as any to succeed."
Boris Yelnikoff is proud of his team, but he hasn't made a decision about what it will look like next year. "Eight of our players have expiring contracts," he said. "We aren't naive, we know they won't all be back here. I can tell you right now that Ibaka and Anderson will be resigned. The rest kind of depends on the interest level from the rest of the league. I know that KG, Martin and Terry will probably be gone next year, and that's a lot of production to replace. We'd love to bring these guys back next year, especially Calderon. We can't really use a re-sign on him, but we'd love to bring him back and have him retire a Rocket. Like I've said before, Wesley Matthews is a phenomenal young player with tremendous ability and even greater work ethic. We'd love him back. Hopefully that will be after we beat him in the NBA finals."
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Jul 14, 2013 1:32:19 GMT -5
Rockets deal Ibaka
The Rockets made their first major move of the offseason, trading away James Johnson and the expiring contract of Serge Ibaka to Golden State for Enes Kanter and Kawhi Leonard. Sources say GM Boris Yelnikoff was actively trying to trade Ibaka or Anderson because he was concerned about his ability to resign them both and then Curry next year. Kanter and Leonard project as solid young starters and potential re-signs a few years down the road.
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Post by moltreszwarriors on Mar 21, 2016 1:08:19 GMT -5
For the first time in their history, the Houston Rockets have reached the Finals, where they will take on the Tampa Bay Bull Sharks. The next two weeks will be the most important in franchise history.
The Rockets have been led here by their two stalwarts, Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard. Curry was acquired in a trade that changed the franchise during the 2012-2013 season, and Leonard followed the next offseason. Since then, the two have been dreaming of this moment, and their play has got the Rockets to the Finals. Curry and Leonard have been top-10 players all season, and others have come through to offer vital contributions. Khris Middleton, overlooked by the rest of the league, has emerged has starting shooting guard, providing excellent shooting, scoring, and secondary ball-handling. Ryan Anderson has been stroking the 3s like usual. Len, Jokic, and Kanter have all held together the center spot. Jabari Parker, picked #1 over Bull Sharks star Andrew Wiggins two years ago, has stepped up his game since the All-Star break to provide a scoring punch, and Jrue Holiday has stayed healthy on the way to his best season in years.
"Our whole team has wanted this for a long time," said Curry. "But now we have to step up our games and beat Tampa Bay". The Rockets have stars, and they are deep. But Tampa Bay is the deepest team in the league. They send out wave after wave of starting-caliber players, and of course, they have Russell Westbrook, the only point guard that could be considered Curry's equal. It should be a close matchup between two top teams, but the Rockets are confident they have what it takes to come out on top. "We're tough and we're hungry", said Kawhi. "It's our time".
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