There Is No Window

in reply to this from Rockets Buzz

No, we are not lottery bound. And no, we are not title contenders. We will lose more games this year than last year, and we will struggle to maintain relevancy throughout the season. Anyone whose fanaticism depends on foretelling the demise of powerhouses like L.A. and S.A. as our Rockets assume their place at the head of the league, should get out while they still can. This season is for the true fans: the ones who watched Rafer and Luther and Juwan and Mutombo when Yao and T-Mac couldn't play.

But all is not lost. There is still hope. What is the one thing the Rockets have never had in the Yao era - youth. The reasoning was somewhat sound - Yao needs veterans who can run half-court sets and get him the ball - but this philosophy merely led us to where we stand today. Now, we move forward. We are not in a rebuilding mode. Shit, we've been quietly rebuilding since Aaron and Carl showed so much promise in their rookie seasons, ever since T-Mac tried to put the team on his brittle back and failed.

We've thrown countless fringe veterans onto the floor around Yao and T-Mac, just hoping they would be enough to hold it all together: Kirk Snyder, Juwan Howard, Keith Bogans, David Wesley, Jon Barry, Ron Artest (I loved Artest and maybe I still will. In losing him we may have lost our on-court incendiary, but at this point our burgeoning team needs fewer and fewer combustible elements in this, its most formative season.) What we've been reluctant to do or incapable of doing is betting on development. We've never had time to waste waiting on the young guys to figure it out. We were always worried about Yao and Tmac and their "window of opportunity." You could say the window has shut, but I choose to say that there is no window. Not in the defeatist sense - like Yao or T-Mac couldn't win. Rather in the "think outside the box - there is no box" mentality.

"Where's the Cat? Where's the cradle?" -Kurt Vonnegut

The Celtics may have pulled off a complete roster revamping in one fell swoop, but we're in no position to hope for miracles. Our hopes should rest in development and unity.