I know it's still early, but I think this year's squad is a little better. Everybody knows their role and fits it perfectly. The offense is obviously a lot smoother with Harden at the point, and we have way better shooters. We aren't wasting possessions with Dwight post ups, and I really think Eric Gordon coming off the bench is something Harden has never had. I think this year's team is even more reliant on threes, but when you hit 10+ a game for 23 straight games, Harden has made at least one in every game, and EG is shooting 50% over the past few weeks, it's not really a negative. In the past when Harden has had "off" games, the Rockets have never really had another player step up. This year it seems that in order to win, we just need Harden to play well and one of EG/Ariza/Ryno/Dekker/PatBev to get hot from 3. And if Harden doesn't have his shot (like last night), our shooters are more than capable of putting up points. Finally, the combination of Capela, Nene, and Harrell has been far superior to Dwight. Capela brings the length and rim protection, Nene brings the veteran leadership, and Harrell brings a much needed energy/tenacity. It also helps that Nene and Harrell can make jumpshots! All 3 of these bigs play the same role (PNR, defend) but because they all bring different strengths, it's hard for the opposing team to gameplan, when they all play decent minutes. I'm not sure if this team will get to the WCF, but I know they will be a fun watch for the rest of the year and a tough playoff out against any team.
Three things pop out to me 2015 team had better early record, and hit 10 Road wins faster by games-played. 3rd best in Rockets history. 2017 hit 10 wins faster by date. 2nd fastest in Rockets history. imo, 2017 has hit a high-level of chemistry much faster -- which translates in practice and on the court to making it easier for Coach to implement new game-planning strategies and wrinkles to Off/Def When it comes to the Rockets, I always look at our road wins early. But this early chemistry is undeniable. My only worry is the league somehow figures us out, to stop us. We surprisingly seem a step ahead of the league right now on game planning. I thought we'd be in step-behind, response-mode through that brutal road month in Nov., struggling to implement new features of the offense/defense I actually made this yesterday to show Jonathan Feigen
The West is weaker this year than 14-15, so I can potentially see another trip to the WCF's. Having said that, I'm very concerned that the starting lineup's defense depends so much on the high energy of Bev and an aging Ariza. Capela is progressing nicely, but his youth betrays him when he has inconsistent performances. We'll see what happens to DMo, but we should all be concerned that the bench scoring is so dependent on Gordon. I wish KJ got more burn. He needs to be ready in case his number is called...
Our coach is better. MDA has been dictating pace and who goes big or small. Against OKC they had Grant at the 5 and MDA immediately put in NeNe when OKC was coming back(to nitpick he should have done it sooner) causing OKC to insert Adams. This led to a slower pace, and stopped the bleeding. McHale did not make these moves. For this reason alone I think the Rockets are better this year.
If the guys take care of business closing out this homestand against three bad teams, they'll be at 20-7, the exact same record as the 2015 team through 27 games. This team is deeper, 2014-15 probably had a higher ceiling when Dwight was 100%. A lot is riding on the health of guys like Bev, Anderson, and Gordon, so we'll ultimately have to revisit this topic when the playoffs arrive. But I like this squad.
The overall team is but I don't think Harden is as good as he was then. That's when he was getting 30 & 40pt games out the ass and doing nasty ass step backs. His 3pt shooting doesn't look good this year and he just drives.
8th, with the offense at 12th. This year the offense is 4th and the defense is 18th (with room to improve), so your feeling is correct.
They should be able to creep in to the top 3 as the season goes on. Defensively if we can get in that top 12 area then I'd think we are a title contender.
2015 was special because we managed to finds wins despite many people going down on injuries. This year we did have Pat out for quite a while but it feels this team is a bit more fragile with the chemistry if we lose players for injuries. The attitude though is great and it's a much more balanced team than the 2015 team. We can be great if we keep improving on defense like that but hard to see us really contend with the talent we have. Golden State seems close to unbeatable on a series.
We were fortunate Brewer and Smith hit their respective strides when it counted the most in the playoffs. Outside of that our guys on this team have more offensive power. play within their roles, and are lead by a proven coach. I also agree the sample size is too small to really compare the two teams reasonably but its not unrealistic to expect this team to have a better record than that 2015 team. I'll say this though, its nice to have more than 2 scoring options, hopefully Dmo gets cleared and comes back to shore up the bench. If not we should be fine, until we get matched up in the playoffs. When Harrell is placed at the C, if Nene is out + Capela is sitting.. we can't rebound to save our lives and that may be a significant factor if the game is on the line.
Too early to say. So far we split games with the Spurs, OKC. Met Warriors once and beat them in double OT. Lost to the Cavs and Raptors. Haven't seen the Clippers and Griz. Player-wise, then we had Howard, Parsons, Smith and a healthy DMO. Right now we have EG, Anderson, matured Clint, upcoming Dekker and Harrel. Brewer was also way better then than now in the contract year. It's close. It has come down to chemistry and coaching. So far MDA is doing a good job. But it's still early.
I think this version of Harden is not as effective of a scorer (where has his midrange game gone????) as 2015, but he is surrounded by better parts and a deeper team.
That's right. He was gone already. I think player-wise, we are a little better and the pieces fit with each other better.
While this team is more efficient offensively and has a better identity of who they are, I believe the '15 team was better defensively and withstood all of the injuries very well. If this team gets any injuries, I don't see us being as good. I do believe this team has a lot of potential though and they are doing very well so far.