KD played all but 5 quarters. Cousins hasn't been a real factor in the NBA in 2 years, he can barely move anymore. It is time to stop re-telling history and basing sweeping changes off of that. Quit believing lies, QUIT TELLING LIES. I declare these pants on fire. Last year's team suffered from shortness. Did you miss the addition of tall youth on the bench? I did not say this was a championship team, that would be another lie. I said this team is at the top of the food chain and will be competing for it which is all anyone with a reasonable view of sports can ask. What's your biggest problem with this team? Iman Shumpert, a champion, being 2" too short? Big ol' bite of that reality sandwhich yo.
That's been proven to be a good to great regular season team, but given the rebounding woes (not to mention another year of aging), I just don't think it's good enough. There's a reason why there are all these reports of Morey shopping our guys.....he KNOWS that stagnancy will get us nowhere. It's a mistake to think that this team can just put the band together, and run it back for 55+ wins and a WCF berth again. Without a real injection of height, youth, shooting, and defense, this team will fizzle out IMO. The definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same thing expecting different results.
But that's the point. 19 is a great number and all, but it's always beaten by the blackjack that GS seems to always have. Plus, everyone is a year older, and other teams are looking for ways to improve as well. It's not a 2 team conference where it's just us and Golden State. We have no idea how good Doncic and Porzingis might be. Utah, Portland and Denver might suddenly figure it out. OKC might become a good efficient team. "Running it back" would have been fine imo if this was the 65 win team. But it's not. There have to be some moves.
Yeah, we may have 19, but Golden State is playing with a stacked deck. But rebuilding would take a couple of years AT BEST, probably longer (and maybe never). At least running it back with smart tweaks gives us a legit shot at beating the team we've matched up pretty well against the last two years.
That's not entirely true... Cousins had it moments in the last regular season game against Rockets.. even in the 2nd game of NBA Finals he played good for someone coming back from injuries. I like Shumpert but he is no SF for a team that is underheight/ underlengthed in almost every position... height matters..we can have height disaadvantages in 1 position but not in multiple positions. It seems you're happy just being in the top of the food chain but for me team should be built with eye on championship. Atleast there needs to be an honest effort to build a championship capable team.
Broo we have tried this main core and because of cp3 harden and capela contract we are limited ,no championship, Rox are pay top dollar to cp3 and capela and they are not performing at all ,capela got exposed vs warriors and cp3 is past his prime even tho we are paying him like a top 5 player in the league when in reality hes a top 40 player right now .Changes have to be done.
It's just not good enough. If we can't upgrade the team then I'm fine bringing back everyone and hoping for better luck in the playoffs (look at Toronto). But the reality is that Paul and Tucker will likely be worse, Gordon and Harden are both also on the wrong side of 30, and Capela has clearly hit his ceiling.
we keep losing to the same exact team every single year lol. doing the same thing every year when time/age is against us is literally the worst idea you can possibly do. we gotta do something different.
Loser's mentality. You want Harden to re-sign, you better work to improve every single damn year until you win a championship.
This is why I don't understand the coaching upheaval. I'm sure a lot of people will blame the coaching staff, particularly MDA, but the truth is, even though teams like Portland, Denver and Utah have steadily improved, they still can't get past teams like us or the Warriors. Yet here we are, letting go 4 assistants and not reaching an agreement with MDA, but opting instead to let him enter lame duck status.
This would be a wildly successful regular season team, I don’t know how you could question that. And actually retaining the team, having the staff worked out by game 1 is unequivocally different than last year, I challenge anyone to refute that. Height, youth, shooting, defense...is that not an accurate portrayal of Hartenstein, Clark, House and Shumpert? Morey shopping because like, emotions or whatever or Morey shopping because that’s 98% of what he does? Yeah. Loser mentality? Loser mentality is getting knocked down and staying down. @Raven put your name on that weak ass commentary. Giving up because you’re too tired of being one of the best and only losing to the best. Blow it up because you’re too hurt to lose, wtf kind of entitlement can you possibly enjoy as a rockets fan anyway? Half the people on here probably weren’t even around to see our chips happen. Watered down water sauce. SOFT /Kobe
Like i said... #RanItBack Morey will be praying once again this year for FA buyouts to save our season. Harden meanwhile will have to play at an MVP level again or face heavy criticism in the regular season meanwhile CP3 is out 1/3 of the season due to old age.
If rivers 5.7 million and green 2.5 Both shumpert and house have to take minimum salary due to hard cap. Rivers is unlikely, shumpert and house are likely.
If Harden bails, it could take the Rockets several years to land another top 5 player, maybe more than ten. Look at all the failed years with an overrated Francis (never a legit foundational star) or empty stats T-Mac or physically unreliable (though consistently good) Yao, years and years and years of waiting.
