(FiveThirtyEight) Rockets will be the best in the west

It's like a fish story. It all starts with a crappie, then it becomes a rainbow trout. Next thing you know, dude caught a barracks.

 

N Silver also warned that there was a distinct possibility Clinton could win the popular vote but fail to get enough electoral college votes and that there were far more consistent, reliable national polls than polls in several swing states. Really hit this point after the Comey letter.

 

I don't see how the Clippers win less than 55 games. I see them being our biggest competition in the West. I'm going to be bold and predict we win at least 61 games as long as we keep EGO, PJ, and Clint.

 

Two reasons for that. First is Paul George, we're not sure he'll be ready for the season opener from what I have read. He could miss at least a few games at the start of the season, and the Clippers said they are going to be cautious with his return. I'm assuming "cautious" means load management for him. Second, they are expected to continue the "load management" strategy with Kawhi. Kawhi only played 60 games last year. So if Kawhi misses ~22 games, Paul George misses a few to start the season, and then also misses some games due to the Clippers being "cautious" about his return, they could have some trouble in those games.

I expect the Clippers to be the strongest team in the west when healthy, but I don't expect them to get the 1 seed.

 

The Clippers have all this West Coast/post Raptor title action ....way too much. They shouldn't be favorites. Once you get past Leonard & George, they're lacking....wildly overrated.

 

Good to know! *thumbs up

 

If we would have actually brought in a legitimate 3 and D SF I would say we should be a top 3 choice. I don't believe we are currently.

 

I usually dun go into this early rankings.......Let's see what we can do at the trade deadline....shall we?

 

Compare them to Lakers and "load mgt" Clippers Rox roster clearly the best. They are 9 deep and can win games with 1 dude injured. You think Davis or Lebron with Kuzma gonna win games? How about just PG and Beverly?

The problem for me isnt the regular season, its the playoffs where a healthy Clippers or Bucks starting 5 might be better than the Rox. Cp3 might even get a buyout and sign with the Lakers at midseason so the real test will come at the playoffs esp since we got Mr. Mike "let Harden do Everything" Dumbtoni at the helm.

But regular season is a cakewalk top 2 seed in the West easily barring injury. And if we're not Morey gonna trade half the team at the deadline.

 

Lol the clippers won 48 games without Kawhi and PG, yes they can win load management, and so can the lakers.

I don’t think we have the best roster. I think one more above average player is necessary. We still don’t know what this is going to look like with with Westbrook, or which Westbrook we will get. I also still hate the fact the fired the coaching staff. Are we going to be trying a new defense ? There just too many questions with this team right now to say we should be best in the west.

 

The coaching staff wasnt getting through to Harden, he played def in the regular season but stopped in the playoffs which is why they had to go.

Yeah ok the Lakers can win through load mgt, I mean they missed the playoffs last year and just traded half their team for 1 dude but they can win through load mgt lol ok alright. Look dude the glass is half full or half empty its always up to how you see it.

My suggestion is just wait and see how the team does first before you make any predictions.

 

Making end of the season projections in July make as much sense as pissing in the wind.

 

No one is winning 60 in the west. I guess people dont under how hard 60+ games is to do. No only that, it's a west now that just isnt top heavy anymore. The pels are gonna beat teams folks.

Dallas is gonna beat teams

The only team everybody gonna spank is Memphis.

That's it in the west.

I predict Memphis will have the worst record in the nba.


N of course bucks will win 60+ in the scrub east

 

Never say never. Look how many games Paul, Harden, and Clint missed last year. With a whole lot of good luck we might just have more stars on the court for more games than last year. Hartenstein and House will get better, and Chandler will help as well. Nene and Clint both sat a lot of games. I am optimistic about our chances, regardless of how good other teams may be.

 

65 wins
Book it. Best in the west. 2 mvps

 

Welcome

 

Oh dont misunderstand, rockets I believe will have the 1 or 2 seed, cause of like u said hatden n west dont miss games. But again west not winning 60...this is the tough conference every right now

 

It's crazy how good the West is now. We will be fighting harder to win against a lot more teams. Its going to be more like playoffs competition all year, and the games will be exciting to watch.

The one team I really want to see crash and burn is the Lakers. I have no respect for LeBron and AD. I used to really like AD, but think he is a jerk for the way he screwed over New Orleans. As for Lebron, well he has no loyalty to any city, and LA suits him. Screw your neighbor if you can make a buck, or get away with it way of life. City of Angels just seems so unfitting as its motto.

 

This cracks me up. It feels to me like most of the world, outside of a certain percentage of Rockets fans, are predicting the Rockets will fail. Then they "run the numbers" and ...oh wait...the Rockets have the highest win probability in the West.

We are either going to win big or blow up spectacularly I think. Basketball relies so much on chemistry and system fit. That's the reason I'm not sold on the Lakers or the Clippers yet.

If Harden and Russ enjoy playing together and MDA can create a system to keep them both happy we are going to WIN WIN WIN.

Or we are going to BURN IN BASKETBALL HELL until a trade can happen to save our basketball loving souls.

 

Lol I'm just the opposite never liked a.d. because to me he seemed to just be a stat sheet stuffer. Ever year when he was drafted was the year he was gonna be the league best player. N he has has good enough teams to at least make the playoffs more. I mean a 8 seed come on. If a player is a all time great as the media keep telling me he should of won more. Ima lbj fan. Didnt used to be. But he earned it. 8 straight finals even in the jv conference is hard to do.

He not the greatest tho.

2nd best player of all time.

My whole thing with ad is he the exact opposite of harden. A.d. was just blessed with good Gene's. I know he can shoot n all. It's more of a harden take. He has done more with less to me.

A slow fat kid, six man to mvp.