In my opinion, they’re not. The Rockets can beat anybody in the NBA—including the Rockets. ...But I don’t fear any team, because we have James MF Harden.
Good points but I do feel Rivers playoff shooting was a fluke. I think a lot of people here are overestimating Lou Will as well. He is dominant as team's first option, but I don't think we're going to see him put up big numbers as a 3rd option. I expect him to be similar or maybe a little less of a player that he was with us.
yes signifcantly weaker. do you think you could take those rocket players listed without harden / westbrook and they win 48 games and make the playoffs? because that's exactly what the clippers did.
as long as the Rockets continue to have no legit starting caliber SF and remain 1 of the smallest teams in the league, their chances at a title remain slim the Clippers ain’t GS with KD, but they are a well built team that can kill it on both ends of the court with 2 two-way, unselfish stars, a great coach, and a great bench...thank God their big man rotation isn’t all that great outside of Harrell or we’d officially have no hope Doc>MDA Kawhi and PG>Harden and Russ LAC bench>Rockets bench LAC defense>Rockets defense it’s not looking good
Not sure I follow your point. I think we can all agree that Rivers probably won't shoot 47% again, unless it's from the free throw line. I've been wrong before though, I didn't think PJ would magically become an elite shooter in the playoffs like he did in 17-18, but sure enough he increased his shot to 46% in the playoffs last season.
You did answer this later in your own post though that the Clips hardly have size. Zubac was a nice pickup but we'll see how good he truly is, and Montrezl is undersized and has a terrible defensive rebounding rate. In the playoffs I don't think we need anymore than Tuck and Clint to match up on them, but throughout the RS and possibly other matchups I'd love for us to get someone with more size like a Marvin Williams type.
They're more well rounded & better coached. The Rockets run everything through one player, if he decides he doesn't want to play or compete we're screwed. Kawhi can have a bad game & the Clippers are still competitive
Clippers are way deeper with better playoff performers, one of whom is probably the best player in the league at this point. Not sure they’re WAY better, but they are better for sure. Rockets need another legit piece.
Jerry West really did a great job, the trade for CP3 was ok imo, but the moves he made in the last year he literally killed it... - got two 1st rounders (one unprotected of an average team) and Shamet for Tobias Harris expiring - got a young and quality 3&D like Harkless for free as a salary dump - got Jamaychal Green for free from Memphis swapping him with Bradley - got Zubac for free from the Lakers swapping him with Muscala Tbh, i don't even know how those teams/general managers let themselves get raped like this by West, it's not like they don't know how good he has been for years, he basically created the Warriors. Regardless, like others said i think the Clippers are really good, probably the favourites to win it all, they are deep obviously, but what makes me think they'll be that good is that i think they're filled with gritty and physical players, i like to think about them like the Thunder of the past years, with the difference that they have Kawhi instead of Westbrook and a much better bench.
Unfortunately this is the case. They are a horrible match up for us, but hey, let's see how the games go.
They ARE better than us. But I'm not sure how we'll matchup. Maybe we can paper, rock, scissor them. They will be good but they are not unbeatable. Both of their stars have had injury trouble. It'll be interesting...
Based on what? Kawhi and George are almost a wash defensively with what Warriors had in Draymond Green and Kevin Durant. The Warriors also had long range threats in Curry and Klay Thompson, something the Clippers don't have. Even if we give the slight edge to the Clippers frontcourt, the Warriors backcourt is infinitely better. The Clippers also lack depth outside of their top 5 guys. Curry> Bev Thompson > Lou Will Durant > Kawhi Draymond < George Bogut/Zaza/Cousins = Zubac
