[Deveney] Scouts, Coaches Have Their Doubts on Rockets’ Pairing of Westbrook and Harden

So just another offseason then. This is what....the 5th straight year of overestimating the Lakers and underestimating the Rockets?

 

Bring the noise

 

“We had a bunch of nonbelievers along the way.. we got 1 thing to say those nonbelievers...Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion”

I have this quote memorized from childhood

 

In other news, clutchfans have doubts about scouts, coaches, media..

 

what do people even mean by "work"?

if it's championship then the majority of the teams in the league don't "work"

if it's just a playoff seed then yes it will "work"

 

I'm surprised that anonymous rivals would take the opportunity to drag on one of the most hated teams in the NBA headlined by its most constantly maligned and underappreciated superstar and that just added one of the most hated and antagonistic players of the last decade.

 

I’m glad the defense was mentioned. Everyone keeps talking about the offense... and the other end should be your biggest concern. Ever since bev we’ve had a solid defender next to James.

And no I don’t want to hear James is a good perimeter defender. He’s IMPROVED, he’s nowhere near good anywhere outside the post

 

So say "they're not better than", add even other playoff team, wait till they lose in the WCF, and say "see, told you, sure they still made a deep run, but still no rings!"

There's 15 teams in the West, only one makes the Finals. Hopefully it's the Rockets, but we don't need to listen to these "told you it won't work" guys who obviously have no clue.

BTW, can anyone name a NBA scout?? I guess they're important.... but for every scout that I guess is good, there's more that suck... I know this because of the NBA draft and a computer.

Maybe the scout in question is the same one that thought it would be a good idea to take Lonzo Ball 11 spots ahead of Donovan Mitchell, lol

 

Same. Any concerns people have about chemistry issues with Harden/Westbrook should be matched by health concerns for Lebron/AD. And the fact that the Rockets are a very deep team while the Lakers after Lebron/AD are a rag tag bunch that ain't about much. Probably the only other guy on the roster that has real trade value is Kyle Kuzma and he's not as good as Capela, Gordon, Tucker or Rivers. I'm not entirely sure he's better than House. He's pretty good offensively but he's streaky and he's absolutely terrible on defense. Come to think of it. He sounds like Gerald Green.

 

The only people who have no doubts about this team are blind homers. Of course theres doubt. Plenty of things can go wrong. Doesn't mean they will, but its realistic that their floor resembles that of the the 2015 team.

The only thing that's BS are people who say this team has no upside. Which is pretty weird given that theres no Warriors and every team has flaws that can derail their season

 

I'm concerned about the defense too. If that doesn't fall off a cliff we'll be champions.

 

'They'll be terrible on defense but better on the defensive boards.'

A defensive rebound IS defense. It's like these experts out there make an effort to forget that.

 

The Lakers and Clippers teams have never even played on a court together, but the experts have deemed them kings. Yeah.. okay.

 

Line them up!

 

We had this same conversation about CP0 2 years ago. And look what happened there.

 

Of course, Westbrook is worse than CP3 and the Rockets haven’t made any other real improvements.

 

Harden is a guy that seems to fall victim to his own hype machine at times. The media, to be fair, are overreactors in both directions.

In 2015-2016 we had just finished coming off the WCF, and everyone expected us to contend again. Instead, Harden dates a Kardashian, McHale is McHale, and the rest is 41-41 history.

In 2016-2017 everyone is having their fill ******** on us, and even the fans (myself included) are skeptical of the MDA hire. We blow away expectations and get to for at least six regular season months give the media the finger on our way to the 3 seed. Unfortunately, Games 5 and 6 happen, and BUT MANU'S E-MAILS becomes a rallying cry for all dickless online troll Spurs fans and fake Spurs fans around the world.

Fair enough. Before 2017-2018 we trade for CP3; everyone doubts it. (Harden does well in the offseasons where people doubt him, in case my post hasn't yet gotten around to this point.) We win 65 games.

In 2018-2019, people expect us to be competitive again, if only mildly regressed. Clutchfans goes crazy when the Vegas line is down to 54.5 wins. The Rockets have a horrible start. Chris Paul's body crumbles, and he can't stay in front of the kids in his summer camp drills anymore. James Harden drags us kicking and screaming back to contention.

Come 2019-2020. Do you really want the media to be fluffing Harden the way they did before 2015 or 2018? I know Harden has matured now and works on his game regardless of what other people say. But still...I prefer a slighted Harden. Let's see if Russ can have a slighted comeback too, or if he'll just fade into the distance a la Hoodie Melo. Rockets fans have a right to be skeptical of a guy who's never done it his entire career.

 

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-nba-predictions/

538 still has us looking strong. Best team in the league in fact. And head and shoulders best in the West.

If I had to wager on who has been more accurate these random scouts or 538s projections, I’m going with 538.

But I guess you never can know for sure.

 

Also, the Clippers are going to be without Paul George at the start of the season and Leonard will miss at least 10-15 games for load management.

 

LAL are not a threat. They gutted that team to add an injury prone big next to a guy who’s beginning to decline physically. They’re not winning ****.

The LAC on the other hand are a serious problem. They built the team the right way for today’s game.