Do you agree this team will win around 50 in the reg. season, but not much in the post season?

I don't think they'll be any better than last year - but they should be more entertaining.

 

I was not a big fan of their half-court offense last season. Too ISO-heavy with little to no motion.

 

Super Bowl

 

Who will that legit star be? I don't see the guy in free agency except for Blake Griffin and they did just sign Anderson to a big deal to be the PF. A trade for George or Cousins? Or wait until George/Cousins are free agents in a couple of years? George would be a great fit. I'd also like Butler but not sure he'll be available in a trade any time soon.

 

If they are as utterly mediocre as they were last year then God help us.

 

Positive vibes, I'm getting around to believing the team can win 50. But I still see 1st round out as high likelihood unless we have Clint playing close to all-star level on D.

I hope he doesn't break a foot or something from adding weight too quickly like Ben Simmons.

 

People still underestimate Harden. I expect them to pull 50-54 wins in a good year, but don't have much hope for playoffs.

Mid season course corrections and bandaids through analytics does not replace true depth and team building.

 

If we start running and gunning like we did in 14-15 we should be better. Last season we started catering to Dwights demands and slowed our pace. Our team was not built to play that pace. Guys like Brewer, Ariza and co were at their best in the open court but once we asked them to play in the half court where it requires them to creat their own shot off the dribble things went south!

I expect a bounce back year from Brewer and Ariza.

 

I stopped making preseason prediction after last season's disaster.

I think the defense will be about the same as last season. The offense will look better but may or may not be more effective. Last season's offense looked ugly but was actually quite effective. We ranked 7th in the league. Offense was not what sank the season. Defense was. That's why the MDA hire got so much flak. MDA is not going to bring a much more effective offense. It will only LOOK better.

 

Things were equally apocalyptic around here before '14-'15. Asik, Parsons, and Lin gone, Bosh staying in Miami. What I know is that our coaching will probably be better than it was that year, Harden will probably be better than he was that year, and our big man rotation will probably be better than it was that year.

I'm expecting 50-52 wins, and a decent chance to win at least one playoff series.

 

45-50 wins is do-able and a second round appearance would be good. Anything more would be great. I don't expect much, but with the subtraction of Jones, hobbled D-Mo, Josh, Beasley, Dwight & Terry from the rotation, replacing them with Ryan, Nene, Gordon, Ennis / GP2 / KJ and changing coaching staffs, so getting MDA & Bzdilek automatically means A) more wins B) better chemistry C) smarter and a more diverse strategy on the court.

 

I agree. I wouldn't say 50 with so many injury prone players on board, but Morey does usually improve the roster midseason. They're built to win games in the regular season using an offense that isn't easy to prepare for, but they just aren't talented enough to win in the postseason. No rebounding, not built to play great defense - not a recipe for postseason success.

They're like Mike Leach Texas Tech teams. They could beat anyone, usually had a decent record, but never did anything substantial.

 

Well, I'm not confident that we improved. I'm not sold on D'Antoni. Howard and Jones are gone - that may be addition by subtraction. Beasley is gone. We added two injury prone shooters in Anderson and Gordon and then added an unproven young guy in Tyler Ennis and brought back the corpse of Pablo Prigioni. Corey Brewer is still a Rocket.

Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon both played on the similarly mediocre Pelicans squad when they weren't wearing suits. I Just don't see any real reason to be optimistic about this team. To be honest, it won't surprise me if we have a worse record than we did last year. But there should be some games where we score like 140 points that are super fun to watch. I'm not sure there were any games that were super fun to watch last year.

 

The ceiling for the Rockets regular season wins really has to be tied to the HEALTH of the team. If Gordon/Anderson/Nene stay healthy and we get their production, then, yes the Rockets can hit 50 wins. I certainly believe the Rockets will be "over" their 41.5 win O/U that Vegas posted.

 

I'm not even sure we will even hit 50!

 

50 wins is a lot

 

You guys honestly think the rest of the conference is that strong? Because I don't see it.

 

I don't think the rockets hit 50. I'm thinking about 45

 

Sometimes I worry about the offense. Good teams have lock-down defenders where guys like Anderson and Gordon will not be able to create easily off the iso. That means it's back to Harden "iso" ball.

The Rockets should make the playoffs, but once they get scouted they will be much easier to contain on offense and their defense and rebounding will have to win them games which we don't have.

 

come on 8th seed again