I was listening to Bill Simmons' "BS report" podcast on ESPN.com about each NBA teams vegas line and the Rockets line this year is 47.5 wins. Both Bill and his friend on the show took UNDER but said somewhere between 43-46 wins for us is reasonable. I disagree and would definitely take OVER but heres a summary... The negatives: 1. we cant trust Yao will be the Yao yet, 2. there are too players so no one is going to happy with their minutes but Martin and Scola, 3. Brooks is unhappy with his contract but they cant resign him if they want to use him in a trade, 4. Yao would be better playing off the bench and killing second string centers but its Yao so he starts, . the positives: 1. a lot more stable roster than last year incase of injury bug, 2. a defined role for Yao, 3. other teams still have to plan for Yao even if its only 24 minutes (they gave him mad love), 4. Bill loves Daryl Morey Remember, 47 wins is 6 game improvement from last year so my question is what do you guys think...OVER/UNDER 47.5?
If this team doesn't win at least 6 more games than last year's team, there will be no words to express my disappointment.
Under 47.5 right now. I am hoping that Yao stays healthy. but I am not optimistic YET. but if he does, > 50 wins surely.
I take the over on that. Simmons saying 43-46 wins seems pretty ignorant considering this team won 42-games last year without Yao playing zero games, the T-Mac distraction, and the team making a major trade at the deadline.
over..just having a big man spreads the floor, and the development of chase, hill and etc will help big time.
I don't agree with the negatives - I'm not trying to live in fantasy land that says we have no negatives - but some of these negatives are plain wrong. 1 - Yao has IMO already proven he will be the Yao of old, only difference is he won't be there but 24 min. which hopefully means he will last all season 2 - I can't think of one player on our team that would complain about their minutes ... after going through last season, these guys are ready to win at any cost. 3 - Although there was some media attention of Brooks' contract, DM has always played out the contracts. Brooks knows this and will be expecting a re-up that he deserves after this season. Also, why do people assume that DM is going to trade Brooks? Just because DM has been playing the trade game recently to create this wonderful team doesn't mean the he's going to continue trading ... he'd be foolish if he did! 4 - Yao would be fine off the bench or starting IMO.
I'm saying over... I listened to that podcast, too. I think we're a low 50 win team. I think Martin, Brooks, and Hill take significant steps forward, and I think that the additions of Miller, Lee, Yao, and Ish are crucial in helping us through injuries. Remember how bad we looked for that stretch that we didn't have Lowry? I know Ish Smith is not nearly as good as Lowry, but I think he's vastly better than any of the Vipers we brought up last season. I also think Bill's making too much of this "too many players" thing. Winning cures all ills, so if we're playing good basketball, nobody is going to complain. I think this "issue" of guys wanting minutes has a greater chance of messing up Boston's season than it does ours (take that Bill!). If too many good players is our biggest problem this year, I'll take it.
this is r****ded. we won 42 games despite injury (and im not including the yao injury). We had kyle go out and our record suffered. Battier played with issues all year. We have so much depth this year that if any one player has an injury, we have a bunch of versatile guys that can step up. I think most of us have a morbid curiosity about what ESPN will say about the rockets that we still get surprised when they beat us. Shout out to all battered wives.
Not a big betting man, and not saying the line is so unreasonable, but had to take this one and put some on the over. Makes the season more personal.
