Bleacher Report predicted Rockets as 11th in the conference and 38-44. What amazes me is the reason they give on how Howard made us better when he played. Has there ever been a time when people were so wrong about a team (and that team didn't have any significant upgrades or injuries during the season)? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-projections-for-every-team-pre-training-camp West: 11. Houston Rockets: 38-44 2015-16 Record: 41-41 Subtractions: Michael Beasley, Andrew Goudelock, Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas, Josh Smith, Jason Terry Additions: Ryan Anderson, Tyler Ennis, Eric Gordon, Nene, Chinanu Onuaku, Pablo Prigioni NBA 200 Representatives: Eric Gordon (133), Trevor Ariza (119), Patrick Beverley (92), Ryan Anderson (54), James Harden (13) Losing Dwight Howard is a big deal, even if he's being replaced by promising young center Clint Capela. For all the knocks Howard took during his tenure with the Houston Rockets—and plenty of them were legitimate—his interior defense, pick-and-roll work and rebounding made him a distinct plus. The team was undeniably better when he was on the floor. Capela will mitigate some of the negative impact, but he's by no means as effective a two-way force. Replacing Howard will be a joint effort, which makes a resurgent season from Nene more of a need than a desire. The Rockets did add talent during the offseason, and it was nicely spread throughout the roster. But this squad still lacks convincing depth at some spots and is counting on a host of one-way players (and coach Mike D'Antoni) being cancelled out by the few plus-defenders who earn significant run. Houston will remain in the playoff race for much of the year, especially with James Harden running the show and looking to another MVP bid. But after an offseason in which plenty of Western Conference teams made substantial strides—whether through summer additions or expected internal improvement—the Rockets didn't do quite enough to avoid a lottery finish.
Ever been so wrong? in the positive sense, happens from time to time, portland were meant to win 25 games last year, got 44 wins, finished 5th and made the 2nd round. The flip side happens too, us last year, the lakers in 2012-13 were meant to win it all and barely made the playoffs.
It's Bleacher Report. They're a company that went from employing terrible amateur sportswriters to terrible professional sportswriters. Nothing to see here.
It's the BS Report Wake me up when they get anything write. it's like all their articles are written some pimple faced teen, may be by swayyygayyy
BR is mostly BS, but it isn't like this was an unpopular opinion. This CBS Sports article represents much more highly respected BB minds who averaged predicting about 44 wins for us. Of all the MVP debate that kind of gets on my nerves, this is the biggest one as well. Supposedly Harden is partially so successful because he is on a better team than Russ, but before the season started nobody thought the Rockets were better. How much of the Harden's teammates' success is due to JH13, and how much of Russ' teammates' lack of success is due to Russ being Russ?
To be honest, most of the people don't see that our team can play this great. Specially when defense was one of our major problem last year and we hired MDA. At the meantime, this should also make MDA COY, DMorey EOY, James Harden MVP case much stronger. All of them does a fantastic job this year. Hopefully, we shock the world with 16 wins in the playoff
lets not get way too excited.. we have been 16-12 the last 28 games.. that puts us on par with a 46 win season.. was the first 40 games a bit of an aberration or are the last 30 games... its hard to tell.
The preseason media consensus is why the current MVP narrative upsets me so much. If you listen now, people say Harden has a much better supporting cast and Westbrook is carrying OKC. But, before the season started, the media was saying that Gordon and Anderson were unreliable signings with checkered pasts from New Orleans. They were calling Nenê washed. Now, they can't stop calling us the deepest team in the league. It's revisionist history.
And we are 11-4 over the last 15 games (1 1/2 months). That puts us on par with a 60 win season. Was the 13 games in January a bit of an aberration or the last 15 and first 40 games ... its hard to tell.
This is why I wish so badly that I could get paid to be an ESPN "analyst". Aka an average sports fan who happens to be on TV.
I think that narrative is only among that casual sports people at ESPN. Most of the TrueHoop/Lowepost podcast types have Westbrook at 3 on the MVP list. (source: latest TrueHoop episode that was Rockets related) ESPN is divided into like Sports people and Entertainment people. Their SportsCenter 24/7 switch like a year ago bombed in the ratings, so now they're trying Sports Entertainment until 10pm EST where they go back to a traditional SportsCenter.
exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they are saying he has a good cast now...but when the predictions were made 5 months ago...we were going to miss the playoffs!
Their mistake was assuming that Houston would continue to play in the same way we had been playing. We *were* focused on an inside-outside game with a dominant post player and a dominant shooting guard. And, honestly, if we were trying to play that game with Nene instead of Howard, they would probably be very accurate on their prediction. But... in comes Mike D'Antony... ...And, instead of trying to force us to continue the inside-outside game without the dominant center, we play a completely different game, based on faster pace and very strong 3-point shooting. This is extremely smart basketball as having the strongest 3-point shooting is a requirement for being a top team in the NBA today. Go Rockets.
Before we get to full ourselves and ragging on others... I think all of us expected injuries and missed time to be far more significant that it has been... jus sayin...
