If the team stays as is for the start of the season, how far do you expect the Rockets to go?

as is.....western conference finals at least.

DMo or T Jones develop into *that* PF we been waiting on.....NBA Finals.

 

Dwights EWA last year was 12. If he returns to some of his former glory, lets say around 15. Minus a couple for Asik's decreased roll, and you get at least 12.

Overall roster improvement should be 3-5.

Record should be somewhere around 60-22, +/- 3.

Of course it depends on matchups, but I'd say no worse than a competitive 2nd round exit with the current roster. If Morey adds Aldridge or Love...NBA Finals.

 

Honestly I think this team as is could win the championship. Jeremy Lin (contrary to popular belief to some on this forum) is actually a pretty good point Harden is the best shooting guard in the league and IMO 3rd best player in the league Parsons is a great shooter move Asik to PF for his amazing defense paired with Dwight no post offense/driving the lane for the other team as it will be pretty hard to get through Asik and and Dwight at the same time. Add in the rebounding as well.

 

WCF

Finals with Aldridge/Love or huge steps from Lin and TJones

 

As is, being unbiased, eliminated in semi-finals.

 

I dont think this is the final team at all. I think morey makes more moves within the year and the moves he makes takes us to the finals...whether we can win or not is another story.

 

Looking forward to what the Heat did on their first run as the big 3, Finals.

 

Maybe they win a round and a second round exit.

 

ChampionShip

 

Still pretty young. I don't think in their first year together they can get pass healthy Spurs and Thunder. So semi-finals. Actually if Thunder doesn't sign anyone they'd be vulnerable, then conference finals. The year after, definitely conference finals or finals.

 

anything less than WCF is a disappointment imo

 

Can Dwight or Asik guard stretch 4s?

 

Dwight can but they are both very much Centers; anyway this has been discussed to death. They will take turns at the 5 except in special situations

 

toe to toe against OKC in WCF.... would be a very close series. if durant and westbrook hit their jumpers, they win. if not, we win. no way they score inside against dwight and asik.

we will win because of our defense, not because we can outscore our opponents. in fact i'm predicting a drop in scoring, but a significant increase in defense. dwight is not the offensive threat he thinks he is but he more thank makes up for it on defense.

 

60% win ratio until howard kills the hype. few bad games, howard asks morey to fire mchale. (insert another name for mchale for next time)

if morey chooses to keep mchale, trade howard for a top notch power forward and go for the western finals. if morey sticks with howard, back to step 1.

 

2nd round exit.

 

2nd round exit at worse. All depends on matchups and the continued development of our younger core players (Lin, Jones, Motie)

 

I don't want to set expectations too high, I would say 55 wins... anything above that I would be happy

 

I like the team as is. I would love to see this team start out the season and then reassess at the trade deadline. If all is well, keep it up and I would expect a minimum second round exit with a strong showing if not a Conference Finals showing (I'm not too bullish on them making the finals since it is a young & new team but the Rockets are definitely a top 4 team IMO).

I'd hate to give up an Asik--the Gobbler--Mr. Double-Double because he doesn't 'appear' to fit the current lineup/preconceived notion of what type of offense the team has to run--especially if this means trading him for the best that is out there vs. his true value. I think Morey knows this and will let the team start the season as is and experiment a little with a twin-towers situation plus maybe ease Dwight's minutes early on to get him fully healthy. I could see Asik and Dwight both getting 30 minutes a game to keep them fresh for the stretch run (10-12 minutes twin tower time).