SI Fanside has picked 8 Western Conference playoff team, No Houston Rockets

We're flying under the radar.........I like it

 

Haters gon' hate.

Fuel to the fire. I ain't worried!

 

Most of those guys have situational value that makes them better on this team than their ranking is relative to other players. Ariza's solid deep shooting and all nba level defense(if the award wasn't a popularity or past rep contest) is huge for a team lacking a wing defender with so many quality wing offensive threats in the league. Same with Bev - elite defender on a team that needs to build a solid defense around Harden. I truly believe the sum is greater than the parts in this case.

Agreed the bench isn't strong - it's probably middle of the road as far as benches go. This is definitely the side effects of all the sell-able/cap friendly assets that we have been collecting to get in a position to acquire Harden, Howard, and make a run at Bosh.

 

I agree...they might miss the playoffs.

 

You have to keep in mind that the difference between the 4 seed and 9 seed is likely again going to be pretty damn small. I personally wouldn't be surprised at all if the Mavs win three or four more games that the Rockets, and that pretty much is the difference between home court advantage and the lottery in the loaded West. If you claim the Rockets are a clear playoff team, you're not saying they're clearly better than Phoenix and New Orleans (which they are), you're saying they're in the top 3 in the West, because anyone else including media locks like Dallas and Golden State are one losing streak away from falling out of the top 8 entirely. The Rockets are far from immune to that.

 

True. The Rockets might miss the playoffs.

You could easily say this just about any team before just about any season. Especially in the Western Conference.

OKC might miss the playoffs. Maybe Durant's rehab takes longer than we are expecting. Maybe Westbrook won't be nearly as good when the defense is able to focus solely on him.

SAS might miss the playoffs. Duncan is old. Parker is getting old. Ginobili is getting old and already has significant injury history.

GSW might miss the playoffs. Maybe Curry injures his ankles. Maybe Bogut has another season ending injury. Maybe Iguodala starts declining. Maybe Thompson's shot doesn't fall as much.

LAC might miss the playoffs. Maybe Chris Paul flops during a game and tears his ACL. Maybe DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin have a dunk contest during practice and both of them break their legs.

Houston might miss the playoffs. Maybe our bench depth is even worse than it looks. Maybe Dwight Howard's back flares up again. Maybe Trevor Ariza really is only good during contract years. Maybe Patrick Beverley has knee problems again.

Or... Houston might make the playoffs and make a serious run. Maybe two of our team's greatest weaknesses last year, perimeter defense and 3-point shooting, are filled perfectly by Trevor Ariza. Maybe having Beverley, Ariza and Howard on the same lineup will make us into a great defensive team. Maybe Papanikolau, Terry, Daniels, Canaan and Black will surprise us with their production off the bench.

Maybe the Rockets will pull off a major trade and even become the favorites in the West?


Who knows? I don't care what Fansided thinks. Or ESPiN, or Yahoo. That's the whole point of playing the games. We have a talented team with two top-10 players. Time for us to go out and prove it on the court!

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Predictions,West:
1. Spurs
2. Thunder
3. Clippers
4. Warriors
5. Blazers
6. Mavericks
7. Grizzlies
8. Rockets
West champ: OKC
NBA champ: OKC</p>&mdash; Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/527133051009380353">October 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

~8th: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24771352/projected-2014-15-records-for-every-nba-team

 

As much as I disagree about where most people put the Rockets and that most think the Mavs are clearly better than us, the one team I disagree with more so than any of the rest is where the blazers are consistently ranked. I just don't see it happening.

 

3-4 seed no doubt in my mind

 

I am not arguing the ranking. Houston could very much likely be out of the playoffs. We need depth to go anywhere and that is something we have yet to prove. Until Morey figures a way to get that third star, we're 8,9th seed kind of team foghting to make playoffs.

 

We would have to play terribly and get all kinds of injured to not make the playoffs.

Whether we're better than the Thunder, Clips, Warriors, Grizz, Spurs, Mavs, or Portland once we get there? I don't know. I can see all of those teams beating us, and the other way around.