[Positive Optimism|Rockets may not be as bad as people think

They are not invincible. ANY team can be beaten and GS is no exception. For example, they still have to show they have come up with an answer when teams go big on them like CLE did in the Finals. I'm looking at KD to be their answer to Lebron but they have to show that they can win when teams go big, hit the boards and stuff the paint on them. They aren't going 82-0 so relax.

 

[Realityism] Chickin Dudurant went to GS, whatever we do is already capped out at losing in the WCF and can only go down from there

 

I don't know what most people think but I have us as the 7th seed. Depending on further moves.

OBVIOUSLY we are not a contender and noone besides GSW is.

 

The only way to have a winning record against an east team is to sweep them. Winning in Boston, Toronto, Milwaukee, Indiana, Miami, ATL, Toronto and Chicago will be a tough task.

I do think we could do a lot better against the east than we did last year.

 

GSW relied on depth many times throughout the season. They will not have that this year. The Durant signing helps them but it is not like they struggled putting the ball in the hole last year. Sharing the ball may become an issue.

I think a 4 or 5 seed is realistic for the Rockets. 3 or 6 would be better to avoid a second round series vs the warriors.

 

I would say that San Antonio still is.

And there is always the possibilty that GSW suffers an injury either during the season or in the playoffs. Depending on the timing of such a scenario, they could get knocked out early. I wouldn't concentrate on beating GSW as much as finding pieces that compliment the players on the roster now, or swap players out for those that better fit the system. Try to put the best team out there that you can and let the pieces fall where they may.

 

Agree 100%. The Rockets will be very fun to watch this year with MDA directing a much faster pace and hopefully fewer turnovers, but as currently constructed this is no championship team and hopefully the injury gods are on our side this upcoming season after signing to very injury prone players.

 

They might be worse than we think.

 

Rockets would be lucky to make a 6th seed. I wouldn't be surprised if we miss the Playoffs completely. Outside of teams clearly better than us (GS, SA, LAC, POR, MEM), Utah improved and could be healthy, Minnesota has Thibs, OKC still has a talented roster, and Dallas stayed at around the same level.

Such homers here.

 

Gs, Sa, Lac, Mem are the top 4 teams in the west by a good margin. 5-8 is going to be close between the likes of okc, hou, port, dallas, & utah

 

The truth is this is our situation

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Harden
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Capela
Anderson/Beasley
Ariza
Gordon
Beverley

If the ? Are filled with true starters then we could have a shot at being a complete team fighting for a championship. But we are going to start players that are truly bench players on a championship team.

 

What if Harden has another MVP like season and gets to the 3rd seed and Durant foot needs surgery again...does it still not matter then?

Lots of things can happen boss. While I agree that it is likely GSW wins it all, it was likely last season and didn't happen.

The Rockets finished 2nd with much of the same roster. Not everyone has to go full emo to be realistic.

 

Optimism (?) Pessimism
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We should make the playoffs, but we have no chance of winning a title. That said, 28 other teams also have no shot.

Spurs have a slim shot, then Cavs, then Warriors. It'll be a boring season in the NBA.

 

Lets try to objective here:

- First of all Morey is probably not done yet, he will likely try to improve the team further via trade, we still dont know what we will have once the season starts. Be patient, the dude doesnt have an easy job, is it his fault that our position is complicated? Perhaps, but he is working to get us out of it, he has made us better before he can make us better again.

- Dwight leaving can be viewed from different perspectives. Defensively he was still pretty good and his defensive input has yet to be replaced and it wont be easy to, he was a rebounding machine and great shot blocker still among other things. On the other hand, offensively he is very easily replaceable this shouldn't even be a concern. Finally there is the immaturity and drama, we sure as hell dont need that here. In the end although he had a lot of defensive upside which will be missed, his offensive deficiencies and attitude makes me think that it is better that he left.

- As much as people criticize D'Antoni, he simply cannot be worse than JBB, its just not possible, and i think people disregard how bad JBB was for us last season, blame Harden and the rest of the team all you want but JBB was the captain of this ship and he was clueless, this was a total mess and he only made it worse, so even if D'Antoni is just marginally better he will be better nonetheless. Besides he has a clear style of play that he wants to go for here, people may not like it because most believe he will completely disregard defense, which obviously is a big exaggeration, but that's fine i guess we will see how this works out once the season starts, but for me he cannot be worse than JBB so this is another +

- The free agents we got have a lot of upside if healthy. Yes people keep repeating that it is a big IF, but its true IF they dont get hurt and play as well as we know they can play these were great signings for us, and also they fall in line with the new coach's philosophy, this is another thing people keep complaining about, that Morey doesnt care about coaching, well he is giving his coach the best tools he can give him given the circumstances to play like he likes to play, lets just hope it works out. Of course i understand why negative people feel like these guys will continue to have injuries, its reasonable to think that the chances of recurring injuries on injury prone players are high, I guess time will tell.

- Finally there is Harden. It all starts and ends with him. If Harden has great season like he did on 2014-2015 all should be well. Remember that Howard, which is the only big name we lost, was absent for half the season, and although he was great in the playoffs he was pretty much irrelevant during the regular season, Harden carried us to a 2nd place and guys like Ariza, Bev, D-Mo who most likely will stay, were also great and are still on the team. If Harden has an MVP year we will be fine! Are we winning the Ship? not a chance, but it looks that nobody is but the Dubs, what we will do if this happens is improve our image and try to become an attractive free agent destination again for next year, but this all starts and ends with Harden if he sucks we are doomed, if he is great then most likely we should be very good as well.

Right now we can speculate all we want about how well or how bad the Rockets season will be, we just have to wait and see because most likely there are plenty of moves still to be done until the season starts and this team is probably going to look very different. There is no sense in b****ing for months about how bad we are or come up with stupid ideas like "trade Harden", lets just try to be patient and be watchful of the moves Morey makes to improve the team.

 

I like your way of looking at things.

So with Durant's decision going to the GSW, it suddenly put the Rockets basically on par of the other teams except for 2.

Just hope your day job is not a teacher.

 

I think anywhere from 5-8 seed sounds about right.

Barring injuries, GSW, SAS, LAC, and MEM are, on paper, definitely better than us. We'll be fighting POR, UTAH, and OKC (and maybe MIN?) for positioning. I'd be very surprised if we missed the playoffs, though. Harden's proven he can get the team that far at a minimum.

 

What depth did they lose? Legitimate question.

All I'm aware of is Zaza replacing Bogut (a goon for a goon) and Durant replacing Barnes (a superstar for a young mediocre wing).

 

Ezeli and Bogut were both very good at rim protection and rebounding. Pachulia isn't as good as either of them so it's not just a matter of "goon for goon."

They are also likely losing Speights and potentially Barbosa.

That's four of their good depth guys who are gone and filled thus far by only one who isn't as good as either of the ones he replaced.

HOWEVER, Durant is such a huge piece that it negates any of that AND they are still going to add players for the minimum. When it's all said and done, they'll be better and just as deep.

 

I am not sure of the the money specifics but i would assume that Ezili, Speights, and maybe Iggy would not return. Ezili, bogut, and Speights killed our big guys