People need to realize the great season we are having

I am very happy with the way this team is playing. I had them at .500 to anything over that is great

 

Chuck Hayes is a serviceable NBA center, he has proven that. Is he a starting center? No, but he doesn't suck like a Kwame Brown or Brendan Haywood. Whats funny is that Chuck Hayes is a top 15 NBA center. Thats how bad centers suck now.

 

I am disappointed in the fact that 6-5 is what we have, when it could be a lot better. I know our whole team has talent..

Kind of funny, because I'm not that disappointed when we lose by like 10-15, but its those close games where it could go either way

 

Agreed. We have people saying Carl Landry has All Star potential and that Aaron Brooks is an All Star. Ariza is a legit MIP candidate and Chuck Hayes and Battier are both thought of as all NBA defenders. Budinger is a top 10 rookie and Lowry is a top backup PG who could start on half the teams in the league.

I'm not saying the team doesn't have holes but this team is far from the least talented squad in the league. Give the players some credit.

Regarding the OP, I think the team is having a very good season.

 

Welcome to ClutchFans!

Rocket River

 

Given that I had no expectations save playing smart basketball, yes, we are having a great season...far better than anticipated.

 

all that is true but I still believe that the Rockets will be below .500 if the team plays as is right now.

This team relies far too heavily on the 3pt shot to consistently win. All you said above is true but as evidence in the games we have lost not having that all-star/star player that can put up a few buckets during a offensive drought is killing this team.

Brooks probably does the best job of creating but his size limits him considerably. How many times has he gotten into the paint only to have the ball deflected/turned over because he was too small? Teams make their runs off of these mistakes knowing Brooks can be contained due to his size. Brooks is quick but certainly isnt strong enough.

Lowry is great in the open court, fast break but half court wise he is still a good passer but I wouldn't necessary call him a "play maker/shot creator"

scola and landry have both played remarkably well to start the season, but the team cant really sustain nights where one of them plays poorly (landry played poorly in the kings game and though scola had a poor game last night) I am not sure if Landry can keep this pace up for the entire season unfortunately injuries and little playing time his rookie year we havent seen landry produce at a high level for an entire season. (I do think though Landry can easily avg double digits off the bench but just not the 15-16ppg he is right now i think that number will come down)

Chase is playing amazing but what if he hits that rookie wall? The Rockets bench has been outstanding this year and the team needs the bench to produce at least 40 pts a game to have a chance at winning. Chase is a huge part of that if his production drops even slightly this team faces even more adversity. I find that a lot to ask for in any rookie not deemed to be a franchise player.



As the season progresses teams will have much more to game plan for and they will. I am SHOCKED still that no team has started to purposefully foul Chuck Hayes yet to send him to the line in a close game. Hayes is tends to get in foul trouble and when he does our interior defense becomes totally soft. Landry and Scola are average defenders in the post and Andersen is just isnt strong enough to defend anyone down there. Andersen is slowly finding where he fits offensively in the system which is nice to see though



I just feel that too many things need to go the Rockets way for them to win consistently on a nightly basis against 75% of the teams in the NBA. I had the Rockets to be 4-7 at this point in my own head not 6-5 so I am happy with the record obviously. I am not underestimating the talent we have I just feel that its just not enough to be a winning team in the Western conference over the course of a full season.

For me this year was just a season where the team is growing and finding itself. We've had several bright spots that can pay HUGE dividends once Yao is back and if something happens with McGrady. I just love seeing them go out there and play their butts off every night. Thats all I am saying i think people should be focusing on the way the Rockets are playing, giving it their all, instead of the record they have. Once they start doing that there will be several "the sky is falling, doom and gloom" type thinking if this team is like 10-15 or something

 

Well said.

 

it's funny how everyone expected nothing out of this team. now that they show some spark they expect everything out of them. just be glad that they are showing so much of an up side to a season where nothing was suppose to happen.

 

YAY 6-5!

 

You might disagree with some of these, but here are some names I'm throwing out there. I was surprised to see not a lot of talent in backup PG's.

Backup PF: Millsap, Odom, Harrington, Speights, Sheed?
PG:Hinrich, Terry/Barea, Lawson, Sessions, Robinson
Starting PF:KG, Nowitzki, Griffin, Gasol, J O'Neal, West?, Lewis, Stoudemire, Aldridge, Thompson?, Duncan, Bosh, Boozer, Jamison, Martin
Post Defender: None found; Chuck is the best.

 

hinrich sucks man. he's terrible. also, isn't sessions going to start eventually?

 

hey now, Bendan Haywood averages a double double in 34 minutes and .453 fg%. i'm not arguing anything against chuck hayes, just saying Haywood isn't terrible

 

^^ yes, even a decent 7-footer like haywood can help us right now, a lot.

 

I love Chuck Hayes BUT come on...Kwame Brown WISHES he was Brendon Haywood...

Haywood -

11.4 ppg 10.6 rpg 2.4 blocks pg 45.4 percent shooting 34 mpg

Chucknator -

5.9 ppg 6.8 rpg 1.7 spg 57.1 percent shooting 26mpg

If we can trade for the guy i'd be all in... :grin:

 

LOL at the roll eyes

We've had a brutal schedule.. Trailblazers & Lakers twice, @ Utah, @ Dallas & of course the Suns last night.

6-5 is pretty damn good..

 

i find your lack of faith disturbing.

srsly tho, that's a well thought out load of negativity you posted. it's one thing to be realistic, it's another to not believe in a team. how fun is it to root for a team you know will not succeed?

 

Good insights, even if I disagree. You are a very knowledgeable fan. I think one thing you might not be considering is the strength of the western conference this year. These are the teams better than houston right now: Lakers, Nuggets, Blazers, Spurs, Mavericks, Suns. Utah and Houston are VERY even right now, but Utah could leap us when they get their act together. That leaves us as the 8th seed, and there isn't any team I didn't mention that is better than Houston. The Hornets, even WITH Chris Paul, are not a better basketball team than the Rockets. That leaves us with the bottom feeders: Thunder (talented but wont make the leap this year), warriors, grizzlies, kings, wolves. We have a 6-5 record because of the competition we have faced. We won some big games (lakers in staples, utah in SLC, blazers at Toyota) and loss some we should have won (lakers at toyota, kings at sacto). We won't play the top tier teams every night, and I think this team will feed on the bottom feeders in each conference. They will win some big games here and there, and in the end I think theyll end up with 45-47 wins or so.

 

I am very happy with this season because in almost every game, they were in it, they weren't blown apart from beginning to end. I believe this is just the beginning when they get go-to players in, they'll be much better and I hope this year's team does not change to next year. I was hoping Ariza would get the Most Improved Player, I believe he is heading that way with almost 10+ points per game average than last year. I'm starting to think Lowry needs more PT and Landry becoming a monster, I can't believe we almost lost Landry to the Hornets, thank god for Morey. The only head scratcher for this season is why is Brian Cook still on the team?

 

Happy with the start, mad about the 15+ pt leads we had on the Suns and Mavs, and of course the OT loss to the Lakers at home. Cold spells of players not being able to create their own shot was clearly the problem, we really do need a go-to scorer.