Considering all the youth and inexperience most folks consider this team to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. At this time last year most nba observers had us ranked around the 8th seed.....yet this year we are considered 13-15. Lets compare the lineups...... Lowry vs. Lin -- This is a wash. Both players are above average starting PGs in the NBA when healthy. Lin has higher upside, lowry is more of a sure thing. Kevin Martin -- I think this years K.Mart will definitely outplay last years. Just from camp and such he seems to have his head on straight. Parsons -- The more experience, the practice on shooting the 3. I'd think Parsons will definitely be better than last year. Patterson vs Scola -- I think without question scola is the better player but PPAT is a much better defender who has a decent upside. In the end i'd still rather have Scola. Asik vs Jordan Hill -- Ok this is not even close. Asik all day. So if we compare lineups from last year to this year i'd have to say the this years lineup seems to be better. I understand we do not have the experience coming off the bench but to say that we go from 8th seed down to 14 is just plain ridiculous. The Rockets will surprise folks. I know this pains the tankers like myself but it is what it is.
We really need to accept that we are going to be awful. Our two big free agency signings are not going to be used to playing major minutes like they will be. Our 'veteran' most likely wants out of the team. The rest of our squad is full of unproven rookies who we hope have potential to be something more. Let's just, all of us as Houston fans , accept that we're looking at a year where we may be the worst team in the West. Phoenix, New Orleans, or Sacramento may beat us in that category, but don't expect more then the 13th spot or 35+ wins.
Not really imo Lowry and Dragic never peaked at the same time, they were seperately good last year. Even though Lowry and Dragic are both better than Lin in my opinion, it's by a very small margin and probably won't make a difference. Lee is a backup SG albeit a very good one, and no he's not better than Martin despite what this forum thinks Non-sulking KMart+Lamb > depressed sore shoulder KMart+Lee Lowry and Dragic = Lin The only thing we have downgraded is a backup pg The PF position however is very uncertain at this point since Scola is gone and I'm not sure any of PF's we have right now is NBA starting caliber as of now. and at center Asik+Donuts = Dalembear and Camby IMO since the other two were injured and old
I think it is hard to tell because of the young age of our group of players it's hard to get consistent play. I agree that we are better than we were last year and that there is a chance that we surprise people and make the playoffs.
I don't think where they ranked us in the preseason matters nearly as much as where we ended up. Actually, where we were preseason and what the roster looked like at that point is pretty irrelevant now. You don't say "I picked this team to finish #3 last year so I'm going to predict them to finish #4 this year even though my prediction was dead wrong and they actually finished #12". I also think you need to take the entire roster into account and not just the starters. For instance, you pull out the Jordan Hill card. Jordan only started a few games until Dalembert got himself in shape to take over the starting role. And then of course we added Camby later. The guys who make predictions aren't thinking we lost Hill and added Asik. They're thinking we lost Dalembert and Camby and replaced them with Asik and ???. At this point I'd have to call that a downgrade. Asik might develop as a starter but right now he's unproven. On a per minute basis, he's not the scorer, rebounder, or shot blocker that Dalembert and Camby were. And looking at the center position as a whole, he doesn't really have a legit true center backing him up. The Lin situation is similar. It's not just replacing Lowry with Lin. It's replacing Lowry AND Dragic with Lin and ???. It's arguable, but I'd say that both Lowry and Dragic are better players than Lin at this point in their careers. But even if you argue otherwise, there shouldn't be any debate that Dragic/Lowry > Lin/whoeverthebackupis. That's a downgrade. So when I look at this team, I see a downgrades at PG, PF, and C from a team that finished 9th last year. Many are excited about the rookies but it's too much to expect 3/4 rooks to pick up the slack. I don't think there's any question we'll be worse off. Is it worth 5 spots? I don't know. It's probably 2-3 at least and when you get down in that range, the teams are so close together that 13-15 is entirely possible.
I don't think people are sleeping on the Rockets at all. The Rockets were indeed a better team last season and they were the 9th seeded team in the West. So afterwards, they broke up the core of the team and they did it for a reason. Its to start completely over. The Rockets are much younger and a lot more inexperienced than last season. The Kyle Lowry vs Lin comparison would really impact this team going forward. Kyle Lowry was basically this team's focal point in the past years. He was so effective defensively and then his offense really improved big time making him a top 10 PG. Top tier PGs would get frustrated going against Kyle Lowry many times. But mainly its Scola and Lowry who's really set the last year's team to the today's team. But you have to considered the great backup of Goran Dragic, who can also play at an all star level. Plus Courtney Lee, a guard who can play both ends of the court, and the presence of Dalembert and Camby when he was traded here. I wouldn't put Jordan Hill in there because he really didn't do much with Houston but he's a lot more effective with the Lakers, I guess he's much more motivated playing with a contender I guess. This team will most likely fall between the 10-14th in the West. They have a lot of talent but too young and inexperienced. Plus the fact that all these guys are new together. The last year's team were the type that gelled together, hard nosed team that plays hard every time they step onto the court. That's why teams have to bring their A game every time they played against the Rockets last year. The only thing was they didn't have the upside that this team have. One thing is, will this new young talented and high potential new team be as hard working, hard nose, the rugged team like the one in the past few years?
Lin, Martin, Parsons, Patterson, Asik. vs Nash, Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Howard. Conference Finals...Book it.
Please stop it with the high expectations, we were barely playoff material last year and we traded all our chips in for young bucks so even making it is a pipedream. If you still want to stay in the clouds, don't come in here with negativity when we start losing big.
I agree. Center will be a huge upgrade. PG will be a slight downgrade at worst. It's the bench that could really suck though.
We are going to be bad because of our youth and inexperience. But we are actually far more talented than last year's team. If we are not tanking (which I don't think we are), then this team is going to start slowly, but work hard, and by the end of the season we are going to be kicking some teams. We'll either sneak in to the playoff or wind up with an 8-14 lottery pick.
If we were in the East we'd be a lock for the 7-8. In the West we're a lock for the lottery. The team is not "bad" (i.e. Bobcats/Wizards), the West is just ridiculous. So no, we're not being slept on.
We lost the veteran leadership of this team. That accounts for a lot, especially in professional sports. I believe we are worse than last year, but not by a huge margin.
