As a way of judging the performance of this Rockets team against our expectations, it may help to establish what those expectations really are. Are the Houston Rockets a playoff team? Premise: There are eight available playoff spots in the Western Conference. Barring severe injuries, most of these are already spoken for by the heavy hitters in the conference. Yes, even this early in the new season. In no particular order, these include the following teams in the West: The Oklahoma City Thunder The Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Lakers The San Antonio Spurs We must conclude that the first four spots are already taken. That takes us to the next group of teams, that while not elite in the strictest sense, are so stacked with talent that it's difficult to imagine them not getting into the playoffs somehow. These include the following two teams: The Denver Nuggets The Memphis Grizzlies We must conclude that the next two spots are taken, and a total of six teams already own six of the available eight playoff spots in the Western Conference. Now here's where it gets dicey. There is a group of so-called "bubble teams" who are expected to vie for the remaining two playoff spots as welll, although whether or not they make it remains to be seen. Are the Rockets part of this group? These include the following teams: The Dallas Mavericks The Utah Jazz The Portland Trailblazers The Phoenix Suns The New Orleans Hornets The Minnesota Timberwolves The Golden State Warriors Only two of these teams will make the playoffs, and their fortunes are difficult to predict as of November. Now here's the really critical part; IF YOU FEEL THERE IS ONLY ONE TEAM IN THIS LAST GROUP THAT IS BETTER THAN THE ROCKETS, THEN YOUR EXPECTATION BECOMES THAT THE ROCKETS ARE A PLAYOFF TEAM. --or alternately-- IF YOU FEEL THERE IS MORE THAN ONE TEAM IN THIS LAST GROUP THAT IS BETTER THAN THE ROCKETS, THEN YOU ARE SAYING THAT THE ROCKETS ARE *NOT* A PLAYOFF TEAM, AND YOU MUST THEREFORE ADJUST YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SEASON--AND INDEED YOUR CRITICISMS OF THE TEAM AND ITS COACHING STAFF--ACCORDINGLY. ClutchFans: Are the Houston Rockets a playoff team?
I hate the West/East business. If they ranked teams without conference, 3/4 of the playoff teams would be Western teams. It's so frustrating to see the Rockets at .500 and DEAD LAST in the Southwest division.
I think the last spots are going to be taken by Minny, Utah & Dallas. So no we are not a play off team unless we suddenly burst out or one of those other teams fizzles.
No, and we're not supposed to be. Hell, we shouldn't be. It is impossible to win a championship and going to the playoffs only hurts our draft seating.
We are a bubble team. We we've won 3 games and were within spitting distance of wins against Portland, Denver and Memphis. Considering our roster has 13 new players, and we have a TON of rookies/sophomores, it is reasonable to conclude that our team will get significantlyBETTER as the season progresses. Our young players will find better chemistry, become more familiar with the offensive and defensive sets, continue adjusting to the NBA ruleset and learn to become more comfortable with the longer, faster and more athletic players in the NBA. We'll most likely end up anywhere between 7th and 11th seed depending on how quickly our team finds their identity.
Minny and Dallas I think get the last two spots. Portland is better than us. After that it's a coin toss between us and the suns. We are probably 9 - 10 seed.
I voted "No" but in truth its too early to tell. I think as of today, no we aren't good enough. You should have a third option, "inconclusive." Given that we are a new team and performed well in all of our 3 losses, a lot of our issues--turnovers, FG%--are also a factor of team chemistry, which we don't have any as of now (not to be expected). This is a poll for 25 games into the season.
Unfortunately , we're still going to be stuck in Purgatory for the next few years..... Same end of season result.... same draft pick..... only difference is "we have Lin and Beard" to make us relevant to the media .......
Why not? I'd take playoff experience over draft seating. Do you really want to draft at the 14 again? Stop it /ditka
....That's my point. If we make the playoffs we're going to be in the 14 15 16 range. Let the young guys play, lose as we're supposed to and either draft a good player or trade away a high draft pick for one. Getting our asses kicked in the playoffs does nothing for this team. You'd take the playoff experience of watching us get booted out of the 1st round than seeing this team get to contender status in a few years?
Hekk no.......until we solve our offensive woes we will be one of the worst teams in the west regardless of our defensive improvement. LIN is playing awful........he needs to step up his game. Our offense is very PG oriented and when our PG is turning the ball over and not creating for teammates we will lose most games.
In the West? No. Unless there's a major trade or one of the guys not named asik, harden, or lin steps up big we will not make the playoffs.
I personally would take play off experience. I think having such a young team just having that experience does a world of good. The playoffs is a totally different ball game than the regular season. Even with guys like Asik & Harden who got far in the playoffs (but never started) it is different being a starter & the primary option. And that doesn't even include guys like Lin Parsons etc who haven't even played in the playoffs at all. So yeah if my some miracle we make the playoffs I would be good with it. From a business perspective playoff experience impacts a players trade value even more so if they perform well. Considering that we are looking for that final piece this can only help.