[ESPN] Rockets #3 on West Summer Forecast

What you guys think his new contract going to look like?

 

Warriors are number one because they won it all, I get that.

So how come the Rockets aren't there at number two? Beverley and Motiejunas are back, and added Lawson.

 

Seems to be very random, the Mavs at 8 is just hilarious and though LMA is great, I don't see the Spurs being that high. I would put us or OKC at #2 and LAC has too many question marks as well, though their supporting cast cannot be worse than last year so their number is fair. We definitely need to improve on 56 wins, but we also have some question marks like health, alcohol, suspension and sometimes teams thrive when others are injured like during our streak in 2008. That Beverley and D-Mo (maybe) are back does not automatically mean we'll be a lot better in overall W-L, of course we will be stronger as a whole.

 

Rockets will have 2nd best record in the NBA. Also in the video guy on the right said Kanter is worth little more than minimum, but he got the max.

 

The thing about OKC that holds them back is the chemistry between Durant and Westbrook. They play a lot better without each other but when playing together both their games are sacrificed in a negative way... I don't believe they make each other better. Then I also believe Dwight dominates Kanter. Dwight had issues with Perkins when they had him. To me OKC has to prove their the best in the west just as we do. We look great on paper too.

 

I just want to know how the spurs are going to be number 2 when duncan and parker miss so many games.

West is a nice bench big but what happens when they rest those guys? They'll be going small with lma at the 5 (ironic seeing that's not what he wanted).

 

Can Dwight stay healthy? Can our new PG stay dry? If so, I think the Rockets might finally have a 60 victory season.

 

Spurs I tell ya overrated. Smh.

 

From my point of view, I prefer harden just randomly banging strippers while focusing on basketball then being caught up with the kardashians. He's going to have double the media attention now, it's just a lot of distraction off the court. He doesn't need that when he's on a quest to be a champion.

 

I have as #1 overall. If we don't win 65+ games in the regular season and finish the playoffs at worst 16-5 with a ring it will be a major disappointment

 

Although we have the talent, I just hope we don't have any internal problems that hurt us. This year will have to be McHale's best year. Any time you have this much talent somebody will be disgruntled

 

We will be #1.

 

The warriors will not be the 1 seed. Book it. No way they stay as healthy has they did all last year, and everyone got better. Championship lull to start the season. Teams are gunning for them.

 

The west is so good there shouldn't even be rankings. It's a game of paper-rock-scissors based on matchup. Instead of rankings give me an 8-team spreadsheet of who is favored over who.

 

Why is anyone paying attention to this? Just a couple of weeks ago, posters were slamming ESPN when only 1 of the polled writers had them as a top 5 team.

 

I don't care as much about the ranking as I do the wins-losses projection.

This team survived significant injuries to TJones, Dwight, DMo, and Beverley. At one point, our depth chart in the front court was:

DMo
Black / Dorsey

Then compare who we lost from last year's team and who we added:

Lawson >>>>>>>> Prigioni
Thornton >>>> Johnson
Dekker = Papa
Hayes > Dorsey
Harrell <<<<< Smith

Smith was he only real loss, and I would debate how much he would've meant to this team if TJones and DMo are healthy. Overall, we got younger and more talented this summer.

Finally, we should improve just by our younger players maturing. Not a single key contributor on this team is over 30 (Ariza), and we should expect all of TJones, DMo, Capela, and McDaniels to show growth.

All of that should be worth at least another 4 wins, or 60 minimum.

 

Because the 2014 champions just added a superstar (while retaining their core) through free agency in Aldridge.

Parker / Mills
Green / Ginobili
Leonard
Aldridge / Diaw
Duncan / West

Their team is ridiculously talented, I have no problem with people putting the Warriors and Spurs ahead of us.

 

That's because their opinion couldn't buy you a cup of coffee. The ranking is about fair (+/- 2 spots), but they don't know any better than anyone else.

 

They have no depth at all and they are overly reliant on the health and good play of a 39 year old.

Diaw/West might be the worst backup front court in the NBA defensively.

 

What happens when Duncan has to sit because of Pop liking to rest his players on some b2bs?