Guys, it's the LEAGUE PASS RANKINGS, not power rankings. They're saying we're the 15th most entertaining team in the league, (which in itself is indeed pretty stupid).
My initial reaction was to call BS on the anti-3 point thing, but then I thought about it. I have heard Bill, Clyde, and Calvin all talk about taking, what they consider to be, bad early 3's. Calvin specifically has talked about how we should do way more midrange. So they're not completely wrong about that.
Pretty much everything Lowe said is valid of course. Expect the "Broadcast hate's 3's" comment (assuming they are referring to Clyde saying D-Mo shouldn't shoot the 3 I guess). Bill is just being Bill. He gives everyone a hard time.... especially Morey (who says Bill loves giving him S#%^). Both guys have ties to folks in Houston, and generally want the team to do well for those guys they know. Let's face it, even when Dwight was at his peak in Orlando, was anyone rushing home to watch Orlando games? Here's something Id add to the equation. You know what other players I hated watching when I was growing up- -Patrick Ewing -Karl Malone -and Tim Duncan However ask anyone who rooted for the Knicks, Jazz, and early Spurs how much they loved having those 3 bigs on their team. Same can be said for Dwight. I wouldn't want to watch him if I was outside of Houston probably. However, the fact that he's on my team makes him pretty damn fun to watch. Harden can be a real treat to watch when he gets rolling. Loved watching him play with OKC, and love him even more now that he's with the good guys. Don't take this too personal guys. Its just Bill being Bill. Its the same reason why its entertaining to hear him and Jalen give all other 29 teams a hard time. At the end of the day, they are just having fun at the Rockets and every other teams expense. Its what they do.
Can't agree with them more about our announcing team. Bill has gone irrational in his homer quality. He said Harden is the best offensive player in the NBA in one of the preseason games. Did Lebron & Durant retire? Meanwhile, Clyde continues to be beyond annoying. One of the many reasons I've hated watching the games live on the web (because of CSN situation) is that I can't DVR games. I hear less of our announcers with the DVR. Yes, I think the Dwight hate has gotten old. Everybody griped that he hadn't worked on his post game. So he works like a maniac & has improved tons over the last year, but nobody notices or cares. The Rockets are fun when they're full court but, as we know, the halfcourt game can be a lot of Harden playing 1 on 5. If you want to gripe about them being unwatchable, that should've been brought up. If Troy & Kostas are in the rotation, they totally slept on how much fun those guys will be. Kostas is showing early to have a Manu quality to his game. Watching Troy's pure 3 pt shot & waiting for him to hit 25 footers like layups is pretty damn fun. He looks like the most fun shooter outside of Steph Curry.
LMAO @ people who are upset over this. They aren't Rockets fans, therefore they might have a differing opinion on the team than us, and they just find other teams more entertaining. Frankly...if I wasn't a Rockets fan, I'd probably agree. Now, do I agree that the Rockets could miss the playoffs? If healthy, not at all, and Zach Lowe said the exact same thing. They aren't hating on Houston. Some of y'all are far too sensitive.
Even as a huge Rockets fan, I can't be too upset about this. I used to like Bill Worrell, but he's become such a big homer its difficult to listen to, and Clyde has always been the worst. Also, I kind of agree Howard's postgame is tough to watch too. He has made huge strides and is much better on offense, but that doesn't mean it's pretty. Every time he looks like he's about to lose the ball or travel. I much preferred watching Yao and Hakeem, their post games were so much more fluid. To make up for that, this year I'll be rooting for Howard's defense, Ariza's steal/breakaways, Troy Daniels 3 pointers, k-papa's creativity, Harden's off the dribble threes (I know its usually not a great shot but really cool when it goes in, can't help myself), D-Mo's post moves, and T-Jones relentless hustle.
Simmons was sort of downplaying Dwight's last season on the new podcast today with Harlabob and Lowe, and they both were having none of it. I'm glad some people remember that Dwight was a BEAST among men in that Portland series
You know why I agree with this? Presented with the choice of our local broadcast or TNT's C or D team of announcers last night, I chose to watch TNT. I just can't handle Bill and Clyde anymore.
There is nothing stupid about it. As you mentioned already, it's the LEAGUE PASS RANKING. The Rockets always shoot a tons of FT, even Bill and Bull will tell you that's boring. For the ranking itself, I think its right on. As for the distaste of Simons against the Rockets, nothing new also, he is just one of the many media guys that really hate the Rockets. I mentioned many times in the last few months, the Rockets is having way too many characters which the media enjoys to hate and want to see us fail so that they can have more stories to write. Lots of media will consider Morey, Howard, Harden, McHale, Bev are just a bunch of cocky over-rated SOBs.
"Simmons: I don’t enjoy watching Dwight Howard play basketball. It’s that simple." There you have it. A half-joking gut reaction that influences an analyst to write an article on how mediocre the Rockets are. Moving on...
The article's not about how mediocre the Rockets are. It about what exactly what he said, he doesn't enjoy watching them. "League Pass" Rankings
Egregious. But this is the same company that ranked the Rockets 7th in the west. We will surprise a lot of people this year.
Just Dwight hate from the media. Honestly I can't think of another recent athlete who is killed nationally because he's only good not great and likes to have fun and smiles a lot. It's crazy.
It's a watchability ranking, not a playoff ranking. So ok, that is just a matter of opinion. If someone says "I don't like watching James Harden or Dwight Howard." Whatever. That's their opinion. Their opinion is wrong, of course, but it is just their opinion. But while talking about a watchability ranking, they do make other points. Bill Simmons says he could see us missing the playoffs? For five reasons. 1) Yes. You never know. You could say that about any player or any team. Kevin Durant has been ultra-reliable but then all of a sudden has a fracture in his foot requiring surgery. You never know for any player. And what's up with Zach Lowe: No team is exempt from injuries. OKC got lucky that Durant's injury happened now so he can have the surgery and start recovering instead of in the middle of the season. But come on. When you are dealing with injuries, you never know. 2) This just really doesn't make sense to me. Look at the situation that "Post-contract Ariza" was put in last time when he was trying to be one of the main guys vs this "post-contract Ariza" where we are asking him to be a complimentary guy. A role that he has always excelled at. 3) Ok. I understand this. Our bench looks like it might be a weakness for us. But I think we also have some intriguing bench guys that might be a surprise for us during the season. 4) Simmons is talking about just making the playoffs here. Unfortunately, McHale's coaching is going to limit how far we can go once we make the playoffs- when in game and game to game adjustments become much more crucial, but during the regular season he has been a pretty successful coach. I'm not a fan of McHale, I don't think we will be able to advance as far as necessary in the playoffs, but he won't do anything to hurt us from actually making the playoffs. 5) We never really know. But I feel like he hasn't paid attention to Dwight recently. It's pretty hard to watch him and hear his interviews and not see that he has matured. And then, just when I think that Bill Simmons couldn't be any dumber about Rockets basketball, he goes and says something like this.... and totally makes me think that he is even dumber about Rockets basketball. Really? Makes no sense for us? Are you kidding me? An elite player who plays at our weakest position, who would needed size for us, help with our defensive rebounding problem, help with out defensive problems against opposing 4's, and be able to open up and fit into the scheme of our offense- that player wouldn't make sense for us? I mean, I don't think we are going to be able to get him. But he would completely make sense. 100% make sense. I can't imagine him making any more sense.
I was able to grab Dwight Howard in the 4th round in fantasy. The media really warps the general public's mind with what usually amounts to some guys opinion.
