I hear what your saying but the Heat didn't win a championship in their first year together. Howard came in very tentative and got better every month. This team won't have that learning curve this year. So it's perfectly reasonable to say that this year could be better than last year (barring unforeseen problems). Howard is ready to start in beast mode. Ariza is un upgrade and more mature. Agree, nobody on this team currently compares to Hakeem. But the script hasn't been finished yet so you never know. There are still legendary tales waiting to unfold. The new 13 in 35 could still happen! Kiss of Death could still happen. Clutch City!
Four questions: 1) Do you think Ariza will help this team more than Chandler in wins because of his defense and 3 point percentage? 2) Do you think Harden and Howard will improve their defensive and offensive games, respectively, this year? 3) Do you think Jeremy Lin actually made us a better playoff team? 4) Do you think Omer Asik's selfishness early in the season hurt us in the long term? On paper things looked one way last year. How do things look beyond the paper this year? Players calmly being committed to the team concept, not having a player who is trying to play for a max deal, not having a player more concerned with producing funny videos with his high school buddies than being a pro and claim to be going through tribulations like jesus, not having a center who sits out on a fake injury because he's not starting, not having a player modeling in the offseason instead of practicing, having a vet who can hit 51 out of 57 threes in the gym then does it again, having a team focused purely on defense every day in practice, having a real battle at the power forward position that will push both TJ and DMo to improve, and having Trevor Ariza who can change almost any game... just look at his game by game stats and check out some of the outliers. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/arizatr01/gamelog/2014/ Highest stats in a single game last year: 40 points, 5 turnovers, 2 blocks, 6 steals, 7 assists, 14 rebounds, 10 three pointers Vs. Chandler Highest stats in a single game: 34 points, 5 turnovers, 4 blocks, 4 steals, 11 assists, 12 rebounds, 10 three pointers We are in great shape without Chandler Model Parsons. Here's another stat I like: Last year the Rockets were +2.1 with Parsons off the floor. Last year the Rockets were +5.1 with J.Lin off the floor. Last year the Rockets were +5.1 with O.Asik off the floor. Now tell me, really, how are we not going to be as good as last year? --Last year was full of distractions <<<<<<<< this year: FOCUS on the game--------
