This team definitely could make it to the 2nd round. Won't go beyond that but winning a series would be a nice step.
Dude, you have Harden and Howard on this team Oh, you're still heartbroken your crush left with another.
Eye test: our starting unit is one of the strongest in the league no doubt. Beverley improved offensively, Ariza is very good on both sides, Harden improved defensively.. Canaan is very solid, not so worried about PG position if Terry, Canaan and Harden take on that PG role when Beverley's on the bench. D-Mo has improved, just needs to work on his finishing and not fouling. TJ is about the same, didn't see anything special. Papa will be fine, he's a hard worker and they will always thrive. As solid as Adrien and Black are, they are just too small but I will take Black over Dorsey anyday. Dorsey is just not the guy you need, he's not going to improve and Morey can call him best defensive big in FIBA all he wants, he's ****. Daniels needs to get plays called for him and he needs to know when to shoot and when to do something else with the ball. Keep working hard and he will be get minutes, though not much at the beginning of the season I reckon.
Harden is going to have to play 40 minutes a game. Terry/Daniels will be the primary backups. I doubt Ish/Canaan get any meaningful minutes. For the bigs, it will mainly be Kostas/Dmo.
Why is Dorsey playing so little in the preseason? Is he really that bad? There was a lot of hype when we signed him.
This. Our bench looks horrible. I know there are a lot of homers here trying to make the best out of our position, but seriously... Take a look at some of the other rosters in the stacked west and it's kinda scary. Hopefully Morey has something up his sleeve because if not, this team is not advancing come playoff time as currently constructed.
OkC? Blazers? Mavs? Memphis? I'll give you the spurs and maybe the clips and dubs but it's overblown the depth of the west teams
OKC Morrow, Lamb, Jackson and Steven Adams Blazers Steve Blake, Wesley Matthews, Thomas Robinson, Dorrell Wright an CJ McCallum Mavs Jameer Nelson, Charlie V, Aminu, Harris, Greg Smith, and Richard Jefferson (Hey I hear you I think these guys suck, but who on our bench is better) Grizz Nick Calethis, Allen, VC, Courntey Lee.
We do not have many household names on the bench, they are young as they have been these past years but young players do not necessarily spell bad players, right?
He had some injury bothering him in the training camp and Tarik Black's surprisingly strong play has for sure taken some of his minutes away. In any case, he was signed for a nightly 10-15 minutes of toughness, rebounding and rim protection at the 5 spot behind Dwight and these things he has provided pretty well. Some people seem to be frustrated at his struggles at the offensive end but I don't know why anybody would expect anything from him at that end anyway. He could cut out a few stupid fouls and a turnover here and there, though.
We're close, but as long as Lebron or Durant isn't on our team we'll always be one piece away. Even when our bench was decent McHale would overplay the starters. Harden really needs some rest because he gets sloppy when tired (well all players do, but him especially). At least Dwight seems to be more consistent.
I think a lot of you guys forget we had a bottom 5 bench last year. It won't be very hard to improve Imo. We have less household names but then again I didn't know caspi And Hamilton were big time players. I'm sure the bench will be better from 3 this yr and if we have that our bench should provide just enough to make us real contenders. Our starting 5 Is as good as there is out their, and if harden is playing like an mvp with dwight back to his old self, It won't matter what the bench looks like as long as their playing defense and hitting the open 3. This team is going to surprise the league and obviously a lot of the home fans. I can't wait.
Incorrect. The first thing Morey asks himself when deciding whether to pursue a bench talent is "Is this guy a household name?" Acid test for all benchers right there.
Mchale uses 8 man rotation most of the time, so that's basically starting : bev, harden, ariza, jones, dwight + bench: terry, papa, dmo. I doubt anyone else will play any meaningful minutes. Guard rotation: Harden will play 40mins, Bev 33, Terry 23 SF rotation: Ariza 30, Papa 18 PF rotation: Jones 27, Dmo 16, Papa/Black/Adrien 5 C rotation: Dwight 36, Dmo 5, Dorsey/Black 7 Give or take minutes from Jones/Dmo/Papa depending how well they play.
This. Despite what turned out to be a mediocre bench (how else would anyone explain the need for Daniels at sg during the playoffs when he had played a total of 70 regular season minutes), this team won 54 games. The current squad has the capacity to play much better team defense and while Parson's role as a offensive facilitator will be missed, we have more than enough weapons to make up for it. We will be better than last year. The media and some fans will eat crow this upcoming season.
Due to his solid preseason play Tarik Black has pretty much sealed up the backup center position for now. So at the beginning of the season, we'll likely see Black as backup center and Dorsey as the third string, with DMo playing as a 5 when matchups favor it. Whether this rotation will be capable enough behind Howard remains to be seen. Meanwhile, I think Joey Dorsey has not been able to show what he is capable of yet, probably because of the injury. He'll need to come back strong if he wants to a shot at the backup center spot.
LOL thank you for reminding me in what dire straights the Mavericks are. In Jameer Nelson, Charlie V, and Greg Smith you are looking at vet min guys that the Rockets literally had first dibs on and then rejected. Richard Jefferson and Aminu are in that same group, except they're even scrubbier such that the Rockets didn't even entertain them as a possibility. Betting against the Mavericks this year will be the easiest money you could make.
