5 Reasons Why I Think The Rockets Could Be Better Next Season

Great post. I agree with just about all of it. I like Ariza on the team because he makes the team significantly better on defense. I also think that if a couple of the young guys can step their games up and fill important roles then the team can still improve from last season. I do think that Parsons will be missed significantly on the offensive side. He definitely was the "glue guy" on last years team. The team was significantly worse offensively during the 10 or so games he missed because of his back.

The only thing I'm not in complete agreement on is your confidence in Jeff Adrien and Joey Dorsey to help out defensively. I think we are going to be in trouble if either of those guys are in the rotation.

Repped

 

I think we are the Same Not better but also Not worse,still 2nd round at best and Wasting another year of Howard

 

If no more moves are made (unlikely) I project this team at 50-52 wins. I think the starting lineup will be better than last year's due to the fact that Jones, Beverly and Harden will almost certainly be better. Dwight could show slight improvement too simply by being another year past the back surgery and with a better feel for his teammates. Ariza is what he is and that is not at all a bad thing considering he fills the gaping hole on the perimeter defensively and can hit the three from everywhere behind the line.

As of this minute, the bench has to be a reason for concern. No secret there. Even if Daniels emerges as a guy who can give the team 18-20 minutes a night with at least decent defense and the expected lights-out shooting, the team is still terribly deficient at every other spot off the bench. I don't expect any of the other current reserves to progress at an appreciable rate so moves for a PG and a true big need to happen if this team wants to actually contend. Fill those two roles and this team can win 58 games but will still fail come playoffs. I think those two plus a true swing man off the bench with size and this team can go very far.

 

Thanks for posting / sharing, Crash.

I echo much of your enthusiasm - and hat tip for the tidbits regarding Daniels (now it is apparent why Cleveland had him targeted for acquisition).

Question for you: do you thing replacing Bev with another PG as starter (Dragic, Bledsoe, Rondo, Rubio, et. al.) would really upset team balance because as you pointed out the team really just started to gel?

IMHO Bev's style of play is best served off the bench and in spots as needed.

IIRC this is a team last year that handled the current champions pretty well during the regular season. Also, but for a break or two (or a referee who knew what he was doing), we should have made it into the 2nd round. So I think that the optimism has merit!

 

some very bad comparisons at the jones section, in general i get why ur hope is high on him tho, ddidnt read the rest, on the other hand, i reserve any expectations on troy danials who played like 5 games total, u cant analyse him based on that

 

ignore other team ?

 

Excellent post OP. Agree with pretty much everything.

Rep'ed.

 

Good grief, great post. Perhaps a tad too optimistic, but hope you are right. Need some more vets on the bench.

 

Great read man, I love the optimism. Its been a pretty painful offseason as a Rockets fan but I am also looking forward to our young guys grow alongside Dwight and Harden.

 

He addressed this argument in the part you didn't read.

 

Even if I think there's too much optimism and fan bias in this post, it did make me feel a little better about this upcoming season.

Who knows, maybe we WILL be better than last season and make it out of the first round! It's one of the reason I love this sport, you never know what to expect from your team.

 

Epic work, OP. I keep hoping DMo will develop, too.

 

Loved the OP, crash! I tend to be an optimist, and I'm hoping that Daniels "blows up" as the 2 off the bench behind Harden. That would be huge. I didn't realize that he'd also shot the 3 at 40% in college (I knew about the D-League), so thanks for that. Like a lot of people, I suspect, I'm wondering how he is as a defender, our big problem last season. Daniels sort of came out of the blue during the Portland series, and then after that damn shot by Lillard, we didn't get to see if he could continue that great shooting from behind the arc, or what else the guy is capable of. Can't wait to find out.

5 stars!

 

Please take your optimism to the D & D. We are discussing Haren, Milk Hair and real basketball. Thank you.


jk great read

 

I like your optimism. One thing I would point out to counter this paragraph is that it is extremely difficult to play one style of offense with a group of players and play a different style with another lineup. There are probably only a handful of teams who have been able to be that flexible in the middle of a game and all those teams had phenomenal coaching, which we don't have yet, and a collection of players who have played with each other for a very long time. It may be a difficult concept to grasp as a fan, but anyone who has played basketball competitively would agree 100%.

 

As far as the bench is concerned, I am impressed with the athleticism of Alonzo Gee from his video clips. He can rebound and slash to the basket. If used properly, he could positively contribute in the Rockets system.

 

Great write up! I agree. I think Parsons, Lin, and Asik are all great players, BUT Asik missed a majority of the season, and him and Lin weren't playing enough or in the role to play to their full potentials, and thus weren't worth their contracts. I love Parson's game as basically the perfect complimentary offensive player, but he is still expendable and Ariza is undoubtedly stronger in some areas.

So yeah, we lost 3 good players but I don't think it will affect the team as much as many are predicting. And all of the reasons crash listed are reasons to be optimistic that the 14-15 Rockets will be better then the 13-14 Rockets. Now lets just hope the other 15 Western teams haven't improved too much from last year.