Actually. It is realistic. Are we the favorites? No. But is there a chance? Yes. If you honestly think 13-6 is a ridiculous record up to this point, or that we might as well mail in the season in terms of contention, then you have to be the most pessimistic fan in the world. Like it or not, this season is serious. Morey for the first time in years will be trying to make moves that upgrade the current team. If, say, getting the 3rd seed as opposed to the 5th seed increases our odds of making the finals from 5% to 10%, I would care about that. And I would follow the standings intently. Whereas last year, I could honestly not give a damn whether we were a 7th seed, 8th seed, or even 14th pick again. While it's true that 17-2 people really are more agenda driven by their hatred of McHale or support of certain unnamed player, in general the Rockets are very good. They are considered very good coming into the season. And there's no reason not to expect them to be very good. For reference, I believe this team to be the best Rockets team since Charles Barkley donned on a Rockets uniform. And we have a chance to be even better than that team.
and to add... -Casspi and Garcia have not seen this much playing time since the 2010-2011 season. -McHale has one playoff series as a coach under his belt. The entire roster is full of hungry players with something to prove. Teams like the Jazz and 76ers are going to circle the calender when they play the Rockets and play their best because, the Rockets are a targeted team now.
I wish all the players will think like that too. They once cared for nothing but personal stats but now care for nothing but winning games. Like PBEV who came back from injury early even though it jacked up his stats.
We do play 82 games so the team never going to "end" the season at 26-12. 60 or above I would be ecstatic. 59-56 happy exceeded expectation 55-53 meet expectation Anything below, you know it's GARM with the b****ing and moaning.
Nice try. Once the Rockets signed Howard to the max, they made (or should have made) the decision to be contenders. Average age of the roster is completely meaningless. You're talking about a past his prime 10-year vet signed to a 4-year max deal - it would be stupid to waste one of those 4 years not trying to contend. Look at the amount of playoff experience for the two best players. If you have what are supposed to be the 2 best players in the league at their respective positions on max deals, and you're not a contender, then something is wrong.
The problem is that the Rockets lose to teams that shouldn't be close. It's called a lack of professional basketball maturity. Philly, Utah, LAL, all 3 winnable games. However, the Miami Heat lost to the Pistons in Miami (w/o Wade). If I'm Chanlder's agent, my eyes are getting bigger bcuz the Rockets cannot win without him play D on the other teams best SF or SG.
You had to add that part, didn't you? As for the hatred towards McHale, there is a difference between thinking "a coach is not capable enough" and "hatred towards a person". It is because of people like you who take things to the extremes that it is almost impossible to discuss anything on this forum.
For comparison sakes, the 2010-2011 Miami Heat started the season 11-8 after their first 19 games. If you recall, they made a finals appearance with a strong second half finish. Synergy and chemistry take time. There's a lot of talent here and they'll all learning to play together.
I think the 17-2 people are in 2 camps...."should be" or "could be". I'm the latter. A break in each of those 4 losses could have us at 17-2. Great teams make their breaks. Great teams are good teams that have learned to make their own breaks. The Rockets are a good team on the road to being a great team. So fasten your seat belts & enjoy the ride. It's gonna fun, but bumpy.
We're on pace to win 56 games and the team hasn't even hit their stride yet. Why are you people mad? Sure the team isn't perfect but there are few if not any teams that are. This squad can beat anyone in a 7 game series, and for now you can't ask for much more.
We're having a good season but could be better. People are just frustrated that we're not maximizing our talent and potential. Maimi also lost to a crappy team last night so it's not like we're the only one. However that doesn't mean we should just ignore the problems we have. I hope the team study the **** out of films and identify what we can do better.
I agree. My emotions are mixed when it comes to this team. On one hand I'm excited we finally have 2 superstar caliber players. But on the other hand, the more I watch them play I'm seeing disturbing holes in both their games. Dwight tends to disappears for very long stretches and is very "passive" on offense way too much. Harden's great on offense (when he's on a roll), but takes plays off on defense to the point it's becoming hard to watch. Both seem to yell at teammates whenever THEY mess up a play or miss an assignment. Harden seems to yell at Casspi alot.
Just thinking about I'm all about keeping it positive, but haven't we had a fairly easy schedule. - SAS - LAC x2 - Portland (but they didn't have the hype back then) The stats say contender but I'm still waiting to see what happens post omer trade and when we insert lin cp25 potentially smith even DMo back into the rotation + my guess is morey during trade deadline is gonna be racking his mind how to get Caanan minutes in the future (either this year but most likely next) after he continues to dominate the dleague dropping in 20/10 on a nightly basis on 40% three point shooting I'm looking at the pg Situataion and seeing him cash in his chips somehow
Do not compare not knee jerking like a dumbass to pro-complacency. Some of us simply do not subscribe to the "Sky is falling!" crowd of losers.
I agree that we can and should contend but it's unrealistic to expect this team at this stage to stomp every team that they play.
I think you might be defining "contender" differently than most people on this board would. To me, you're only a contender if you can be considered to have a legitimate shot at taking home the trophy at the end of the season. I think there are only four teams in the league right now with that distinction: Miami, Indiana, San Antonio, and OKC (maybe Portland if they prove their legitimacy over the course of the season). I don't think anyone is saying that the Rockets organization isn't playing to win a championship this year. If the definition of contender is any team that's playing to win now, then of course it would be ludicrous to write this team off as non-contenders. To me, they fall in the same category as Portland: very good teams trying to run with the established big boys, but might not have the experience, chemistry, or consistency to finish at the top of the pile this year.
