As currently constructed: are Rockets championship contenders?

No.

There are still two major question marks left on this team:

1) Who among our big men can stretch the floor on offense?
2) Who can facilitate the offense when Harden sits?

We might have an answer to #2 in the form of the "headband brigade". I'm still a little skeptical that this will work in the playoffs, but I'm willing to give it time.

We don't have an answer to #1, and it won't matter until we get to the playoffs. Teams will clog the paint and force Ariza/Beverley to beat them with 3s. That might work for one series, but it won't get us a championship.

 

NBA is wide open this year despite what people say about GSW.

Rockets are definitely contenders

 

Contender. Yes. But probably not the favorite to win, and probably not the best team in the west.
Underdogs win all the time. So why not us. We have big bodies.

 

No not contenders yet. Still need a third piece to the puzzle and that could be a real PG who take help close out games and lower the teams turnovers. Also a 4 who can hit a mid range jumper is crucial ie. Brandon Bass type of player. Love the improved defense though.

 

I'm on the fence. If certain players on this team continue to play the way they do, I do NOT think we will. Dwight needs to stop having 12/8 games and go for 20/13-15 and 3 blocks. Josh needs to attack the rim more, Terry needs to be more consistent with his shot (shooting 1/7 from 3 on one game, and 4/4 in another). Team overall HAS to absolutely stop turning the ball over, guys have to stop fumbling the ball in the post. Ariza needs to be more consistent. He may have been shooting the ball better the past 3 games but history tells us he'll go back into a funk within the next 5 (hopefully not). Team overall has to shoot FTs better.

 

this...

 

Is that a real 5 team list of contenders?

The Thunder are sitting in 9th place right now and haven't looked "good" for an entire week at any point during the season. I'll give you the Spurs since they are always competitive come playoff time, but they aren't a lock for being a top 5 contender. But if you are going to include those two, then you'd be a fool to not include Memphis and Dallas.

That says nothing about the most egregious omission from your list: Portland. You know, that team tied for the second best record in the league and 3 games up on the Rockets?

No. The Rockets are totally head and shoulders above those teams.

And that is just the West.


I wish more of the fans on this board actually watched basketball.

 

I would have said no maybe 3 weeks ago, but right now I do know we can contend no doubt.
The reasons:
1.Corey Brewer. He is buying Harden/Ariza minutes to stay fresh come playoffs, and he plays great defense, knows how to run the break and is a consistent 3pt shooter.
2.Dmo. Wow has he improved, I don't know what got into him, but he changed into a great role player and scorer. This will be big during the playoffs as a 3rd scoring option.
3.Josh Smith. The guy has bought into his role of being an energy off the bench guy. He plays great defense, and can score when he drives to the basket, he needs to stick to that.
4.Our bench. Last year our bench was kind of week, but now we have Terry,Pap,Brewer,Smith,Jones(when healthy) coming off the bench, we are deep.
5.Harden. The guy is just beasting right now and he is resting most nights in the 4th, he is the true MVP. And he will only turn it on come playoffs.
So yeah we will contend and hopefully win it all this year.

 

Contenders? Absolutely.

Favorites? No... honestly though I don't know if it's possible to be a championship favorite in this insane conference.

 

No, they're not a contender.

1. Mchale is arguably the worst coach in the league.

2. They get no easy baskets. They run no set plays.

3. They got no go to scorer outside of harden.

They have not been able to replace parsons scoring or asiks defense. This year, they play a lot harder on defense but they're not nearly as talented.

The 08-09 adelman led rockets were the last time rockets were a legitimate contender.

 

lol


1) He was bad last year's playoffs. But I've seen improvements this year. He's definitely holding guys accountable more (like when he benched ALL the starters) and making better adjustments. But until proven otherwise I consider him a weakness

2) Another good point. This scares me. We've gotten better from last year. But there are times I'm thinking "run a damn play Mchale". If Harden's not getting his shot, we look ridiculously bad. There needs to be a way to get better shots (like when Adelman was coaching)

3) True. Dwight has NOT been that number 2 this year. He'll look good against scrub teams. But never against the better teams.


4) Agree & Disagree. Parson's ability to create and finish fastbreaks has been missed (Trevor Ariza definitely can't do either). But our defense is LIGHTYEARS better this year. We do miss Asik's rebounding & hustle. But our perimeter defense is top tier & our steals are ridiculous (Trevor & Brewer)

 

^^^^^^I also agree with the Adelman part. He was a great coach and would have this current team where GS is now

 

Link? If true, rockets should go after him. I know he's not having a great season and he hasn't been very efficient but he could be very good for us coming off the bench.

 

No, we have far too little creators so need at least one more, preferably a new starting PG. Besides that I'm going to have to say that McHale automatically kills any chance of us being contenders.

 

Very true, spot on. Adelman's offense was a thing of beauty. He absolutely got the most out of his players.

If he was still coaching this team, we would be up there with GSW.

 

It depends upon how one defines contender.

If you it is a competitor that has a good chance of winning, then statistically that means being a one or two seed.

Currently third. I would like to say that second seed should be a piece of cake, but my gut doesn't tell me that.

 

If we get Dragic, Rubio, or even Lawson ... without giving up DMo (which we shouldn't do), we're the favorite.

Sure, we can go a long way with Beard/Dwight, but we need a playmaker out top to really tie this team up...

 

that's no soon

 

I said yes, but we're barely at the fringe. We don't have nearly enough discipline to be considered favorites, maybe we can get there by the end of the season. Too many stupid turnovers, and inconsistent effort on both ends.

Dwight also has to play better/harder for us to be realistic contenders.

 

If Dwight continues his abysmal play we are not.