They have the 3rd best record in the East and are leading their division by a mile -- and they managed that with Garrett Temple starting for Beal up until the last game. Why wouldn't they be?
Just wait until Terrence Jones comes back. I'm convinced a majority of our problems are due to that guy sitting and DMO starting leaving us with even worse frontcourt depth. I think we have to solve our depth problems via trade sometime soon. Its bad to the point where a single injury on our roster from 3-5 cripples us.
I'm with you, I don't think people realize just how good he is, this was going to be his break out year, he could easily be our third leading scorer. He goes off on lesser teams and could've had 30 and 16 against the Lakers the other night.
LeBron's first year in Miami didn't start very well either. But the ended up in the Finals. I think it is dumb to write them off so early, especially in the East.
The only known guy on roster with consistent experience is Jason terry and right now we have the worst starting lineup in west with Dwight out for foreseeable future
The way the Rockets have been playing the last few games its hard to argue against the pretender crowd.
I've forgotten what it's like to watch an offense that isn't just swinging passes around the perimeter until someone chucks a three pointer or the ball goes flying out of bounds.
Half the people here can't wait for Morey to trade away Jone's ass since the last 10 months. And now you put all your hope on him to save the Rocket's season?
The way the Rockets played the last few games, I am actually surprised they even want to include us in the discussion.
The season doesn't even need to be saved at this point. We just have to get healthy. Jones looks like he'll be out for significant time however, which is a major issue considering our frontcourt depth. This team is significantly better with him in the lineup.
They should tell us who the contender/pretenders are on a game-to-game basis. We all want to know (not really). They should have waited until after the trade deadline to determine such things.
I don't think media bias is the case here .... other than Adande who is more of a shock jock than a journalist. He knows controversy sells .... hence his decision to make the statement about Durant calling Howard a pie hole. When you get right down to it , this team is seriously flawed and very thin. Howard isn't a post scorer in the true sense , throw him the ball and let him go to work. He's more of a post garbage man but very good in that regard. When 37% of his touches in the post result in turnovers and teams can just foul him and he makes less than half his freebies , you don't have a viable post option. He's terribly flawed and he wont accept that , he wants his touches instead of getting them thru the natural flow of the offense where he could be much more effective. Harden is great offensively ..... but far too often no one else is doing anything when he is dribbling out the shot clock. Both of the above I at least partially blame on McHale as he allows this ISO / DH post up to continue rather than having a system that utilizes everyone's abilities. Then you have a bench full of rejects , UDFA's and has been's ..... The Rockets starting five is as good as any in the game (when healthy). But that bench is hot garbage outside of Terry , KPap & DMo who would be rotation players on most teams - At their natural positions: Terry isn't a point m KPap isn't a 4 and DMo isn't either. Part of these issues are on McHale for trying to force a square peg into a round hole and part of it is on Morey for not providing McHale with the right parts around his two stars. Most notably there is the lack of a playmaker other than Harden ... They have to find that player for me to believe they can compete with the best teams in the league in a playoff format , until then , they are a good team lacking one or two vital players. First they need another point guard , one who can play with Harden OR PatBev ... then they need a real power forward that has a mid range game and provides a post presence defensively while not being a complete zero offensively. This player doesn't necessarily have to be a starter and supplant T.Jones at the position , he needs to compliment Jones. Bottom line for me , this Rockets team is two players & a coach away from being real title contenders & that coach has to get Howard to buy into getting few post up touches rather getting those thru the flow of the offense , Howard aint Hakeem or Yao who you throw the ball to and get outa his way.
IMO way to early for this kind of commentary. The Roxs have the injury bug. And yes 2 more upgrades at PF/C are badly needed. In 95/96 we came from 6th seed to win. When Dwight and Harden have been healthy they have shown flashes of excellence in their PnR and the defense is very respectable. It's such a long season, so much can happen. K Mart went and injured his wrist today I think. That said I can see at least 2 moves, maybe 3 if there are takers. Garcia, I have no idea who he is right now and that really hurts. Harden is losing the handle in an unnatural way even for his wild play at times. I know it looks bleak but you can't just throw the whole team under the bus. I'm sure Les is not interested in wasting this window and has Morey working it hard. It won't be easy, but it can get done. We'll have to give to get but at least we have some wiggle room. It's only November, not February.
