Even with Asik, we had one of the worst benches in the league last year. http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/teamstats/14/7/pts/1-1 Bottom 5 in most categories, including 29th for minutes played on average. So the doom and gloom seems misplaced. We have some new young guys and deals will be made throughout the season. Internal development of guys like Canaan should give us a boost as well. If we can get our bench production up to at least league average, we can definitely make a nice run this year.
I predict Rockets will have similar point differentiation as last season, but worse at clutch time, OT will be horrible, thus lost few more games. Why, cozs no proven 2nd playmaker, only clutch time playmaker is Harden. Harden was very bad at OT, maybe he was exhausted by then. Last season, Rockets went 15/20 when either Harden or Howard was not available. Let's see who can step up next season.
Minutes played is more of an indictment on the head coach than on the quality of the bench. Either that, or how good the starting unit is.
Beverley/Lin/Canaan Harden/Garcia/Daniels Parsons/Hamilton/Casspi Jones/Motiejunas/Covington Howard/Asik Vs Beverley/Smith/Canaan Harden/Daniels/Johnson Ariza/Papanikolaou Jones/Motiejunas/Adrian Howard/Dorsey Last years team does kick our current squads ass, Parsons is better then Ariza, Lin and Asik were very good backups and so far neither have been replaced (unless you count Smith and Dorsey and real replacements). What the Rockets do with Lins TPE, the Pelicans pick, our unguaranteed contracts and possibly our cap space next off season will be very, very critical for this teams success and growth towards becoming a contender. Hopefully we just took a step back in order to move forward, and didn't just flat out take a step back.
This is what I've got. Howard/Dorsey Jones/Dmo/Adrien/Papa Ariza/Papa Harden/Daniels Bev/Canaan/Johnson I wrote this in another thread, but I'm feeling unsubstantiated optimism about the Papa/Dorsey tandem working in Houston as it did in Barcelona. The lack of a true ball handler in the second unit is still noticeable, but Papa seems like he may be able to initiate some, and so may help out Canaan in that department. I'd still like to see a solid NBA veteran to added for leadership off the bench. Ray Allen seems to be very suited for that role, at least on paper. But I'm not sure if the Rockets can afford him after signing Papa, or if Allen would be motivated to play such a mentor role. All in all, I'd still say it's a downgrade from last year's roster, but there's potential for surprise.
Or how crappy the bench is. But agreed... the starting unit was just exponentially better than the bench last season.
Bench will surprise most of you guys this year. We have a stronger more well rounded team then last year.. 2nd round here we come!!!
Does the BAE have to be for 2yrs? If so, can we make the 2nd yr a team option? And who would be a realistic option at that price/structure?
Yeah, we need to be lucky on the injury front. So far, this team is built like the Blazers team from 2 years ago. One injury to a key starter and it could get ugly fast.
They need 1 more B+ or better starter in either the PG or PF position and we are legit. With Beverley and Jones still both being new to the league or very young or both, I am going to place a certain level of confidence that 1 or both can develop enough this next year to be that player. We haven't kept players around long enough to watch them mesh. We have had a revolving door at every position since Yao went down. IMO it is now time to see some consistency on the player front the way the Spurs do. Tim Duncan has been in the league.17 years, been to the Finals 6 times and won 5 of them. Those Championships are pretty well spread out over that career span and that is due to having a great coach but also having many years together with Parker and Ginobili and Ginobili has been the 6th man for many of those years. I think we should focus more on the Spurs model than the Miami model though Morey disagrees to a large part. As a side note Parker wasn't the wonder child he is today just on his own talent. Pop road that guy and pushed him harder than any other coach probably would have to become the player he is. I don't know if McHale has that level of tenacity as a coach cause Pop would not let Harden get away with his antics.
They need 1 more B+ or better starter in either the PG or PF position and we are legit. With Beverley and Jones still both being new to the league or very young or both, I am going to place a certain level of confidence that 1 or both can develop enough this next year to be that player. We haven't kept players around long enough to watch them mesh. We have had a revolving door at every position since Yao went down. IMO it is now time to see some consistency on the player front the way the Spurs do. Tim Duncan has been in the league.17 years, been to the Finals 6 times and won 5 of them. Those Championships are pretty well spread out over that career span and that is due to having a great coach but also having many years together with Parker and Ginobili and Ginobili has been the 6th man for many of those years so it's not like they all have to be starters. P.S. - I want Parsons back in 2 years!
Weird, my phone looked like it didn't post the first time. Then I made some small changes and the thing posted again. I need to get editing rights!
We will be a better team than last year thanks to Harden & Howard improvements, and I'm hoping also coaching improvements at implementing a more balanced offense.
Bev/Canaan/Ish Harden/Danials/Johnson(RGV)/Hopson(cut) Ariza/Papa/Covington(RGV)/Gee Jones/Dmo/Adrian Howard/Dorsey/Capela(RGV) Not sure what our plans are for Gee. If we could pull off a trade for a starting PG or PF, moving Bev or Jones(if he's not traded) to the bench, I would feel so much better about our bench...
