[Positive Optimism|Rockets may not be as bad as people think

Once we struck out on Horford, I wish Les would've gave up on being competitive. Gordon and Anderson make the team better but it doesn't move the needle enough regardless if Durant didn't go to GS. And it's not like we have any assets to get an elite player either.

Watching Ben Simmons do well in SL so far makes me want to tank because there are some great prospects in the upcoming draft. I would rather watch a young and developing team with elite potential prospects than be stuck in mediocrity while having probably a less than 1% chance of winning the title.

Hard to be excited about the direction of the team except for Harden, but will still follow the team through thick and thin.

 

We'll make the playoffs and lose in the first round. If folks are content with that, my hat's off to them. It's not hard, we've been barely making or missing the playoffs for over a decade. Let's keep treading water; that's what "winners" do!

 

Is there such thing as negative optimism?

 

Yes, pessimism

 

negative optimism is somewhere situated between

positive optimism optimism and total negativity and pessimism.

Just trying to be objective and realistic here. :grin:

 

Do you think Les will panic and fire Pringles 11 games in (after giving him a contract extension) if we're not winning? Cause that would be funny.

 

dejavu

did I do that already

oops

 

The Rockets are clearly a better team than last year for a number of reasons:

- No Dwight Howard - terrible below average center who made a boatload of money and whined about not getting touched despite being a piss poor, turnover prone, inefficient post-player. Total addition by subtraction. Capela is a better defensive player and having him and hopefully DMo at center improves the team's rim protection. Yes, better than Dwight.

- More players lost that are addition by subtraction - Lawson (obviously), Terry (horrid defense), TJones (total trainwreck)

- JBB is gone. Mike D'Antoni is at least a competent coach that gives the team an identity with his fast flowing offense. This is quite compatible with Moreyball and we're acquiring players that fit the system well.

- Rockets 3pt shooting will be remarkably better with Anderson and Gordon. We will be a top 5 team offensively, and making more threes means we won't give up as many fast break points on defense.

 

No team can beat the Warriors so every franchise is wasting time for the foreseeable future. It's a formality that the Warriors will win the next 3 rings at least.

 

Barring injuries

I do not wish an injury upon anyone but it happens

 

In this case, I hope Durant goes full Tmac from a nut punch by DrayDray during practice.

This is beyond obscene.

 

Ive always thought McHale was a great coach. Maybe not the almighty leader, but a great coach.

 

Actually with KD signing with GSW and Gasol signing with Spurs the chances of winning a ring for the next 2 years are pretty much zero, so in this case I'm happy to have an uptempo team who will get a decent seed (3-6) and make some noise in the playoffs. Most people who think we're gonna be first round exit are delusional, it's a toss up after GSW and Spurs especially with CP3 starting to show his age in CLips.

The team right now is objectively better than what we rolled out with last season, esp. if we get to keep DMo. While it could've been better (wtf why not Barnes over Anderson at this amount), that's some progress at the very least.

 

JB actually produced a better record than McHale last season, not that I'd want either back

 

Rockets will win 53 games

The only issue is beating the teams we should beat
In the west We should only be concerned about: Warriors, Spurs, CLippers, Mavs and Trailblazers

Warriors and Spurs might sweep us
but we should split with all the others.

We should have winning records against the rest of the west.
I think that East has only 1 team that we should not have a winning record against

Rocket River

 

Yeah, i don't think we're second round material, but that we can reach the playoff i'd say yes.

 

IMO the current team's ceiling is the fourth seed and the second round. Achieving that would make next season a resounding success.

Maybe Morey can work some more magic and upgrade the roster this offseason, and maybe we can aim for the third seed. But there's really no realistic way the Rockets are going to reach the levels of GSW and SA anytime soon.

 

Honestly I don't care how many games we win next year as long as:

We play together and hard on both ends of the floor (especially on defense).
We are competitive and make the playoffs (and I think we will).
Don't play like we did last year.

 

The roster isn't as bad as most people think for sure, but the question is how good of a coach D'Antoni will be.

 

Harden and Gordon would have to flourish in the back court together .

Gordon, Bev
Harden, KJ
Ariza, Corey
Anderson,Beasley
Capella, DMo