4. Contenders or Pretenders: Houston Rockets. Deremo: Pretenders. GM Daryl Morey was perpetually spinning his wheels down in Houston until October when he landed James Harden. While the Rockets appear to have a superstar and a nice supporting cast, Morey must still find a sidekick to pair with Harden before anyone takes Houston too seriously. Mason: Pretenders. But behold the power of the spread pick-and-roll! This is not a roster jam-packed with talent, but as Steve Nash's Suns proved, a dynamic ball handler surrounded by shooters is an awfully tough thing to stop compared to the relative ease with which a GM can find at least one ball handler and a bunch of shooters. With Jeremy Lin cooking, the Rockets have two guys to break teams down from the perimeter. Pina: Pretenders. But closer than you might think. The Rockets know who they are, and they're getting better by the week. Only a handful of teams score more points per possession, and nobody attacks defenses in smarter areas (3-point line/charity stripe) with more relentlessness. But as currently constructed, the Rockets play at a pace too fast for postseason basketball. They've struggled mightily against elite teams like the Thunder and Spurs, and they turn the ball over far too many times to cover up their creaky screen-door defense. Soriano: Pretenders. Even with James Harden and Jeremy Lin starting to find their stride as complementary backcourt partners, the Rockets don't possess enough secondary talent to survive a brutal Western Conference. Combine that with their relative playoff inexperience, and they look to be at least a season away from moving up into the class of teams that are true contenders. Strauss: Pretenders. They won't win the title, but the Rockets should be good enough to make the playoffs. I love how they use the minimalist spread pick-and-roll to great effect. The roster is a little thin, but Harden, Omer Asik and endless 3s should be enough for at least the eighth spot. ... no one here thinks we are contenders, yet we have beat the teams they believe are, Lakers and Knicks twice.. your thoughts?
I read it earlier. 4 out 5 think they are pretenders. But don't forget everyone there and any other publication thought the rockets weren't even going to have a .500 record, let alone going to the playoffs!
yup i remember one of the so called experts predicted our total wins at 18.. well we have already reached that. No respect
You can't be pretenders if you're not pretending to be a contender. Godawful article. You could literally e-mail Daryl Morey right now and he would tell you the Rockets aren't contenders, they're a playoff caliber team but they're not finals contenders.
pretenders of course. Our team is very inconsistent as seen by the play of parsons and morris. our bench needs work to.
Da fug? Nobody is "pretending" that they're contenders. We know we're the youngest team in the league and that we have a ways to go, why is this a question?
This. When your pre-season goal is 'make the playoffs' you are not making a run at championship contention. Pretenders (Indiana, Chicago, SAS, LAC, BKN) are teams who have the kind of payroll and star-power (in a vacuum) that indicates a championship or bust mentality, and the Rockets do not fulfill either of those two criteria.
At this point, we are pretenders. We are a one man team. Now if we had another star at pf, we might be perennial contenders If Harden can get his homeboys KD and Westbrook to take their talents to Houston, then we will def be contenders, until then we r pretenders. However, being a pretender this year doesn't hurt unlike other years
I don't quite get the question as well. "Pretenders" are contenders that don't really have a chance at winning a ring. To even place us at that level is a stretch. Possible pretenders include the Lakers, Nuggets, Celtics, Clippers, etc. Teams that actually have a chance.
Agree that we are not contenders. It's difficult to make an argument based on one game or a few teams that we have beaten. Winning a championship is about winning a total of 16 games against 4 different opponents. Currently, I can't foresee this lineup having the experience to get deep into the playoffs.
Honestly, even putting us in this category is kind of unfair. It just looks like another way to underrate the team. Before they talked about how we would be one of the worst teams in the league, even with Harden. Now that we flat-out proved that theory wrong they ask if we can truly contend to win it all? Of course we can't! We're one of the youngest teams in the league. We're HISTORICALLY young. But we're looking play-off bound. And we're looking like a place another superstar wouldn't mind setting up camp. Look out ESPN, you might have to actually start talking about a team that isn't playing in LA or on the East Coast. The way I see it is that if you can consistently beat us, then you're a contender. If you can't, you're an overrated, ESPN-inflated pretender. They should do an article on that.
They are right! We are good, not great! We'll be a 1st round exit at best! Big we are also the youngest team in the league... So the future screams contender!
I don't think anyone actually expects to the Rockets to win it all this year (contenders). But to even be in the conversation of pretenders/contenders is a far cry from where I expected us to be at the beginning of the season (lottery). I would consider it an accomplishment if this young team newly formed can get into the playoffs.
Spot on! I said before that the Rockets are a sort of litmus test for playoffs teams. Out of the teams we've played at least twice this season, only two teams have beaten us in multiple games - OKC and SAS (and Portland, but thse were two OT losses when the Rockets were out of sync). We split even with Memphis, Lakers, and Utah, and have swept Chicago and NY. We lost our only games against Miami and Denver.
A litmus test in a way, but it could also be due to matchups. Rock/paper/scissors. Some even argued that the Thunder helped the Heat because other OKC protected Miami from some western teams that matched up better vs. the Heat. So Rockets may just match up well against older or slower/bigger teams like Knicks or Memphis.
This. I consider it a compliment that they're even putting the Rockets in the conversation. The Rockets are a rising star team in the NBA right now and the media and analysts are taking notice. Comments about us being Phoenix 2.0 and Harden being the next great SG shows that there is a real future in Houston. It would be an accomplishment to get into the play offs, and mind boggling if we got out of the first round with this team. However, it's not completely impossible. Hollinger had us at a 0.00% chance of getting to the Finals at the beginning of December, his formula now has us at a 3.9% chance of reaching the finals, and 2.5% chance of winning it all. Still 25:1 and 40:1 under dogs, but infinitely better than Zero, doncha think? :grin:
They weren't the youngest team in the league by the time they became contenders. Us in a few seasons is where the Thunder are now.
