There's no star power on this team, thus the low ranking. Plain and simple. Who cares anyways, the only rankings that will matter are in the W column.
I think y'all will be surprised by the Raptors this season. Caulderon will be the #3 play making PG this year (even with losing some distributing to Hedo). DeMar DeRozen was picked 9th and has a ton of potential. Hedo might be overpaid but he is still a clutch playmaker. Bosh is still a softy but can get the ball through the hoop. Bargnani is quietly blossoming into a top 3 center scoring wise. (Once taking the starting role averaged 20 ppg over three months)
How can people be so offended by the notion that we'll be worse this year? Out of our top 6 scorers from last season: #1 - out for the year #2 - gone #3 - coming off serious injury, and will probably miss a decent chunk of the season #6 - gone And, even more worrying, we haven't brought in anybody who scored more last season than that #6 guy we let go. Is there any precedent for a team losing that much production in one offseason, and not getting worse? Can anyone think of a specific example or two of that happening?
I LOVE it. Now we can shock the world. We'll probably start off slow, due to the early unfavorable schedule, but by the ASB and after, we'll definitely be turning some heads.
Wizards will be better Pistons will be better Bobcats will be better Raptors will be better I agree with the other two, so that means the Rockets should be ranked 20th, which is about right. Face it, as the team is currently constructed, it is NOT that good. Competent, surely, and competitive, but likely Lottery-bound.
I'm glad somebody doesn't buy into we took the lakers to 7 games we are going to make the play offs without a doubt talk.
The only merit we have for respect is winning a game against LA that they didn't even show up too. We had Ron then too. I'm surprised we aren't lower
Artest was obviously inefficient in multiple ways but he did bring his own unique intangibles to the table. For a team that was missing 1 and eventually 2 key players, Ron's attitude may have helped in certain ways that didn't show up in the boxscore. People always rave about Battier's intangibles. Is it not possible that Artest also possesses some intangibles? Or does a player have to be a "good guy" to have intangible qualities?
As much as people can point at how Artest hurt us by trying to do much, a player like Battier can also hurt you by not doing enough at times or not being able to do enough. Battier and Artest are completely different players and personalities but I believe they both had legitimate strengths and weaknesses as well as intangibles.
Yep. I'm so freaking ready for this season to start. Let's get this puppy started, and let the chips fall where they may.
Being ranked below the Clippers and the Bobcats is a slap to the face. The Clippers are... well, the Clippers, and the Bobcats lost Okafor. The Rockets took the NBA Champions to 7 games, 2 wins of which were without McGrady and Yao Ming, and we'll likely be getting a healthy McGrady back. ESPN doesn't follow Houston, so I can't really blame them however.
