The Rockets always outperform the media's predictions. They make the playoffs when everyone says they'll be a lottery team, they get a high seed when everyone says they'll be 7 or 8, and they had the best record in the league and could have won the championship when everyone was riding high on OKC and Minnesota. Despite this, the media always comes back the next season and undersells the Rockets. So with this, I'm going to expect that Boogie is going to completely tank the Warriors' culture, LeBron is going to spend more time feuding with Lavar Ball than playing basketball, and Morey is probably going to make some kind of Ryan Anderson for Anthony Davis type trade.
the author is so f'n dumb he says our death lineup (without capela) can't contend with boogie cousins. errr maybe if they run boogie then we run capela? not to mention, the rockets who just won 65 and that's with multiple players resting the final couple weeks, CP3 missing 24 games, harden missing games for the first time as a rocket, etc, etc --- we're suddenly gonna be overtaken by teams that won 20 games less like okc and frickin utah??? smh it seems any damn fool can get page clicks these days
i think we still top 60 wins if we sign melo. so i guess any 60 win team should be seen as a contender. ennis is a step below ariza and LMM but pair far below making him the smart option, and melo can do on offense what ariza and LMM did on defense. we will be comparable to last season, but possibly slightly worse with paul getting a year older, ennis a step worse than who we had, and melo a step in the wrong direction as we can't play him and harden at the same time against the warriors. i get the ringers point here. we were one piece away last year. if LMM was healthy that might've been all we needed. if CP3 was healthy that's definitely all we needed. however, we are now about 2 pieces behind and i don't think melo will count as one during the WCF.
even if it isn’t closed right now, it’s not extending past next season without a 3rd star 35 yo CP3, Harden, and a roster full of aging role players isn’t winning a title
lol. The Ringer, Bleacher Report, and certain ESPN shows are in a huge arms race to out hot-take the others. It's awful.
Damn. Our window has closed. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. WHAT WILL BECOME OF ME, OF US! I'M SCARED FAM.
When has the Ringer ever been good with its analysis? The only good thing they do is revealing burner accounts and licking Durant's boots.
Demarcus Cousins bad switch can't move laterally, bad Achilles on Defense Harden and Paul will destroy Cousins
I wouldn't go as far as we are not the second best team in the west. Sure with the lost of our forwards some may cast doubts on us. Heck, with current Lakers team even with LeBron they still couldn't beat us. I think some media just like to stir things up.
I would say that our window has gotten smaller and more difficult to go thru. LA basically said the same thing Morey has, they are built to play GSW. They have modeled their team to be similar to ours, there coaching system with Walton is a biproduct of MDA. So if all that is true, there is 1. GSW and there is 2a and 2b in the west. (Houston & LA). those are the Premises. But i am not willing to call LA on the same level as Houston yet, LBJ is great but he isnt everything
Rockets stock is a big fat BUY right now. We’re always underrated by pundits in offseason. More often than not we prove them wrong. When will they learn? Do these ringer guys seriously believe we’re not the second best team? By my account, we still have best chance against the warriors. Sure, they added boogie, but with that many stars his impact isn’t going to be linear for them. There are diminishing returns. What other team will push GSW besides us? If you say OKC you’re kidding yourself. If you say lakers you’re probably from LA, or you’re caught up in Lebron hype. If you say Utah that’s a tad better, but rockets are still superior to them and we’re a better matchup for gsw. Utah doesn’t have enough firepower against GSW.
The Ringer staff hates the Rockets. They're desperate for them to not be good. That's all this is. No worries here!
What a dumb ass article.... as if Ariza and Luc are the difference between being a contender and being out of the picture.... While the basis of the article has merit - passive offseason, stagnant, etc... their conclusion is a jump...
Damn, we are getting smoked in the offseason expectations chatter. This is even worse than losing postgame shows.
I think they will be pretty good, but h town will probably finish with the best record again... Plus other than Cousins, who is a risky signing amd wont be ready til maybe Jan, who else did the Warriors sign? The bench is a year older and already vulnerable when we nearly knocked them out... Boogie to the Warriors sounds good on paper but when we see it for what it really is... hot head coming off gruesome injury, Warriors may have regressed more than the Rockets...
