Wayne Winston: Rockets won't be among most improved teams

I don't think that Lin is even close to the unofficial face of the team. He may not even be in the top 3 in terms of who the Rockets are marketing and pushing. As for the media, well, they'll w**** themselves out for 5 more clicks so I'm not surprised they take digs at Lin at random after having watched a total of 3 games by him at most.

The digs at Lin's defense especially irks me. It bothers me a lot as it is not true, at all, but so many people take it as fact. I lashed out at Karolik the other day, cuz he tried to do the same thing, but instead of defense (this time, lol) he was going on about how Lin in EVERY game got pickpocketed and said it with a certainly though it was patently untrue. I absolutely hate it when people spread lies, whether it is from malevolence or ignorance, I care not one iota. It just sucks and I hate those sucky posters.

I see that Dwight's gonna get a lot of haters this year as well and I hope that this board is not gonna turn on him like those idiots. I do have hope that we will rally behind Dwight and support him. After all, he's not Lin or anything, lol.
Our record will speak for itself and we will dispel all the doubters one convincing win at a time. I believe that.

 

Good post. And I believe we will.

 

Did you see Clutch's last podcast. They said the exact same thing. Lin's defense is considered to be poor by most people, though I disagree. It is what it is, and it's up to Lin to overcome his doubters by working hard and proving it again and again. And I'll bet you dollars to donuts that even if he has a good year, people are gonna doubt him ANY time he has a bad game or two, and it won't matter how anyone else has played, everyone will be clamoring to get rid of Lin by the trading deadline and talking about how XXX is a better fit because of yada yada yada. The funny thing is, the exact same thing happened in NY, lol. EXACTLY the same. Most posters said that Lin was not a good fit there and that TD or Bibby fit better and that certainly Felton would be better in that position. It is what it is.

 

It almost doesn't count when you keep talking about all these terrible teams with some talent who are going to add 5, 10, maybe even 15 wins... it doesn't matter... they're still going to be around .500 or a little below, they'll be around the 8th, 9th seed at BEST, who cares that they're most improved?

Going from bad to mediocre is not what NBA fans care about, we care about who is going to win championships. We want to know who saw the biggest flat improvement to their chances to win a title. I say "flat improvement" because I'm talking about "how many percentage points did a team improve?"

Maybe the Cavs triple their chances of winning a title... and go from a 1% chance to a 3% chance. Who cares? They're still not going to win it at all without an insane amount of luck.

The Rockets PROBABLY are the ones who added the most percentage points to their chances, going from somewhere around 5% to 10% or more. To me that makes us the most improved team this offseason.

With all of that said, I do think that among the bad teams he talked about, the Pelicans have a bright future. I don't see them contending this season, but they could be championship contenders in a season or two when Davis has become a top 5-10 player in the league, assuming Gordon figures out how to stay healthy and stays with their team.

All the other teams he mentioned, forget it, none of them have any players who are or who project to be top 5 players in the NBA.

 

damn he's gotten fat...

 

My response to this post:

 

People will stay stuff,but you should look at the bigger picture. The team will do better if everyone steps up on both ends of the floor as a team. Lin is a fairly good player, others have there weaknesses too, and I am not excluding Harden's weak defense.

The Rockets come first,before any individual player.
PS: I know you want to see the Rockets to win. My comments are not personally directed at you.

 

Of course you're right. If everyone fixes their weaknesses or even perceived weaknesses or even improves upon their strengths, that is of course a great thing. I'm just exasperated by the number of pundits who claim Lin is a defensive sieve as if they actually knew what they were talking about.
And then to have people parrot that as if THEY knew what they were talking about.. It makes me want to pull my hair out. All I know is Bev is great and I hope he continues to push Lin but I disagree that Lin has been given a fair shake either here on the boards or by the coaching staff. Pg course that's just my opinion but every time McHale says that Linsanity was a fluke and that every player has those months, I grate my teeth. Then he says "wow I thought Lin did great, I don't know why everyone has such high expectations when it was aljust a lucky break..." I swear. Imagine someone saying that about Pardons or Harden over and over again just to have every pundit and fan who has never played organized ball repeat it over and over again AND in a condescending tone.... Fuggedaboutit.

 

Sorry, that guy was terrible. I am not even basing this on his Rockets stuff. Wizards will be better and Cavs will be better because their two stars are always hurt lately but if they aren't hurt then they will help the team win more games. Good advanced stats there. Who is the other great shooter that LAC signed?

Also, Eric Gordon could really help the Pelicans even though he is always hurt. I mean he proved he was good in...Indiana? Tyreke Evans will also help because he is coming off the bench...instead of starting when he was an advanced stats nightmare?

Maybe the guy is a pioneer but what was in that video seemed like analysis from an average, only moderately informed fan.

 

Eric Gordon has always been injured in the NBA, but he wasn't injured at Indiana...THEREFORE...

 

And dont nobody know how Irving will hold up for Clev. We dont know if Jack will be as successful as he was last season with the Warriors.

We dont know if Wall will hold up..

I can go on and on pimpn.

Every team has question marks.

 

Lin, Harden and Parson played p*** poor defense last season. So why single out Lin. Harden by far was the team worse defender.

 

Parsons defense was ok, just not nearly as good as last season when we hoped he would be better. Harden had all the scoring load - so that leaves Lin. But I agree, his defense wasn`t that bad. He had a nose for the ball on steals. Our teams problem was primarily stopping the drive and closing out on 3 pointers. Now with another year of experience and always an elite stopper in the paint I expect everyones defense to improve.

I think there is one reason why several analysts don`t believe in us: when Howard joined the Lakers everyone had them pinned in as the Wests #1 team. Now people think Howard doesn`t make as much of a difference on a new team and might hurt the chemistry. If you believe the Lakers problems were mostly because of Howard than they may be right - I don`t. I think it was a combination of Kobe, D´Antoni, many new teammates and injuries.

And I think Howard already feels more comfortable and healthy in Houston than he ever did in LA.

 

Yeah.... this statement kind of led me to believe that this guy really doesn't watch much basketball at all. He might be a quantitative method genius, but you also need to be up to speed on the game itself to get me to take your information with anything more than a grain of salt.

Say what you want about Morey, Hinkie, etc... these guys know their basketball very well along with their stats.

Its not that I really disagree with him here, its just that there really wasn't anything groundbreaking that he had to tell here. Asking a question about which team will be the most improved to a stat guy who doesn't watch much basketball is sort of a loaded question even with the best intent.

 

He doesn't even know who is the true defense liability in Houston. I guess he didn't watch all games like us.

 

I agree with everything you just stated.

The reason why we had problems closing out on the 3 point shooters. Those three kept gambling or lost track of their man watching the ball.

Indeed Howard makes this team better defensively. Harden doesnt have to carry the entire load either so he can revert back to the way he played defense in OKC.

 

Exactly. The guy picks terrible teams because he's guessing at which teams are going to have the largest win total differences. Of course that's going to be one of the worst teams last year. As far as his basketball knowledge, I stopped taking it seriously after 'Bear-a-jo.'

 

Harden gets a break because he is far more talented than Lin, Parsons has adjusted to his role,better than Lin, Lin is playing at a very critical postion,which puts more pressure on him. Stereotypes do exist,unfortunately. But lots of people are into Harden vs Lin, and spmetimes Lin vs Parsons too which is not right either.

Some people do give Lin credit on the board,and the better he plays,more people will be accepting of him.
I for one,think he is a decent defender,but when Lin goes up against Westbrook,Paul, Parker he will look bad at times.

General improvement on the offensive end on his part can put pressure on opposing PG's too,and force them into errors,which may make it a bit easier for him to defend them.

I am hopeful that Harden will defend better and perhaps with consistency in due time this season. If that happens,it will be a huge plus for us. In my opinion, Lin and Harden can complement each other. Parsons may be able to defend better,with the presence of Howard. They all need to prove themselves this season IMO.

 

He'll be teaching at U of H. That'll be pretty cool. That's when we'll show him!!! >:]

 

Basically dumping on Howard and saying that Bynum will have an effective, injury free season. Yeah, I wouldn't put too much stock into this guys analysis.