I am VERY optimistic heading into the season, Cp3/Harden will carve the league up. We retained Nene who was key last year, drafted some intriguing players and got PJ Tucker, another 3nD who imho is sorely needed si 3Za turns into BrickZa when he gets tired. With that said I see Rox as only the 2nd seed behind GSW, unless somebody gets injured GSW will repeat as champs. But, 2nd seed and WCF ain't that bad. Now if only Morley will resign Troy Williams I'll give him 10/10 for the offseason...
I beg 2 differ. Second round fodder? Rox are locked for a WCF finish at least unless somebody gets injured. Spurs won't be able to replicate last year, not with Manu and Parker getting old, LMA pouting and Kawhi becoming injury prone. Rox lost last year because of talent disparity, Spurs 2nd option was LMA our 2nd option was Ryan Anderson, it was 2.5 stars (Kawhi,LMA, old Parker) vs 1.5 stars (Harden, Gordon). Now it is even so IMHo Rox are at worst even with the Spurs.
I am with you, my man. We are adding a top 10 player (CP3 was ranked 9th in PER last year) to a squad that essentially bring back most of its players. We are also adding a solid 3 and D player in Tucker who will finally provide adequate rest to Ariza. Lastly, Morey is not done improving this team. By the Feb. 2018 trading deadline, he may acquire a 3rd star player that everybody seems to be clamoring. I was fairly accurate about my wins prediction last year (50+) and that Pringles was going to be a better coach for the Rockets than people thought. For this year, if we are reasonably healthy, I predict this team will win 60+, and likely be 2nd seed in the West.
The guy on espn said with the Pg-13 going to OKC that puts us as 4th place. This means houston will play the gsw in the 2nd round and win one game at home, and lose the seriest 4-1. Dramon green will say we felt sorry for the flood victims etc... and step on harden foot in a game 5 blow out and put him on the bench. yada yada maybe next year. .... this is my feeling without a third star. period
ESPN is a tad biased toward WB..... We are definitely 3rd or even 2nd seed barring surprises and major injuries.
With the dynamics of the NBA right now you are not going to beat the Warriors, They have 3 of the best scorers the league has ever seen and they play hard on D. Your are certainly not going to beat them getting older, slower or shorter. I think it would take a dominant Center to protect the paint and grab all the rebounds , and 4 long hard chargers that run at every opportunity and contest every shot.
We can compete with the Spurs as is right now. So yeah probably the 2nd best team in the west. We still need a piece or two to hang with gs.
Right? Rockets are absolutely a better team than they were last season. We need another substantial piece and a little filler to challenge GS, but this team is as good as SA is currently, imo.
I get the feeling that people around here are underestimating the Thunder and overestimating the Spurs. The Thunder dueled us to the wire last year and have addressed all of their weaknesses well. They're the new #2 team to beat in the West. San Antonio? Phhhh. We should've beaten them last year except for our mental incompetence. If we lose to San Antonio in the playoffs again I blame it fully on Harden.
We got exposed this year by getting outrebounded and gassing out, weaknesses you don't see as much during the regular season. If we meet a team that's bigger or meaner inside until the Warriors, it'll be a struggle.
I am optimistic that we are going to sit here next year and still be talking about the topic of contention.
I'm optimistic that Clutchfans will want to trade James Harden next offseason if we don't win the championship. Hell...maybe Chris Paul too.
We should make it out of the 1st round easily again this year. Barring injuries. I think on paper, we should be able to beat the Spurs now. Our starting forwards are not good enough imo. I'm hoping PJ can replace Ariza. That Anderson though...ugh
Which team is that exactly? I mean there are only 15 teams in the west which team is bigger and meaner and will compete with the Rox for the 2nd seed? Jazz lost Hayward, what Gobert going to do by himself? Memphis lost ZBO and they haven't replaced him with anyone, even their diehard fan What is saying it's the end of their era. SaS is dealing with LMA drama. I fail to see any big and mean teams threatening the Rox, tbh I would love it if a big and mean team shows maybe that team can beat up the Warriors. Being outrebounded and gassing out are directly related to Anderson being a mental midget in the playoffs, couldn't defend, rebound or shoot and had to be benched because he was just a liability on the court. If he still sucks next season I'm pretty sure CP3 will get on his ass and Morey will find a way to ship him out at the deadline or before playoffs start.
In the beginning of this offseason , I was not looking forward to making many moves . I thought we had minimal cap space and were going to roll with what we had . After all, we finished 3rd in the west and an addition season to build chemistry / improvement from our young players seemed like a solid plan. I was counting on improvement from Dekker and Harrell and Capela. A full season of Lou will and Gordon and bev should have meant that harden could rest more . Dekker improving would mean resting Ariza more . Harrell improving could overtake Anderson and provide us solid defense at that spot. Clint and nene were awesome last year . I was expecting nanu to become the Harrell of last year. Now I don't know what to think . Chris Paul is undoubtably a better player that any we traded for him . But we gave up 4 guys that played for us last year and each guy played a key role at some point . Then we got all those non guaranteeds and I thought another great player was on the way. At this point , I'm not sure that Paul and PJ > Dekker Harrell Beverley and Williams . Dekker and Harrell were two of the better athletes on our team last year and we just seem a bit on the old and slow side (yes I know cp3 is still great ) Our rotation seems thin . We are going to rely on Ariza way too much once again . I can't see us having a better season . I think it will be once again a question of how hot we are in the playoffs .
Thunder has some decent bigs that can defend. They're as much a wildcard as we are. Putting the blame all on one guy after Nene had that season ending injury is exactly why gassing out is a concern.
