I woke up and still can't understand how the Rockets ended up with a 6'10 guy who might be the best shooter in this draft class as well as one of the best overall defenders. A lot of discussion about the Rockets getting another lottery pick next year in the 2023 draft, but I'm not so sure that the coming year will get us one of the worst records in the league and here's why: 1. Injuries - last year we saw injuries to Green, KPJ and others disrupting chemistry. Doesn't seem as likely given age 2. Coaching - Silas has another year of experience - he has 100% more head coaching experience than he did the start of last year. 3. No more Christian wood - he was hurting the play of his teammates on both sides of the court. Alone I think this addition via subtraction could net 5 wins alone. 4. Continued player development: Green, KPJ, Sengun all were better (in some cases much better) than they were to start the season, and will be better coming into this year presumably. All this before adding the guys from 2022 draft. Just Jabari's defense and work ethic alone - his desire to win, is going to have an impact. All this plus the pressure of Silas to win, and greater focus on defense from the coaching staff, and the higher expectations - I don't think this team is going to be a cellar dweller if they stay healthy.
we’ll see what they do in free agency, but I need to see around 27 wins and the offense and defense ranked closer to 20th than dead last
If their both their offense and defense are anywhere above 20th I think it's a sure bet they will have more than 27 wins. Just consider that 15/16 is the median out of 30 teams.
I'm expecting 30+ wins. I know that's a big jump, but the team isn't tanking anymore and there's just too much talent to not win at least 30 imo.
Yeah I think they may hit 35. I know that's a big jump, but there are so many positive factors that add wins. It would actually be better from a lottery perspective to get less than 30, I just don't you can do that without causing problems on this team. You have drafted 7 people who want to win. That's going to be hard to slow down.
I think it’s gonna be more like 8 wins more and I’m attributing the increase primarily to improved defense. More minutes for Garuba, Jabari, Tari, and Christopher = big defensive improvement from last year. KPJ and Tate are plus defenders too. Also Green, KPJ, Christopher, and Sengun will all be better.
I was thinking the same thing (32 wins) then I remembered we have Silas as the head coach. one last year of tanking should be it. Then Silas contract will allow the rockets to make a change.
Depends how they address getting a defensive center in free agency. And what they do with KJ, Gordon or other changes. Need to see the final team to start the season to get an idea.
They should flat out start KPJ, JG4, Tari, Bari, & Sengun for the first 20 games. And see from there if the young guys could win. Satisfies claims for playing time and disguises tanking(adjustment/growing pains)
@ApacheWarrior here we go. I’m less certain than last year what their intentions would be. (They had Jabari Smith intentions!) As of now I would say they are looking for improvement. At the same time looking for a pick somewhere in the top 10 with the hopes of landing a player that would slot in at Center, point guard, or maybe small forward. A top 10 pick, Bucks pick, FA with ample cap space, and perhaps KPJ/Sengun/Tari Eason to add to the trade with free agency or to move up in the draft to get the player. Im going to guess with ALL of the youth that will be on the floor they will have the 5th worst record.
The odds of successfully tanking for a single player are so low they might as well be zero. On top of that, the Rockets now have selected 7 first round picks in the past 2 seasons... the time for tanking is over. Imo unless something big changes, they have their team for the next several years basically set. It'll be KPJ Green Eason Smith Sengun It'll be that probably for the next several years and that group is talented enough to start thinking about the play in game.... probably won't happen year one, but it could. They are very unlikely to be in a position to tank at any point in the foreseeable future
Play in and just playoffs is not the goal, the goal is winning an NBA championship if Thunder get Chet and Victor we will never see an nba finals for the next 10 years. either you go all in and try one more year or are you just happy being a middle of the pack team that is never winning.
32 wins (+/- 2) as the team is structured currently. Rockets may be: removing a couple of players: Eric Gordon, Nix, Nwaba, Kenyon If the Rockets can add a free agent or two: Mitchell Robinson, Chris Boucher are my preference. supposedly Rockets are interested in Nic Claxton (Imo it's a smoke screen) 35-40 wins -------- Jabari and Tari help bridge the gap between our smalls and our bigs. Keys that open up so many locks for the Rockets offensively and defensively.
Don't confuse short term goals for long term goals. The goal of this current team should be the play in game, the long term goal is a championship. You don't tank just to tank. You tank to restock the team with talent, the Rockets have done that, it's time to see if they can play.
