still at the bottom of the West after that fake win streak Have people finally stopped fooling themselves into thinking that 1 little lineup change of not having Theis and Wood share the floor is catapulting the team to the play-in? All it did was take us out of the Detroit and Orlando tier to the next tier of sh*tty teams
End of the day this roster, even accounting for reasonable progression of the young guys probably tops out at a home court playoff team. Obviously this isn't scientific but unless Sengun and green develop into all NBA players then that's the ceiling I see. I think you add one more forward who can be a top 5 player at their position and the team's potential increases dramatically. All my opinion and Im happy to be wrong but thats what I see.
For the people who picked the Playin, would you have still made that decision if you knew it would cost the Rockets Jabari?
Yes. It would have likely taken two players developing into all-stars to make the playin considering how unbalanced the Rockets roster was. I do like Smith a lot, but I doubt he's worth 14 wins.
Are you saying you don't see star potential in him or that a star isn't worth sacrificing 14 wins for in the short term?
A LeBron, Jordan, or Durant may be worth 14 wins, but it is unlikely that Smith is ever that good. Smith was the top pick for me this year so I have high expectations for him. I just would rather Green be the third coming of Jordan and played like it last season (i.e., something like that would have been needed for play in and I'd rather have a 20-year old MVP than two potential all-stars.).
Just to be clear, this question was asked after roster was set last year, and as such I do not see this as the Rockets should have prioritized getting veterans to win enough for play in. I see this question more like would you rather Christian Wood and KPJ have developed to be as good as Jarret Allen and Darius Garland (plus get someone like Dyson Daniels or Sochan) or would you rather Christian Wood and KPJ be Christian Wood and KPJ and then get Jabari Smith, jr. I like Jabari, but I think I would take Allen, Garland, and Daniels (or Sochan) over him, KPJ, and Wood as they are.
Let's say the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th seeds will play for the Play In. Let's say the 11th is on the outside looking in. Leaves the 12th-13th places as places in purgatory. Not good enough and not bad enough.
The playin is just a way to tax/punish the dumb teams, and should be avoided at all costs. If you can be top 6, then go for it. If you can’t, i’d always rather be 11th (or as low as possible) then 7-10
"Making the play in" should never be a goal of this team under any circumstances. The last two years and next year set the foundation for the next 10+ years. You win championships by getting the best talent, not establishing the best culture. Tanking for three years has ALWAYS been the right decision.
Rebuilds rarely follow a schedule. Granted, the Westbrook trade fubar-ed the Rockets if it takes longer than after next season.
If the Rockets make the play in this year with a starting line up where the average age is 21, they proved they don't need to "tank" anymore. That's a future perennial contender. Do people realize how rare it is for a team that young to make the playoffs? I would be ecstatic because that means someone between Green, Sengun, Smith KPJ just became a superstar or multiple guys became stars.
It's a 82 game season in the NBA. Ain't much luck to making the playoffs. It's a long grind and only teams that have players that have some experience on how to win NBA games consistently will make it.
If the rockets are a 9 or 10 seed this season, our long term championship odds plummet in comparison to having a top 3 pick. If you told me we are gonna win 48 games and be a 5 seed, that's one thing, but winning 38 and being playin trash, is that absolute worst case scenerio
So how do expect the team's young guys like Green and Sengun to learn how to win? There is a chance that Sengun, Green and KPJ could make enough of a jump from last season while adding Jabari that if you let them naturally play they will improve by 10-15 games from last season. That might put them in a position to not get a lottery pick. These guys need to learn how to win NBA games consistently. We can't keep on kicking that can down the road. Let the young guys naturally play and if they improve by 15-20 games, so be it. That means our development program in Houston is strong and that means that our young core has a very promising future.
For a team to make the playoffs multiple years in a row I believe it takes the luck aspect out. But to make it just 1 year can be totally fluky and lucky. There have been a lot of injuries to big name players lately. That would help get other teams into the playoffs. Twolves and Pelicans last year I feel like lucked into the playoffs. And now the twolves think they can compete and traded 5 picks for Gobert. Arguably going to set them back years...
The TWolves have one guy who is part of their core that is under 22 and that's Ant. They have an established vet all-star in Towns and an established vet above average starter in DLo. They have to think about their window for winning is coming up very soon because their only really young potential star is Ant. The Rockets are about to field an entire starting line up of 19-22 year olds minus maybe Tate or Gordon depending on who starts at sf. If they win over 35 games next season with a roster that has that many 19-22 year olds playing lengthy minutes, we are significantly ahead of schedule and that probably means one or a couple of our guys jumped into superstar/star status.
I don't disagree with the Rockets statement. I'm just saying the Twolves lucked into playoffs cuz PG and Kawhi were injured. Along with AD and Lebron. Which makes them think they better than they are. Ultimately hurts the franchise cuz they made a really dumb trade.
