The starters really didnt have many bad moments during the pre season. Even against miami with jabari missing and Sengun playing like ass the starters still kept it kind of close. I am worried about how the bench unit will look with both Green and kpj sitting. Id like to see silas stagger gordon and/or sengun with that second unit some. If Sengun proves he belongs and the bench plays well i think this is a Maybe around 40 win team. If not, i think theyll win around 27-30ish.
41 wins : expected. 38-40 wins: acceptable 34-37 wins :Sack Silas&Lucas 30-33 wins : Sack Stone&Hollins 25-29 wins:Force Tilman to sell the franchise Less than 25: Shoot the players, bulldoze the city.
You don’t think Jalen Green is an above average starter? KPJ? Barnes and Mobley were both insulated on playoff teams with better talent around them and they are the barometer? You think Scottie Barnes or Mobley are #1s?? I get cautious optimism but this is foul from a supposed Rocket fan. If they get close to 40 what will it be “glad I was wrong”. Smh.
hell no i don't think mobley or barnes are #1s. I don't think green or kpj will be above average starters, no. Green is still so young, he's only 20.
26-56 Jalen Green finally is recognized as one of, if not the best from his draft class. Jabari and Tari make the all rookie teams. Possibly 1st team for both. Pray KPJ can up his efficiency consistently and that Sengun can find a way to fit in. Defy the odds and win the lotto from whatever position we end up. 23/24 season : Profit
Bet. Get your “glad I was wrong” ready and make it extra sincere at the end of this season. It’s like you ignore the play on the court THIS year and hold on to last year? Makes sense.
Jalen Green: 22/5/3 on 44/36/80; Should have a comparable jump to Anthony Edwards from year 1 to year 2, just without the playoffs run Jabari Smith Jr: 12/6/2 on ~30mpg; Will have some struggles inside the arc/and when his J isn't hot, but will make his impact defensively and as a spacer Tari Eason: 13/7/2/1/1 on ~25mpg; He's going to put up great per-minute numbers for a rookie; wouldn't be surprised to see him outperform Jabari, but it's not a competition + they fit great with each other Alperen Sengun: 11/7/4 on ~24mpg; I don't see him making a huge jump from year 1, but I hope I'm wrong. 4apg would be nice on our not-so-good passing roster. 24mpg seems low, but I think we're going to play uptempo with no true-C or with Fernando at C a decent chunk of the time. Kevin Porter Jr: 16/5/6 on better %s than last year; I don't really want him to up his USG, I just want to see him continue to improve in efficiency/decision-making TyTy Washington: Won't put up #s but will definitely beat out Nix for the backup PG minutes Most likely to get traded: KJ Martin: I think he'll get traded by the deadline. I think he has some suitors and we're more likely to get a late-1st back from a contender than for EG, because of his age. I think we'll probably hang onto Gordon for his vet presence, and his trade value isn't going to improve. Wouldn't be surprised if we quietly dangled Tate (who's more expendable with Eason emerging), Sengun (due to fit) and Garuba (if we finally give up on him) on the trade market. Western Teams Who'll Definitely Finish Higher (9): LAC, GSW, PHX, DEN, MEM, MIN, DAL, NOP, LAL Western Teams Who'll Probably Finish Higher (2): SAC, POR Western Teams Who'll Probably Finish Lower (2): SAS, OKC Which leaves us and Utah, who might trade away everyone and start their tank early or might showcase their vets for a while to try to get more picks. So we'll probably end up #12 or #13 in the West, and will win 24-28 games. I think we'll be competitive, since our core is actually set, and the young guys are hungry, whereas the last two years were still transitionary with guys like C-Wood still being a central focus of the O. From the East, I think there will be a few teams in our record range (Indy, Orlando, maybe Detroit). So that would most likely = picking in the #3-7 range in the 2023 Draft.
Mid 20s but a very exciting team to watch and I think most of us will walk away this season being very optimistic about the team in coming years.
The Rockets will be exciting and continue to lose because they are young, have some flawed pieces and have an incredible incentive to lose in advance of next year's franchise changing draft. I think they will win about 26 games. They will be better, but that 7 game winning streak last year was the outlier. I also think anybody putting a lot of stock into how any player, or team plays in the last month of any season before the playoffs is foolish.
Rockets acquire a veteran player for no apparent reason in mid season and everyone freaks the hell out
It will be tough to know for sure until we see a real game - preseason doesn't matter (Kelvin Cato anyone), but here is my take... Over under 32 Best case - put me in the play in camp with 36 wins. Defense is under rated. Add Tari + Bari, subtract Wood and you see the type of improvement that Cleveland saw last year. Worst case: Major injuries leave Rockets tanking and only making it to 25 wins.
I’ll go with 34 wins, possibly contending for one of the last play-in spots. Jalen leads team in scoring with 25 PPG and makes his first all-star game (or, at the least, serious all-star buzz). Feeling very positive right now. Not going to let the inevitable rough start with this crazy schedule get me down.
34-48 They're going to string together a few win streaks of lightning in a bottle that will give us a sneak peak at how good these kids will be when they put it all together consistently.
34, 36, 38 wins? We are going to increase our wins by 18 games by adding a few teenagers through the draft and no free agents? That is unprecedented. But I hope you all are right.
How did the Celtics do when they added Bird? What about the Lakers adding Magic? Or Jordan - so the key question is ....how much of a difference maker is Jabari? We improved a ton adding Ralph, then Hakeem - it just takes the RIGHT player and RIGHT mix of others. DD
