I think they are underestimating the impact of having Amen and Tari being full-time players. They also don’t seem to think old teams like the lakers and warriors should regress. I think the rockets are much deeper than most teams and better equipped to handle injuries and less likely to sustain them given the age differences.
A lot of those Under and Over experts are backtracking and putting out conservative predictions now..... The league will be more focused on Defense but I think the Overall Offense or Average Offense is not going to suffer a lot.
Also they don't seem to be taking into account any of Jabari/Amen/Cam/Tari and even Jalen making a leap. Basically all of our young core has to stagnate and yet every other team is better? This time last year no one had the Wolves and Thunder as the best teams in the conference so it is what it is.
That's not a real hot take. Kawhi never plays and Harden can't carry the way he used to. Not to mention the Rockets have better coaching, in my opinion.
Sam Vecenie has not adjusted to the past year of play by the Rockets enough in my opinion. Prior to that, I thought he was pretty balanced on the Rockets. I get that most teams that have a big jump in wins typically regress some. However, I think he is too focused on "not having a No. 1 guy" , over-valuing the need for shooting, and drastically underestimating how much Amen, Tari, and Adams will impact the defense. The Rockets haven't had 2 of those guys healthy since Amen figured out defense. It is really weird that he talks highly of Amen's defense, but the overall prediction does not seem to match what he says about individual players. I expect some problems with fit between Sengun and Amen. I think if Amen is starting this season, the Rockets will have a Top 5 defense provided they don't play much small ball.
Here's my #1 question when someone says "they dont have have a #1 guy". What exactly does that mean and what makes someone a #1 guy? Because if #1 guy means a dude that can get you a bucket regardless of who's on him and the situation....the Rockets have like 3 of those guys on the team already and another 2-3 in the oven. Sengun put Bron in the rim last year in that exact situation.
A guy that is a Top offensive player in the league. For last year, Luka, Jokic, Embiid, Brunson, Haliburton, SGA, Giannis, Booker were the definite No. 1 guys, IMO. Some may also include James, Curry, Irving, Maxey, Mitchell, and Trae for last year. Sam does not see a Rocket having decent potential to be a Top 10 offensive player in the league except for Reed. Sam loves guys that can dribble, pass, and shoot along with having elite processing. Sengun, Jalen, and Amen get nixed by him for shooting. Though, Sam loves/loved Paolo and Giddey. I must have the worst luck watching Paolo. Other than NCAA and NBA postseason, he's always jacking up way too mid range shots when he can't get to the rim and doesn't get a foul called in the games I watch. He typically scores a bunch, but not sure he's really helping the team score than it does without his playmaking and he's the only playmaker on that team besides for Wagner. I'd have Sengun as having better odds than those 2 by a bunch.
I dont believe in that BS how come Bucks, GSW, PHX and Lakers all had a flop season? Meanwhile the greatest criticism for Boston last year was they didnt have the guy and they were the ones who won a ring. The guy as a concept only got popular because of Jordan but nowadays teams need multiple "guys", one guy cant cut it hell Wemby is regarded by a lot of people as having the best rookie season ever and the Spurs only won 20 games. Rockets dont need to win a ring, they just need to make noise this season. I think playoffs are a lock barring injuries. They gonna have a better record than some other teams with "the guy" I'm sure of that.
I think it's a cop-out personally. SGA wasn't a #1 guy, until he was. Jalen Brunson wasn't a #1 guy, and then he was. Were any of our guys 100% that last season? Probably not, in terms of "undisputed franchise player/all star you definitely build around" but then Alpi wasn't far off at all, and Jalen was for a month. In a vacuum we don't have a #1 guy last season, but that doesn't mean we won't have one THIS season, or potentially even 2 this season and another 1 or 2 coming up behind them. If I was a betting man I'd put money on at least one of Sengun/Jalen becoming that "true" #1 guy this season, and that's before we even contemplate what might happen with Jabari (big men generally take longer to develop) Amen (who again, could take 3-4 years before we even know what he could be just because of his unique situation of having that much talent but not great handles, no dunk package and no jump shot - he may be a solid peripheral all-star who then becomes a superstar if those things get to a high level) an Tari/Cam/Reed who are all projected as lower tier players than the rest but all have plenty of tools to suggest they could be more. I think we're going to shock a lot of these pundits tbh.
Amen has no dunk package? He is not doing the fancy stuff like cam but there were times last year where he drive the lane and dunk it in traffic.
Amen himself when asked in an interview if he'd be in the dunk contest "I don't have a dunk package." So you're disputing the man himself? He straight up said he only really has a standard jump up and put it in as simple as possible approach to dunking. But sure, get all emotional over the man's own words...
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound emotional I just didn’t know what you meant because I didn’t feel like he was reluctant to dunk but I don’t see him in a dunk contest.
