By the end of the year, will we be good enough to take OKC and Denver in the playoffs?

Pacers would’ve beaten OKC with a healthy haliburton.

The rockets are better than the pacers. If the pacers can beat OKC, then the rockets can beat them too.

 

If you keep on asking about that and I mull it over, yes, the Thunder had many blowouts last year and 2 years ago.....

They were losing Number 1 Games of a Playoff Series and they lacked that urgency early on.......Indiana almost took that series if not for Haliburton's injury......of course they are getting alarmed, they lacked experience in closing games out as they were a young team and still are a young team.

Trading for Caruso and Hartenstein helped them very much admittedly but they had to get battle tested in close games.

 

The Rockets are building a unique identity. A team that is honed in on elite defensive and offensive abilities.

When all the 4 stars are clicking (Alpi, Amen, Kevin, Jabari), the team is going to run opposing teams off the court in blown outs. Yet the team is playing rather well when even one of its 4 stars is having an off day as well.

It’s a tall, very physical, well coached, and extremely skilled basketball team. This team is poised to be as good as anyone for the next 3 seasons. As the chemistry seems to be clicking to start the season.

 

Will require either a major trade or one of our young players playing way better at end of year compared to now.

 

Depends who wants it more, and If it down to 4-5 Teams. With the west it could be any combination because its all stacked again
1-8. Health is a major issue, but we all know how good SGA is, so that is a big ?. Can Amen stop him.???

 

I think Ime is asking Okogie handle a lot of the heavy lifting on defense and letting amen focus on offense because more is needed from him without FVV.

amen can turn on all NBA defense tomorrow. He needs to develop his PG skills and offensive skills overall. So I actually think Amen doing less on defense, especially against the pedestrian teams we have been playing, is a good thing.

 

Let's see a few ROX - GSW/LAL/DEN matchups first.

The way they wilted against GSW last season is definitely haunting, even if the lineup is different.

 

That’s not an unreasonable take. Perhaps I’m a little concerned about KDs slow start.

A OKC v Houston matchup would be fascinating.

I think Okogie’s shooting from distance is a major story to follow. If he can hit 37+ percent, he will be a major 3 and D factor who can cover
PG and SG with his 6-4 and 213lb size. He would be just like Caruso.

Similarly, Taris shooting has been fantastic and Jabari has definitely taken a step forward across the board.

We have the ability to roll out a lineup that includes Sengun, KD, Amen in the dunkers spot, and two other players who are strong defensively and hurt you from distance. This lineup can play a highly switchable man to man defense, which is what you need in the playoffs.

We can also go double big, although I don’t love the zone look against a strong shooting team like OKC. Unless they are also going with Chet and hartenstein, in which case it is a fantastic double big off between elite teams.

Overall, I still think OKC is the favorite because they have two elite shot creators who can score efficiently at three levels. Being able to create off the bounce in the playoffs, especially late in the clock, is crucial.

We have KD and Sengun, who are both multifaceted scorers and elite in their own right. But both of them need back to the basket opportunities and aren’t as great at breaking down a defender off the dribble.

if we could add one player with the handles to create offense off the dribble, like a Schroeder type, I would say the Rockets are on par with OKC because that is our greatest weakness.

We happen to have a ton of quality wing defenders to slow SGa and Williams, and I would argue OKC would least like to see Houston in the playoffs.

We know what OKC is. Much depends on how the rockets evolve and look like come playoff time.

 

Jalen Green wilted and "steady Freddy" didn't orchestrate much of an offense.

 

No doubt no doubt

 

It very well might come down to which of these 3 teams is healthiest come playoff time.

 

Yes. I'm more excited by how this group looks post-deadline and freebird season than right now. We'll have better balance with vets and youth, along with more flexibility to score in tangents that our current offense cannot yet utilize.

And, how about Josh?! He has been incredible.

 

Today was a good example of my concerns

 

This no pg thing isn’t working when it comes to playing better teams. Too many TO’s. Period.

Okogie has been good but we need to start Tari who is a better shooter and scorer.

This playing sheppard big minutes isn’t working against better teams. Too many blown defensive assignments especially in zone. Too much cheating trying to steal instead of staying in front of man.

No answer for teams doubling Durant. This is how they will play us from now on. Trap Durant immediately. We complained about Jalen but teams are doing the exact same thing with Durant. Same result. A lot to worry about

 

Double big doesn't scare serious teams or teams with decent centers

KD is old & relies too much on Iso

Guard play & lack of guys who can guard down other than Amen (also not having Dillon on Wemby was a big deal last night with knock on effects)

Amen as a half court pg nope - just not quite good enough at dribbling & passing and negates his off ball cutting

Not a contending team as currently constructed

 

The lead perimeter creators for all the final 8 playoff teams last year. The perimeter guys with the ball in their hands when it matters, who can dribble, run a PnR, and shoot:

Cavs - Donovan Mitchell & Darius Garland
Pacers - Tyrese Haliburton
Knicks - Jalen Brunson
Celtics - Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown
Thunder - Shai Gilgeous Alexander & Jalen Williams
Nuggets - Jamal Murray
Warriors - Steph Curry
Timberwolves - Ant Edwards

We had Jalen Green and FVV. They weren't good enough so we weren't a contender. Now, this season we have literally no one... we aren't a contender.

We don't just "need a PG" to become a contender. We need a perimeter guy who can sit at the same table as that list of guys above and not be totally outclassed. IDK if it happens this season or next offseason or the one after that, but that's the truth about what is needed to compete for a championship. It has been true of every team to even make the second round for many years.

 

Im inclined to agree.

So far the team has looked dominant against weak competition and mediocre against good competition.

To me that's because they can use their length and athleticism to bully inferior players but don't have the versatility or system to beat a balanced roster.

 

this team is absolutely cooked against the likes of OKC as long as we have no PG

their defense and pressure will have us completely discombobulated

 

Long season. We will see if some of these do called top teams are still on top at the end of the year. Injuries, trades... all kinds of crap can change things. I'm still skeptical on Wemby getting through 82 games healthy.