The schedules were vastly difference. I think we end up with a better record this year than last, but we still will fail in the first round or second round if we are lucky. Ime gets outcoached almost every game.
He gets outcoached almost every game? So how do you account for the Rockets being one of the top teams in the West two seasons in a row? If you don't like Ime, then fine, but don't make lazy statements. They have a winning record.
FVV is the source of all evil. FVV down. Double Bigs is worthless. Adams down Amen should have ball all the time. Ime gives Amen ball more at expense of KD. Basically, everything Hemingway wants is happening. The offense, even when Reed is out, is getting worse.
I account for it by the talent we have and Ime being a good defensive coach which gives you a chance to win a lot of games in the regular season. Our talent is definitely in the top 25% of the league. That alone should get you 50 wins with an average coach and 60+ with a good one. If you are satisfied with 52 wins and a no.2 seed and getting punted in the first round, Ime is the coach for you. It doesn’t matter really, they foolishly extended his contract and no way Tito will eat 5 years. I have made plenty of posts about why I think Ime is a poor coach and I don’t feel obligated to go into it to meet your posting standards. Please put me on ignore, if I irritate you so much.
You don't irritate me in the least bit. We just conversating. I just asked you a simple question. So your response is, the Rockets have been a top tier team for 2 seasons in a row not despite Udoka, rather than because of Udoka? Got it. Only one team can win a championship and by our western standards, that makes all other teams a loser. Can't please everyone. Before Ime, they were bad by any measure. Since Ime, they are better by any measure. You are free to have your opinion. Do I think Udoka could be better in some categories? Of course. But it seems odd to acknowledge that his defensive approach results in a lot of success and then simultaneously dismiss that, as if any coach could be a good defensive coach, and then say he should be better.
Have standards for Rockets fans gotten so low these days that a 52-win regular season and a 1st round loss in the playoffs is now a "top tier" team? Or that half a season on pace to 51 wins and a 4th seed is also considered a "top tier" team? I remember the days when Kevin McHale got fired after winning 54 and 56 games and went to the WCFs, and fans were happy about it. And yet these days, a single playoff series apparently gets you tenure as a Rockets coach cause apparently no coach can possibly take the team further than this. How times have changed.
The offense has gotten worse, because our shooters (other than Tari) have been awful in January and it’s not worse than last year when FVV was dribbling around the perimeter the entire shot clock. Our offense this year 5th ranked 117 pts per game, last year 12th ranked 114 pts per game. Our offense is bad in the fourth quarter when Ime goes to Durant and Sengun ISO’s and everybody else on the team stands around watching. Not to mention that Sengun is hurt.
Everything you expressed is opinion. Fact: There are only 5 teams in the NBA that has a better record over the past 2 seasons. So yea, the Rockets are top tier. Fact is, The Rockets are contenders. Can they be better? Sure. But they can be A LOT worse. And every year, there is only one champion.
The Rockets have added KD, and the offense was worse in January than when FVV played last season. The Rockets offensive numbers are bolstered by the 1st month or so of play and Reed's hot streak. On shooting, FVV had to play with Amen, Jalen Green, and Sengun starting. The offense with FVV would be much better if he had 3 shooters on the court with him instead of 1 or 2. On dribbling without doing anything, as much as your narrative says that is bad, it scored better than the Rockets have lately. Sengun being hurt is a factor. KD Isos are scoring better than the average Rockets halfcourt offense. Much better than Amen iso or Amen PnRs. As such, whining about them is silly. Sengun isos...that has been a below average Rockets play for a couple of months at least. He's been hurt lately, but his iso problems started in November. I will give you that Sengun being hurt has hurt the offense some in January. However, one should note that Jalen Green's isos were worse than KD and Sengun isos. KD isos with FVV, Tari, JSJ as the shooters would be better thjan KD isos with Amen, Tari, and JSJ as the shooters. However, you are getting what you want... no FVV, no double bigs, and the ball is more in Amen's hands...well other than a complete shift to Amen. Having FVV and Adams would help the team. Mostly, the Rockets are looking very thin right now. The only thing FVV and Adams being out helps is the view that Amen should have the ball all the time to help his stats, whether or not it makes the Rockets better or not.
4 The Rockets loss 35 points in offensive production with the trade. They gained 26 points of production. The Rockets offense is averaging 117 points per game to 114 points per game this season. Regardless of month, the offense has been better this year than last year. Is that all because of Durant? I don’t think so. My biggest problem with the double bigs was defense, not offense, because of the putrid zone we were running. I also believe that this offense would be even better without Durant and Sengun ISO’s dominating, especially in the 4th quarter. Neither of us know the answer to that. There is no evidence to say our offense would be better this year with FVV and Adams healthy. The biggest factor in our January swoon has been Reed’s and Jabari’s regression to 33% and 29% 3 pt shooting. Okogie regressed to 32% in January and even Durant to 39%. Tari was the only one that improved to 49%. Despite the regression of the team’s 3 pt shooting, Amen’s assist average has risen to 5.7 from 5.3/5.4 in most months. His turnovers are at a season low of 2.1. That confirms my eye test that Amen is progressing nicely as a pg. Comparing Capella’s January to Adams December. Adams in 21 mins averaged 5.2 pts on 46.7 fg% ft% 43.5% 7 rebounds 1.2 turnovers. Capella in 12.8 mins averaged 4 pts on 53.5 fg% ft% 50% 4.4 rebounds .3 turnovers We didn’t play double bigs in January. Our team defense allowed 110 pts per game. In December the team defense allowed 116 pts per game. Of course there are other factors other than the two bigs that could have impacted that. In conclusion, neither of us knows if our offense would be better or worse with FVV at the helm. I would contend that if Amen continues to improve we will be far better off with him running point than FVV next year, especially if he gets a decent mid-range shot. I also contend, with the addition of a consistent 3 pt shooting SG, that we will be positioned to contend this year.
There is almost a decade of information with a variety of players that FVV makes offenses better when he plays than when he doesn't. Odds are that he would play very well with having Durant instead of Jalen Green. On Adams, there is a lot of information available that he's better offensively than Capela. Overall, he's an offensive downgrade than Sengun. On double bigs, the defense has been great. Hate on the defense all you want, but overall the Rockets defense with the double bigs is much better than the average single big lineup. The problem with the double bigs is similar to a lot of the Rockets problems since mid November. Opponents have increasing just packed the paint by sagging off non-shooters. So, there is evidence, but you choose to ignore it. I can't guarantee it would be better. I can say with 100% certainity that there is evidence that suggests that the offense would be better. There is also evidence the other way, but I'll go with a decade worth of information. You can continue to choose that FVV was the source of the Rockets offensive problems even though the offense tanked when he was on the bench the last 2 seasons he played. I was talking about lately when I said "The offense, even when Reed is out, is getting worse." Yes, overall the offense has been better this season than last. The past month or so is when Amen has been getting a lot of on ball usage and is actually affecting the offensive outcomes. The early season was mostly KD and Sengun isos when the Rockets' offense was cruising. Granted, the KD and Sengun isos are getting tougher as teams are focusing on taking those away from the Rockets.
We are never going to come to an agreement on this and since it is purely hypothetical (FVV isn’t coming back) let’s just watch it play out the rest of the year. As you pointed out earlier, most of my predictions have come true. I hope some of them don’t.
Fact: In the past 2 seasons there have been 16 times a team has won a playoff series. None of those times have been by the Houston Rockets. Edit: Also a fact. There were 9 teams in 1995 that had a better record than the Houston Rockets. That 1994-1995 Rockets team was actually a top-tier team, unlike the 2024-2025 Rockets. If you don't believe me just ask any Rockets fan here which season they prefer the Rockets to have, the 1995 version or 2025 version?
Wonder what our cap situation looks like in 2027 if we can get FVV, Adams, Clint, DFS and Bari off our books. That’s like $84 mil in poor productivity.
Winning a playoff series is also about luck (injuries, etc.) and matchups. The year before the 93-94 season, the Rockets got beat by Seattle and split the season series that year. It was a tough matchup for them. Seattle ended up getting smoked by the Lakers in 94, which did the Rockets a favor cause they could have easily lost that series again!. But by any reasonable account, that 93-94 team was better than Seattle. That 95 team was ONLY a top tier team cause they got hot at the right time and won the championship. They only won 45 games that season and could have easily been knocked out by the Jazz in the 1st round. Then they squeaked by in a historic win against the Suns and could have easily lost that series too. Had they lost either of those series, nobody would ever referred to that '95 team as top-tier after getting knocked out in the 1st round. So call me an over optimistic super fan, if you like. I'm holding out hope that like the 1995 Rockets, this team will catch fire in March and make a deep playoff run. It could have happened last season if Jalen Green wasn't so inconsistent and generally terrible ...and/or they didn't play Golden State. Just about any other matchup last season other than OKC would have been better. This year, I'm hoping FVV comes back to remove pressure off KD and Alp and Amen. Those dudes need to do what they do best so they can cook, which isn't dribbling the ball up the court.
we are regular season overachievers due to ime making sure they play harder than average every night. i don't believe we are even a top 10 playoff team. what matters more to you?
You have a sample size of 1. Under Udoka, the Rockets have been to the playoffs exactly once. What matters to me is the Rocket keep fielding competitive teams, which they are consistently doing.
and after this year we will have a sample of 2. you know why? in the playoffs, everyone plays hard. we lose our only edge.
