Whats your regular season prediction for next year? (POLL)

Top 2 or 3 seed. One of our players dies with Ime's regular season 8 1/2 men death march.

 

A true fan

 

69-13. Not quite but close at Bulls and Warriors best record seasons.

 

I don’t know the full line-up yet, however with tanking abated win totals will go down across the board.

play-offs, then get

 

We’re still a 50+ win and playoff team. But maybe still a first round exit. So there’s that

 

Play in Team & 1st round exit.

 

50+ wins and first round exit.

 

I'm going with "around .500".

With the new anti-tanking rules, no one is going to be losing games on purpose and the fact that ending up in the bottom 3 comes with a penalty will make teams try to win and stay in that 4-10 sweet spot.

Several of those bad teams got a whole lot better too .... and I really don't feel like this Rockets team got any better and they are going to rely on a bunch of old guys coming off of significant injuries to play large roles.

And then they added another non shooter to the mix .... spacing? What spacing? I don't need no damn spacing. I guess they are doubling down on rebounding .... but without Adams that plan goes to crap.

All their guards are short guys .... FVV, Reed, Smart, Thornton except for a washed up Bogdan.

Dumping DFS seems like a no brainer but they didn't bring in any help in the process.

I really hope they aren't done because as it stands now, this roster is depressing. They didn't fix any of their problems.

 

46 wins.

Many teams will be competing instead of tanking. Won't just be us, other teams like the Suns, Blazers, Spurs, Thunder, Wolves and Nuggets will also have less wins.

 

I can't imagine things getting better while Alpi and Amen have to share the floor together and Ime is the coach. If we can flip Alpi and FVV for a legit guard and move Jabari to the 5 I'd be happy. Right now I think Smart is going to get tired of KDs bs and it's going to be bones man.

 

49 wins . First round exit and Stone or Ime get fired.

 

The Rockets aren't operating as if they have much confidence in next season. Last summer, they traded for KD and signed DFS and Capela. KD was supposed to address the team's most pressing needs for a go to scorer and shooter. DFS and Capela were brought in using every exception available. The Rockets went into the luxury tax for the first time in years and literally couldn't have spent more if they wanted to.

This summer is completely different. They signed Smart and Bogi to minor deals and re-signed Tari, who seems super excited about it. And they traded away three second round picks to dump DFS' salary to get below the luxury tax. If they felt good about their chances next season there's no way they would have been so desperate to offload him and duck below the tax line, not when KD is entering his age 38 season. They'd use every dollar available to add help if they thought we were remotely close. Instead, I think we leave the $9M remaining of the NTMLE unspent and just shore up the roster with minimum contracts.

I don't blame them for not wanting to commit to this season, we're not close. All signs point to a transition season. KD, FVV, Adams, and Clint are probably all gone by next summer. We win 45-50 games and are a first round exit.

 

then why not recoup value for KD? Are they so confident in a 39yr old KD for the 27-28’ season? I’m confused as to why they wouldnt trade KD if they are punting on another season.

 

Play-in. Our best player will be 38 when the season starts, other teams won't be tanking, and I anticipate only incremental improvements from our young guys except Reed.

Look for KD to be sold to a contender at the trade deadline - doing so will adjust ownership's expectations and might save Ime and Stone's jobs for another year to two.

 

Somewhere between 2 and 3, I don't know. We might win 50+, we might be a little below. Regardless I think the part that is doom and gloom is that we aren't a serious contender no matter what, so who cares? We're no longer a young team, we're no longer a "waiting on guys to develop" team, and we don't have that hope anymore. Or at least I don't. Regardless of what happens there is no path to a championship and I think that's the part that sucks. Whether its 42 wins or 55 wins we are not on the same level as OKC or the spurs and we are certainly not beating either of them in the playoffs.

 

50+ win season, reach the 2nd round and prob lose to either OKC or SAS.

 

Not a young team
Amen
Sengun
Jabari
Reed
Tari
Thornton
2027 lotto pick
all 25 and younger

We dumped Jalen Green and Cam Whitmore now we are so old you are right.

Maybe you haven understood it but its not normal for 24 yr olds to be contenders. Thats why MJ and Lebron won a ring at 28 and not 24, and our guys arent even franchise players yet.

Having this doom and gloom reaction is nonsensical. Yeah we are behind SAS and OKC. Wemby is like the best player since Lebron and OKC has a gajillion assets what are you gonna do? If not being the best depresses you so much just quit watching the NBA for the next decade those 2 arent going anywhere.

 

My hope is that they're not fully punting. That if the team is doing really well 2-3 months into the season that they'll make some deals before the deadline to bolster the roster and maximize their chances at a title.

I can't entirely blame them for that approach. And obviously it'll be easier to move Fred's deal by February when another team would only have to pay him 2 more months before he comes off the books.

 

About a 51 win team and get destroyed in 1st rd.