i have to agree... i thought we would suck with new coach and loss of hayes and thought we should trade kmart and scola and look for the future... BUT mchale is impressing me as well as this team... im not a fool, we are no more than a second round playoff team at best(unless we make great additions via trade deadline)... im excited and cant wait for some playoff ball, nothing better than it...
ALL that matters is that we make the playoffs. When WE do that, anything is possible. We can play with anybody in the west. I just want to see this team make it .
If we can finish the season as a 5th-7th seed type of a team, I would actually feel the Rockets are better off trying to upgrade over the offseason than any sort of tanking manuever. If we revert back to 14th pick level, then this would be disappointing. Keep in mind that the Rockets are achieving all this with the following. 1. New coach, new philosophy, despite no offseason. 2. The Rockets will be massively under the cap in the offseason, with most of the core players making very little(Scola and KMart the only big earners among contributers). Courtney Lee is the only important FA... and he's restricted too. 3. The difference between a ~6th seed and a team capable of contending, and I define contending as a top 3 seed, is one impact player. Doesn't have to be an all-star, but an impact player. I think that player is available. Perhaps even on our team, but definitely possible to obtain. 4. The West is getting older and weaker. The younger teams all have holes that make them vulnerable in the playoffs unlike the Lakers/Spurs teams of the past. Unlike most fans, I tend to think just being in the mix is fun to follow. I enjoyed the teams of T-Mac/Yao era even though we were always more a darkhorse than a true contender. But just being in the mix was fun. And I would enjoy rooting for a semi-contender much more so than ping pong balls.
I've said this a number of times, but ever since Chandler Parsons has been starting for us, our defence has been far more competitive and our team looks a lot more balanced. 17-9 is our record with him in the starting lineup. If we were to go 17-9 in our next 24 games, we'd be 13 games above .500 and gunning for home court advantage over the final 7 games. Tricky thing is that once we hit March we have 16 games against playoff teams out of 30 remaining games.
Our first ten games were against very difficult opponents though. That skews things. I like Parsons, but correlation is not causation.
Rockets have a brutal final 10-15 games and I think if we keep being inconsistent on defense, Lowry will have to keep logging heavy minutes, Dalembert cannot be counted on on a nightly basis and with Smith needing a lot to learn and Hill not cutting it & Scola underperforming I think we will slip out and are 9th-10th at the end.
We won't because by then Morey will have made at least one huge trade to improve the team. You can count on it.
Am I looking at the same schedule as you? Mem (H) ? Ind (H) ? Bulls (A) ouch Lakers (A) ouch Then we get 6 games against teams we can and probably should beat with Portland and maybe Denver away being the biggest question Then we get Dallas and Miami away mixed in with 2 against New Orleans (lol) and Golden state at home. The brutal part about that schedule is we get 4 of the best teams once, but it also combines 4 games against some of the worst teams, and the rest are lower middle.
9-6 would be about right for those 15 games, maybe 8-7 but if we start dropping home games to the likes of Golden State and New Orleans, we wouldn't really deserve to be in the playoffs.
Sure. But while you were checking the first 10 games you'd have noticed Parsons stepped into the lineup for the last 3 of those. 2 losses and a win. Losses were in OT to OKC and SA. His defensive ability has definitely made a difference, and the sample size is growing by day.
I'v been surprised about how well we have done. We looked like we clearly took a step down talent wise from last year with the parting of rick, which i think had a big part to do with our over achieving last year plus brooks, battier and chuck gone for nothing, i thought we were *****ed...but we ended up drafting parsons, signing dalembert and goran has been just great. I think the bear and parsons are a huge part of us winning. lowry of course is doing AMAZING...but without those 2 and our handydandy bench, we'd be screwed because of how inconsistent martin and scola have been. Think about it, where would we be if we stuck with Lowry/Martin/Bud/Scola/Hill - as out starting group? ... exactly. Anyways i give a lot of props to our squad for how well were doing, with a special thanks to parsons, the bear and our front office for signing them.
Yeah he's really come on lately but that middle stretch was rough. He's back to All-Star Lowry though.
Nah.... I said it again If you have 2 second rounders and 3 very late first rounders in your starting formation.... that is overachieving. Near every single player overachieved, some underachieved compared to the past but overall they are playing better than they should. Especially if lottery picks are either in the Dleague or riding the pine.
Guys we have a tremendous opportunity here. Let`s not lowball ourselves, lets shoot for the stars. Home Court advantage in atleast the first round should be the Rockets goal this season.
You guys need to calm the heck down. Three games separate 6th seed from 8 and 9th place. You think Minny and the Blazers are gonna stay out of the playoffs? HAH! It's more than likely going to be the Houston Rockets, forever treading water in the pool of mediocrity. High five for being the doormats of the NBA!
