Martin will be dealt. Hope he plays well up until that point. I believe that we will pull the plug on him being a Rocket sooner than later. Remove Kevin Martin at this point and we just won't be able to score consistently enough to with 30 games. Personally, I wish that Martin would re-sign here @ 8 Million or so. I can see him getting 3 good years out of his talent+being a better all around player. But I don't blame the fact that he probably wants out. My theory is that Martin knows he will be dealt soon and is happy about him. Him and Morey are friends now because they are now working on the common goal of getting him out of town. Need to sit on him at this point. He is gonna look good over the next few weeks and months. I think we will be able to get a good return.
We can't guard a stapler let alone the top talent in the NBA. Russell Westbrook gave us a preview of how teams will torch Jeremy Lin!
Not about innovation. About progress. Look in this thread, the stigma to winning is still strong. Stop hiding.
so to sum it up.. 1. rookies will see major minutes 2. top 5 defensive team 3. offense that will get it together soon + Linsanity 2.0 4. go buy league pass cus youre gonna hate to miss all this
The only person that can stop Russ is Russ himself. Friedman said it well, I live with Russ taking all those tough shots as long as he isn't getting to the paint which he wasn't that game. Lin's defense on Russ was solid. Only thing is that Lin needs to learn how to keep up that solid defense without fouling as much. That is an area that needs to be improved. Russ is a really good FT shooter so the last thing you want to do is let him go to the line for a higher percentage shot. There are very few defenders that are great defensively without fouling, one off the top of my head is Ronnie Brewer. Lin had this same weakness in NY it will likely take time to improve on that aspect of his game.
Wow. I actually expected the Rockets to be terrible this year. But now, all I can think about is how the OP told us all that Marcus Morris was going to be an instant superstar. He was so wrong that I'm now thinking we may be playoff bound.
Our starters aren't bad at all Asik is a top 3 defensive center in the league, Parsons will improve, and I see Martin putting up 22-25 a night. Our weak link is Patterson but if Jones steps up its my even that bad. If Lin can show he isn't a fluke this team can make the Playoffs. The wild cards are Lamb and White. If Lamb can bring instant offense off the bench and White is a gamechanger we will beat some good teams.
Stopped reading when I saw the hash tags. At least wait till 5, better yet 10 games in before judging. And who are you to say how a complete collective will feel about an entire season? One man might find success in this season if one of the rookies breakout or we end up with a top draft pick. While others, but not all may not.
People talking about WB torching Lin, I wonder if they even watched the game. Shots can miss on terrible defense and shots can go in on solid defense. Individual defense can't be judged by whether the basket went in or not, but on whether the kind of shot that was taken was an efficient shot. Lin wasn't giving up drives to the paint but contested shots. However, he was giving WB good positioning for him to work in the post, but that didn't happen enough to be called getting 'torched.' Random comment, but when WB pulled up for his midrange jumper 3 min into the game and got the foul call on Lin supposedly hitting his elbow on the way up, I thought that was a superstar call. I watched that a few times and I didn't see any contact; WB simply missed the contested shot and got bailed by the superstar call.
don't listen to the hatters CXbby, I agree with you It will be interesting to see what happens with Martin at the trade deadline if we are over .500 and he is playing well.
I think this is something else people need to start wrapping their heads around. The possibility of Martin staying, for the year.
Agreed. I like Martin he has been playing really well & I personally think the Rockets need to keep him he really spreads the floor & keeps the defense honest.
I'm starting to come to that realization. I can't see any team that really needs a shooting guard right now. Toronto might need one- but that would be counterproductive because we own their pick. The Bulls won't be looking for a shooting guard if Rose is out and Martin would cost too much. The Clips brought in some players and cannot afford Martin. The only teams that might want him would be the Twolves (only if Roy is hurt and they're in the hunt for a playoff spot) Pacers (highly unlikely- but if George Hill or Granger is really struggling they might try to bring in a real 2). If the Hawks aren't actually rebuilding and are looking for the playoffs- maybe them too (but I don't think they can afford Martin's contract). One of the things I like about Morey is that he doesn't sell guys for the sake of selling them. If we can't get value for Martin, we'll just let him walk.
OP, I think you are correct by saying a lot of people will be disappointed. But, I think it's because the board is somewhat split on how the team will do. If we win 10 games this year, we will get a great draft pick, some will be pleased with the draft pick, but others will be disappointed our rookies didn't play very well. However, If the team and our rookies play well, then we don't get a good pick, but our rookies play well and people are happy about that. A sizable percentage of Clutchfans are probably going to be unhappy no matter what happens, unless something magical happens and we instantly become title contenders. However, you seem to be saying that McHale isn't going to give the rookies much playing time, and that the few veteran players we've acquired are going to play well enough to get us fairly close to the playoffs. I don't know if I see that happening. I think for us to get close to the playoffs we will need at least two rookies to have really good years. With this team I think almost anything is possible. If I had to guess, I would say the Rockets will get a draft pick in the 4-10 range. I won't be disappointed with a pick in that range, because that's what I'm expecting. I will be disappointed if the rookies and our other young players don't get significant playing time. This is our opportunity to find out if these guys can really play or not, lets throw them into the fire and see what happens. By the end of this season I want the Rockets to have a clear idea about which players show great promise, and which ones are probably not going to make it. That's really what I want most out of this season.
If the Rockets win while playing their rookies there is nothing wrong with that. If the Rockets instead opt to give guys like Livingston Minutes over Lamb then they will deserve the years of mediocrity they get.
