The season hasn't started yet, let's play till Dec then we can predict our win-loss totals. I'll be excited if we win. We'll be winning with young talent, even if we end up 41-41.
Indeed, it's heavily overrated. 0.389 career fg% and .0337 career 3pt%. Not exactly a dead-eye shooter.
Didn't like the Delfino signing at all. I guess they wanted some veteran in the second unit, but he's been pretty bad so far. Hope Forbes plays today.
I think saying the rookies won't play a ton, which many suspect, is one thing, but you may be forgetting the fact that the starting lineup is awfully young and inexperienced as well. 4 of the 5 starters have a lot to prove in this league. It's not like you have all kinds of veteran leadership to dip into here. And the majority of the Rockets are all new to each other, as well. It's possible the Rockets could have a good defense if Asik proves to be a top flight 35-minutes-a-night center, but the guards you need to play heavy minutes (Lin, Martin, Lamb) are not going to stop a lot of penetration. Asik could get in foul trouble. Even before the training camp absence I think Royce White was the odd man out because his strength (handling the ball) can't be utilized as often here right now (and can in the NBDL) and he has the most to improve in other areas. But Jones and Lamb could and should play. Motiejunas might play as well just based on a backup center need (though on the second or third day of camp, one Rockets staffer told me he could envision Jones playing some center eventually). The Rockets could keep Martin all year like you're saying, but I think they'd be absolutely stupid to do it. They did it with Goran after trading him and having it called back, and he walked and you got nothing. I think the only way the Rockets don't deal Martin is if they can make a major superstar deal some other way, or if they can't even get something worth the cap space that he'll provide when his contract clears in the summer. I think they'll miss the playoffs for sure, but like I said in the podcast after the draft/Lin offseason, I think they could be as bad as 5th or 6th worst in the league. I could see them up a few notches higher though.
HAHAHAHA, OP got OWNED! Really, now I feel the Rockets will substantially outperform expectations. Great reverse jinx thread OP lololololol!
"Unproven" is thrown around a lot. There's no doubt that most of the starting unit is unproven as big minute players. But what they all have done in the past is succeed in the roles they were given. When it comes to making projections, the name of the game is extrapolation. These guys have all shown that they can play the game of basketball. Just because they haven't done that yet in their current expanded roles, doesn't mean they are unable. Many of us called for Kyle Lowry to start when he was here, even though at the time all he ever was was a "career backup". Sure he was not yet proven as a starter, but you could still project him as one and kind of tell what kind of player he would be. Is it a sure thing that the starters will all pan out? No. But I am willing to bet that they will outperform your "5th or 6th worst in the league", by quite a bit. But obviously I have shown that I can be quite wrong too.
At the risk of taking too much out of these preseason games, I think the Rockets have the talent to beat up on many of the bad teams, and maybe some mediocre ones with their speed-ball attack, but the good disciplined teams are gonna be able to slow them down and take advantage of their youth and lack of an elite offensive player.
Jeremy played bad tonight offensively, but I don't expect that this will be a common occurrence. Give him some time. He's got the athleticism. The shot will come. He's pretty green as well. Brand new team etc. Just an off night...
You make bold predictions. When you are right, you look like a genius. When you are wrong, people will never forget what a fool you are. He wanted to be the genius. But he turned out to be the fool. He made his bed. Now he's sleeping in it.
He needs to get his knee healthy. I'm not worried about Lin's ability or talent, but I am worried about his health.
Same, I guess. I can't really tell how his general durability is so far, the knee injury is not quite indicative of how his body stands up. Hope his body is strong, he takes a lot of hard hits.
your post lost ALL credibility when you said we had a DPOY candidate and that we would be a top defensive team (5-10 range). I'm assuming that you're saying Asik is the DPOY candidate? Yeah right...pull my other leg and it plays jingle bells. Martin and Lin both have their attributes but defense is NOT one of them.
i can list 4 to 5 teams that could easily be worse then the rockets this year that would end up giving the rockets the "5th or 6th worst (pick) in the league" BUT can you name 8 or 9 teams that could have a worse record? it gets a lot lot harder at that point.
