However improbably it sounds, IF we win tonight against the Wizards, we'll be at 32 and 26. That's 3 games above .500 after 58 games. With only 24 games left, if we split the remainder 50/50, that puts us at 44 wins. Given our remaining schedule is fairly soft, getting 48 wins is quite possible. And astonishingly, 50 wins is NOT out of reach. 18 and 6 for the remainder to get to 50 with a favorable schedule (14/24 home games, only 1 more back to back, and only 7 games against higher Western conference seeds ... SAS, Clippers, 2 x GSW, Denver, Utah and Memphis.) 50 wins is actually achievable. That is completely, utterly mind boggling...
Blew it and made it better? Better than what? That is such a relative word. Better than last year? Not sure, we had similar record at this point (without Harden!) and in the playoff picture until the end. This year we are still just holiding onto the 8th spot with our dear life with Lakers expected to make a run. I think we are still mediocre and pretty far off from making a deep run. Even with a Josh Smith, I don't think we come close to beating Thunder/Miami/Spurs/Clippers in a playoff series. Whats up with this unconditional love for Morey... I am starting to come across too much as MOH but the dude is just given too much credit without results and facts to back it up.
with Harden giving us Jordanesque numbers, the conservative 44 projected wins is not good... last year we ended up with 34-32 with a much inferior roster. Guys we are still only the 8th seed, holding on for dear life. Cmon now, lets not get carried away. I have seen this played out so much, everytime Morey makes a move, he becomes the next coming of Jesus. From my POV, the one move that I think Morey earned his pay is the Harden move.
even with this Harden move, we still have long WAYS to go before we are in the same conversation as the other elite teams. So Morey is good but he has been average. Until we get to the elite team status, Morey has not succeeded yet.
You know, first of all I must say Morey is the best GM the Rockets have ever had and I am very glad he's getting extended. He is the reason are where they are today, and that is the team with the brightest future in the NBA in my opinion. His trade for Harden was perfection. His drafting of Parsons a stroke of genius. His acquisitions of Asik and Lin brilliant, etc, etc, etc. Even Scola at the time was an unbelievable get. On the other hand I think he has been very lucky as well. I just remember the horrendous and fortunately doomed trade of Gasol and the subsequent plan of getting Nene. That would have sank the team into mediocrity hell for the foreseeble future. Also I remeber the offer to Ariza at the time when Gortat could have been had on the cheap, a major mistake. And the drafting of mediocre undersized witout potential power forwards such as Patterson and Morris (by the way I am really glad they are gone don't matter who we got in exchange). So all in all congratulations Morey on a job very well done. But I hope you have learned from your previous mistakes and not scare us again with horrible trade proposals (Gasol) or boring drafting (Patterson, Morris), or horrendous downright acquisitions (Ariza). Cheers all and may the future get even brighter.
We're probably the 7th best team in basketball right now, only behind Miami, SA, OKC, and Chicago (when healthy), the Clippers, and maybe, maybe Denver. That's a big jump from where we were last year. And...it doesn't consider these factors: 1. This team will get better - a lot better - just with time 2. There are a lot of young players who haven't even begun to contribute with potential massive upside (DMo, Robinson, White) 3. We have tons of salary cap to sign a major free agent this offseason As for being a MOF - I've been pretty critical of him over the years. So, I think it's fair to say that I am genuinely giving him praise for a job well done.
We're better because while we have the same record as last year, that team had no real hope of improvement. Now we have a team with one superstar, and maximum cap room to ad another one. It's true that if we don't make the correct moves going forward, the team is basically the same as last year's. However, we have a good chance to improve. Last year we had no chance.
You look at the Kings and you like at our team. Despite the Kings going with the typical rebuild plan of tanking, they still suck. Despite us being mediocre for a few years, we're decent and improving everyday (aka where Sacramento should be). I wonder if less teams will to total tank/rebuilds now. If so, that be great for the league.
The phrase "x games above .500" refers to the number of losses you must have to be at .500. I'm aware that a handful of people across time have complained that the definition should be "number of games flipped from win to loss" but that's never been the definition and it's no more right in any logical or mathematical sense than the common definition. In fact, the common definition is useful precisely because it's so easy to understand in your head, requiring no division, and tells us something useful, how many losses it would take to be at a well-known benchmark. How many games above .500 is in no way related to how many games ahead of another team you are, which is a separate concept. A 30-10 team is 20 games above .500 but only 10 games ahead of the .500 team with a 20-20 record. This recognizes that team A would have to lose an improbable 20 games in a row to fall to the level of team B if team B maintained its average .500 play. The distinction in meaning has value. A team with a record of 2-1 is not half a game above .500.
I agree with how good of a job Morey is doing, but in 09, Morey built a legitimate championship contender around MWP, Yao, and Tmac. We had a good bench and role players as well. This team, in terms of being situated, can pass that team barring injuries in the future.
Yao broke in the playoffs and Tmac broke further midseason. Not much to do, especially with Yao's situation.
