I doubt it. The Lakers were 20th in team defense last year with basically the same type of players that the rockets have: Nash(no d) and Kobe(old d) vs Lin(No d) and Harden(marginal d). Asik is better than the current version of Dwight Howard is on d. Dwight's motivation seems to lie in proving that he is an offensive juggernaut, not a defensive stalwart.
you could also add everything morey gave up for Harden. The team was gutted for Harden and Dwight and the major free agent signing yielded one good core player (asik) and one bad player(Lin). Now, I'm not knocking the strategy, I'm just pointing out that it takes more than just a core a stars to make a team a contender. I suspect morey understands this. Hopefully rockets fans will also.
So is Westbrook also fragile since he was injured while trying to call a timeout? You're claim was that the Rockets wouldn't make the playoffs. That's 100% based off of regular season games and Lin played in all 82 last season. Following back surgery Howard missed a total of 6 games last season. That makes him injury prone? Well, last season Lebron also missed 6 games, Wade 13 and Bosh 8. So, should we write off the Heat too because all three of their stars are injury prone?
Did Miami not get rid of almost their entire roster in order to sign Wade, Bosh and James? That's what you do to acquire a star. LA and NYK will try and do the same after next season. I fail to see how trading Martin and Lamb for Harden is a big deal. Harden will play the bulk of the minutes at their position. Neither would get many minutes. So, who is among the great bench that OKC has? Are you enamoured with Derrick Fisher, Reggie Jackson, and Ryan Gomes off the bench? After all of our deals we still have more depth than OKC who are the favorites in the west. We haven't mentioned the center position either. Anyone in the NBA have more depth at that postion than we do? Nope, we're completely stacked in the middle.
Also, aelliot: a point about the hybrid type offense you are referring to that the rockets can attempt to play. I watched the grizzlies attempt to do this for years and it never worked. The grizzlies were basically 2 teams: Conley, OJ and Rudy thrived in the running game and getting the ball up the court: Randolph and Gasol however cared very little about running so it was always a point of contention with this team. if you think dwight is going to be different from Marc and Zach, you've got really high hopes. Get ready for the have court rockets, it's coming.
Let's see... you derailed a thread started by Clutch? This should be interesting. As for the topic, I think Minnie is on the bubble. Everyone has to stay healthy, and the bench has to step up. If that happens, a damn fine coach, Adelman, will sneak them in for a first round exit, and that would be remarkable, in my opinion. It's going to be tough.
Conley, Mayo and Gay weren't great on the break, the Rockets are. The Rockets will remain one of the highest scoring teams in the league, that I don't doubt for a minute. What is your expectation, that the Rockets will suddenly be a 90pt per game team? Take a look at Howard's Orlando team, they scored the ball ( '08 104 pts/game, '09 101 pts/game and '10 102 pts per game).
Who exactly are you so upset about losing? Martin, Patterson, Morris, Douglas, Lamb or Aldrich? That's your dream bench? How many of those guys would even break into our current rotation?
The two biggest issues that I see for the T-Wolves is that a) they will have difficulty stopping anyone. b) they don't really have a goto scorer that they can count on every night.
PLEASE STOP QUOTING HIM. enough caps , but seriously...that fact he is remaining relevant and derailing a thread has already made his day.
The Wolves are only as good as their best player and Kevin Love, for all the numbers he puts up and all the talent he has, is just a good player. Not someone that you would have as your number one option. I feel like Rubio can be a great player someday, the way Steve Nash just came out of nowhere to win consecutive MVP awards, but by the time Rubio gets to that level he'll more than likely gone to another team.
I think Kmart will be a huge factor Kmart, Love and Rubio will be a solid Big 3 for Minnesota If KMART can be playing like he did w the Thunder but more mins, I see Minny surprising alot of people
Since when did What go full troll mode? He had to have been a good poster one time or another? Dwight, Harden, Lin injury prone? Lin played every reg season game. Harden has only missed 4-6 games a season hardly injury prone. Dwight has been an iron man his entire career. Rockets are worse than Grizz or Warriors? When we have the 2 best players on the court? Dwight doesn't fit on this team? He locks down the paint AND is one of the best pick and roll big man in the NBA.
