BSPN forecasts the Rockets to finish 8th in the West

We get it - Houston got their butts handed to them in the playoffs, everyone outside of Houston wants to see Howard, Harden, and Morey fail(the Dmo interview everyone jumped on is one shining example - you didn't see the talking heads on ESPN retract their criticisms of Harden/Howard after that), and we lost Parsons/Asik/ & Lin....truthfully we were a little overrated much of last year and I think most who watched Rockets games frequently knew that but I think we are entering underrated status this year and here is why:

- Howard will be fully healthy this year. Let's face it, he was still not 100% through the first quarter of last season....and he is right in the middle of his prime right now and finally healthy. Funny people remember Portland's play in the playoffs but seem to forget how good Dwight was too.
- James Harden is 24. That means he is still getting better. Honestly if he just gives a crap about defense this year, he'll be a MUCH better player. I'm not the only one who has seen him actually try to pay defense on Team USA - right?
- Terrence Jones is 22 and had some real shining moments last year. He most definitely improves and maybe even gets closer to realizing his potential by the end of the year.
- The difference between Trevor Ariza & Chandler Parsons in this system is minimal(what - maybe a game or so?).
- Patrick Beverly is 26 and probably still improves marginally as our starting PG. No more of this uncertainty of Lin or Bev like we had at times last year.
- I have hope there will be another handful of transactions before the season is over that nets us some more depth off the bench.

I'm certainly not a homer, but I think it's really easy to overlook the modest growth of the younger players on this roster(nearly everyone) and overrate the last few games(bad matchup) and the last few transactions(bad luck but a risk they had to take). Asik was unhappy/injured for much of last year, Parsons isn't THAT much better than Ariza, and Lin was very erratic in Houston last year although he ended up being the biggest net loss for us this offseason if they can't pull off a transaction to strengthen our bench

 

"clearly" worse?

Lin is gone, who was a confusion at PG on this team and never really lived up to anything close to this..."potential"...

Asik is gone, who whined and got injured and hardly contributed to anything all year, so that doesn't actually effect us too much besides someone who WANTS to play instead...

and Parsons is gone, someone who we did value HEAVILY on this team, but then somehow we replaced him with someone who was not only not much older, but puts out similar offensive numbers AND is a much better defender.

Who knows, maybe chemistry will be better on this new squad, because for whatever reason we were not good enough to beat the Blazers, and should've been.

 

Its not that Parsons is a star but the West is so competitive and tight that losing two key rotation guys like Parsons and Lin can move us from 4 to 8.....I actually predicted them to miss the playoffs

 

We will easily be a 50 win team this year. I also feel that Morey will find another superstar to join us by February.

I still have a lot of faith.

 

I think 7th ahead of Phoenix who will take the 8th spot and give any team major headaches.

 

We traded Asik too who was a valuable defensive center.

 

I think team chemistry this season will be much better. People are not taking that into account. This team knows how it feels to be the favorites and get ousted in the first round. At the end of the day wether harden is improved on D (I think he will) or not we still need 3 and D players around him on the wing. We have that now in Ariza and pbev.

Howard needs 3 and D players out on the wing, once again Ariza and pbev. I think players will have defined roles and it should help the team. No more uncertainty about playing time (asik,Lin), roles (parsons) everyone knows their role this yr and no one has a starting spot or contract to play for.

Also tjones and dmo are entering their 3rd season this yr. Big men take longer than others and both should improve dramatically this season. Barring injury the rockets should improve by a game or two IMO. Star power/talent wins in the NBA, And unless we're playing okc or Cleveland. We will have the best two players on the court at all times. When things seem
Bad just remember that.

 

This isn't the Leastern conference.

Seeding is just a formality in the west.

 

This projection sounds about right. The West is highly competitive. A lot of good teams upgraded while we downgraded. This team lacks the depth and experience needed to grind out 82 games and make a dent in the playoffs.

 

I think that a good part of the Trailblazer's success last season was that they sneaked up on teams. After the surprising success they had last season, they will not be sneaking up on teams this season. Just mark my words on that assessment.

Teams will likely look at the videotape of their playoff series with the Spurs. They'll then try using the same defensive tactics the Spurs used on them during that playoff series to beat them.

 

Their bench was as bad as ours, maybe worse. They just had 1 short injury to Aldridge, as the only injury to their starting lineup for the entire season.

We lost around 60 games from our starters, so did Memphis and the Clippers, most other WC playoff teams lost about 40-50, Portland lost 13.

 

You miss Lin's turnovers and Parsons getting raped by Batum?

 

This. Portland if I'm not mistaken was the healthiest team in league history last season. 13 combined missed games from all 5 starters is unreal.

 

at this point i would just about sell my soul for the rockets to end up with a better record then the mavs. so i can shut up ALL the people i work with and win the bet i made with one of them.

i just hope dirk really slows down and turns into a hollow shell of a player that he was when he won a championship.

 

Not going to happen. His game isn't built on athleticism and you don't lose your jumper. As far as the Rockets go, they aren't competing for a ship this year or fielding a young team that's building for the future so the 4th or 8th seed means nothing to me.

 

Blazers starters missed 30 games previous season. 20 of them during end-of-the-season tanking.

Out of the last 10 games when they lost them all:
LMA missed 5 games
Batum 8 games
Hickson 2 games
Mathew 5 games

In comparison, they were just as healthy the season before (33 wins) as they were last year (54 wins).

If you think Blazers had 'bad' bench last season, I don't know what term you would use for their bench the previous season. The fact remains that they DID improve their bench.

It doesn't matter how you spin it. It's just ignorant to contribute the huge disparity to 'healthier team.'

 

This is purely fantasy.

Do you really believe teams would just look at videos on how other teams lost games and, for 82 games, totally style after another team's defensive tactics night in and night out?

 

RIGHT!


They're better than most people think right now....middle of the pack playoff team ...But, Daryl isn't done ....we'll be a contender before the end of the year.