Motie is still growing. Still needs to get better post position. but i doubt Mchale/ Morey are morons. They know where their bread is buttered.
Number 4 is a legit point. Trevor Ariza is killing Houston. I don't think this is a slump. He is what he is, and that's a very bad shooter. I believe the team likes him, but they have to try and package him off. We can't go deep with a player bricking shot after shot.
I know it's easy to bash Howard right now but this team still needs him. He should sit out the next month or so, till he feels comfortable on his knee. The way Brandon Bass was beasting near the rim last night showed where we miss Dwight. When he comes back, and the way Jones should improve by Howard's return... going to be a sick post game rotation. Only.area.where I have a legit concern is PG. Bev is great and all but once he's on the bench, team desperately needs another creator. Jet needs to play more of a two and spot up outside the arc.
Since he came back from injury Dwight simply wasn't very effective. Even his defense wasn't spectacular. I don't know if its all injury, or equal part mental and physical, or mostly mental. Whatever the reason, the version of Dwight that we lost wasn't very impactful. His real plus minus this year (which is closely related to XRAPM) Is 1.34 defensively and -0.90 offensively for a net of +0.44. He got off to a normal start, but since return his number has been coming down. By comparison D-mo has a 1.90 defensively, and is exactly neutral offensively for a net of +1.90. D-mo got off to an extremely poor start offensively this year, his number has been coming up consistently Healthy Dwight is better than D-mo and still a beast, but this version we've been seeing is a mediocre player, and his loss probably results in more touches for D-mo, which makes us a better team.
We need to aim for a matchup with Dallas in the playoffs. I think with them picking up Rondo, it shifted the advantage towards us in a series. 1. Warriors vs. 8. Suns 4. Grizzlies vs. 5. Clippers 2. Trailblazers vs. 7. Spurs 3. Rockets vs. 6 Mavericks I think that'd be best case scenario...
The WCF playoffs this season is going to come down to matchups. If we could luck out and get a 3 seed with Dallas as the 6 seed (as it is now) and then beat them and face the number 2 seed in Memphis, I think that may be our best chance at getting to the WCF. not saying it will be easy at all, but that's a decent path for us, and better than the other possibilities.
As my previous post seems to have been taken too literally, I'll expand on that and provide the more serious follow up to that post. The fact that the Rockets are 3rd in the west, and 4th overall, is more due to the fact that most teams are very imperfect and that we as Rockets fans cannot see. Memphis for example lacks outside shooting still in a bad way, with their wing players abysmal in general. Something they recently shored up with with Jeff Green. Clippers problems are well-documented, including their top-heavy roster composition and reliance on some over-the-hill players. Blazers are dealing with a mediocre Batum and heavy reliance on Lillard/LMA's heroics the way Rockets are over-reliant on Harden. The Bulls are just a chemistry mess. Dallas has no bench and Rondo's a bad fit. Spurs have been pretty injured. Every team has their problems except maybe Warriors and Hawks. But even they have issues with paint defense that may bite them in the playoffs. That the Rockets have many problems, wrongly perceived by fans or real, does not change the fact that overall, our team is still very strong. And most of all, there's room to succeed. No other WC contending team can make as big a splash at the trade deadline like us.
The Hawks lack defensively elite players but their system is making up for it. It's not the same for the Warriors. They don't lack in anything. They have the defensive elite players AND the system. I really can't remember the last time a team was THIS good in the regular season while being this deep at the same time. It's different than the dominant Heat teams.
totally agree... we need to do anything and everything possible to avoid playing the warriors clips or grizz in the 2nd round if we want a legit shot at making WCF
Portland being the 2 seed is not that realistic. I think we have a decent shot against Memphis in the 2nd round. Basically the standings as they are TODAY would be pretty decent for us. 1. GS 2. Memphis 3. Houston 4. Portland 5. LAC 6. Dallas 7. SAS 8. PHO Avoiding the Spurs or Clippers in the 1st round is the KEY. then avoiding them again as well as the Warriors in the 2nd round.
The problem, of course, is that if Dallas is as relatively weaker as we are saying they are, they are not going to be able to hold on to the 6 seed for long. My sincere fear is that if we are the 3 seed that LAC or SAS will likely be in 6 seed by year's end. Sucks.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BIREoy7BViA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> "Houston Rockets taking over the 99 and 2000's."
Considering that the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th seeds will probably be Memphis, Houston, Portland, and Dallas, the chances of us making the conference finals are certainly in our favor.
Why would you think it was a mental problem with Dwight? I think it's extremely clear he is physically hurt.
We have moved the ball much better without this version of Dwight I think. That's why I'm not too concerned with him taking a good rest. If we had a slightly better backup C than Dorsey, we would still be a very good team IMO. If Morey manages to add a good PG and backup C before the deadline, we will be in great shape IMO.
Our winning percentage is almost the same with or without Howard. His presence on the floor is not holding the team back. But it's not helping much either. The good news is that even with a subpar Dwight, we are still damn good. The bad news is that as a net zero, Dwight's 20M contract looks kind of bad. He needs two things to help this team over the hump: (1) get 100% healthy; and (2) change his offense and take a back seat to DMo, a.k.a. listen to CF! :grin:
Sending the Mavs home in the first round would be my absolute dream scenario. Especially if Terry hits some dagger threes against his old team. It's really weird to not be scared of the Mavs AT ALL. Our depth would run their team through the ground. They just have a really lousy bench.
