The 2019-20 Rockets are going to win 60+ games... and it's going to suck

honestly, we don't need major changes

just gotta hope KD leaves the Warriors

if you restart the Rockets/Warriors series without KD, I believe we win that series

 

If KD leaves, which it would make sense if he did, then we do need to make changes.

Our team is currently constructed to compete with the Warriors with KD. Having KD on that team allows us to play one on one with KD with good enough switch defense and hopefully hit enough threes to have more points per possession than they do.

Without KD they become a ball-hopping, get your defense out of position on the shot, consequently also out of position on the rebound and deflate your energy by knocking down three after three.

If they lose KD we need to find better off the ball defenders.

Just my opinion

 

I don't really know what choice you have. You have James in his prime and locked in with an aging 2nd star for three more years.

You absolutely do what you can to try to bring in Butler or any other star that is available, but otherwise you tweak the depth and make another run at it.

There is no alternative. Nobody is touching that CP3 contract. You could maybe unload Capela and/or EG to shuffle the deck (assuming you can't get Butler for either of them) but I'm not sure who you're getting for them that puts you closer to beating GS. The best bet is to find or develop another solid rotation player or two, because what really lost the series to GS was having only 5-6 playable guys that weren't huge liabilities on defense.

 

First of all, I'm not confident that Clark or House( if he stays in Houston) or Hart/ Edwards can make a leap that is so vitally needed to propel forward in the playoffs. It's not enough to be a strong regular team and then falter in the playoffs. Lack of cap room and an older Chris Paul, Eric Gordon and PJ Tucker will hurt us. They are very valuable, but extra depth is needed. Changes will have to be made to help James Harden. That's the bottom line. We need to either win an NBA championship next season or go into rebuilding mode if we fail in this goal.

 

True, but cap room and choosing the right players plus luck is needed for this. The Rockets are stuck with only the 5 M plus MLE barring a Capela plus a Gordon trade.

 

I don't know if I'd simplify it quite that much. It's pretty clear this Warriors team is still great sans Durant. In some ways, they're better(at least offensively). My contention is that they cannot sustain this with this group of players over an 82-game season and the playoffs. The toll it would take on Curry, Draymond, and especially Iggy would be too much.

Remember that Draymond was fat and out of shape for much of the season before losing about 20 lbs prior to the playoffs. He couldn't get away with that if Durant(and Boogie for that matter) were gone. Iggy can't be limited to under 30 minutes a game all year if there's no Durant. And BTW, Iggy will be 36 in January. And Thompson, Bogut, Looney, Jerebko, Cook, and Bell are all free agents this summer. Klay likely sticks around for a max deal, but can they afford to keep the rest of those guys? Hell, will they be able to re-sign even half of them?

So I do think the Rockets with a few tweaks and a much better start to the season next year are primed to take the Warriors to the limit again and this time hopefully get over the hump. It's really gonna come down to how much less energy Golden State has after 82 games without Durant, how much longer Iggy can keep this up, and how many other free agent defections they suffer.

 

This has been too understated on this board. They are a much harder team to guard without KD. And with The ball in KDs hands, we are trading 3s for 2s.

Without KD, they shoot as many 3s as us, but with better shooters

 

Alas but I'm afraid that you are dead spot on here. D'Antoni is nearing the end of his career - it's too late for him to change his system. Morey has been doing his "thing" for so long he's incapable of making the changes necessary to get them over the top. And, as you point out, they are stuck with Harden's and CP3's contracts. So as we sit here in May 2019 it's plain to see that their one "hope" is for KD to be stupid enough to leave GS and go elsewhere. I have long ceased drinking the red koolaid and I will believe in this team and organization when I see them actually do it on the court.

 

No

 

Too many people have a boom or bust mentality with the Rockets and Harden, which is incredibly short sighted IMO. But then again, no one would ever confuse the vocal elements of CF here with higher level thinking. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Winning championships is hard. Garnett was one of the best PF's of all time and he had to go to Celtics to join up with Pierce and Allen to win his ring. MJ was paired up with one of the best defensive wings (and a top talent in his own right) of all time in Pippen with one of the best coaches in NBA history. KD joined a team that won 73 games in a season and had 3 All-Stars already including superstar Curry. LBJ joined a prime Wade and Bosh on the Heat. Like seriously, WTF people? It's like saying life is not worth living and enjoying if we can't become immortal in the end. Bunch of dumb ****s...

 

What an incredibly short sighted POV.

 

I don't have a problem with this line of thinking. Nobody denies that the Rockets are a very good basketball team, but they should be judged on playoff success. The Rockets consistently talk publicly about being "obsessed with beating the Warriors", and yet they can't do it year in and year out, so why should anybody care about how many games they win in the regular season? Sure...I love watching the Rockets, so I will obviously enjoy the regular season as a source of entertainment, but we're in like year 7 of the Harden era. Playoffs are what Harden, Paul, Morey, and D'Antoni are going to rightfully be judged by.

 

as crazy as it sounds we would have had a better chance winning with KD playing.....

not saying we would have won, but we would have had a better chance.

if KD leaves we need to shake up the roster. before KD even got to GS they ate our lunch money.

 

We must accept it, according to ticket sales reps - "unfortunately is out of our control. We have run into what has turned into one of basketball’s great dynasties and that’s just something we must accept."

Rocket's brass ring is pushing that message!

 

I don't see how it's stupid for Durant to leave at this point. The Warriors have shown they don't need him anymore. The nightmare scenario ironically would be if they won the Finals without him. Ok, that's the 2nd worst scenario. The worst would be if he came back and they lost. Either way though, he's outta there.

But those were different Warriors teams. They had better depth and a much younger Iggy and Livingston. I do think if Durant leaves, they'll address their bench this summer, but they'll have limited resources. Basically they'll either be relying on vets on minimum deals or the same young guys they have right now. And there's no guarantee they hang onto Looney. He's making 1 1/2 mil this year and will be in line for a big bump in pay.

 

Media will treat us the same way, nothing more, nothing less, who cares. As far as the current roster goes, CP3 came here with great intentions and to help bring the championship to Houston, but who here truly believes he can do that going forward? One way or another, this team NEEDS an upgrade with at least one more all-star caliber player - someone who is a playmaker and a ballhandler, this team also badly needs length.

 

In the words of the person in the White House......WRONG! The Rockets NEED and I'm going to say it for the umpteenth time! THE ROCKETS NEED A LEGIT FORWARD, NOT 6'4 AND 6'5 GUARDS PLAYING THE FORWARD POSITION!

You can win with those lineups doing the season but in the playoffs you get outrebounded and out muscled! Which is what we saw this year, GS killed us in the 4 games we lost!

I WOULD LIKE FOR MOREY TO GET A DEFINITE PLAN FOR ONCE!!!!!!!

I would offer Capela and a #1 in a trade to try and lure Myles Turner. If you can't get AD, Turner would be a perfect forward to pare with Harden. Get a legit PF/Frontcourt player for once that can score! Sign D. Jordan in Free Agency. Resign Austin Rivers, D. House and/or Faried.

 

This.

Good.
Who cares about a 50 win regular season (and 1st/2nd round exits).
Who cares about MVP anymore? Every March, get into a pissing match with the media because they have Westbrook or Giannis or whoever for MVP.
Who cares? We're past regular season MVPs now. (Especially when that MVP play doesn't carry over to the playoffs.)
Who cares if they beat the Warriors or whoever 3/4 times in the regular season. That means absolutely nothing.
Are here to cherish a great regular season? @kjayp

 

1. We don't need to change our system. The system works. The reason this collection of players can be somewhat competitive with one of the best teams of all time, is the system. We just need to keep trying to find better players that fit into our system.

2. Forget about the national media. Those guys get paid to talk. They get paid to create click bait headlines. They get paid to get you talking about the stupid things they say. The media likes to cast certain players and teams as villains. Harden and the Rockets are a really good team, but the media need them to be the villains. Forget about the national media.