I look at the Playoff Teams from Last Year Warriors 73-9 - IMPROVED greatly - lost some depth maybe Spurs 67-15 - Lost West - No Big Whoop - Stayed Pat to minor improvement Thunder 55-27 - GOT ALOT WORSE Clippers 53 - 29 - Stayed Pat - I think they got jeff green TrailBlazers 44- 38 - No Improvement that I can think of Mavericks 42 - 40 - Bogut/Harrison Barnes/Deron Williams In Parsons Out Grizzles 42 - 40 - lost matt barnes - stayed pat Rockets 41 - 41 next Two Jazz 40-42 Kings 33 - 49 lost rondo Pelicans - Lost Ryan and Gordon My Point in this is . . . MAYBE I am a bit drinking the Kool Aid here but no one outside of SAN AN and GOLDEN STATE looks that fricking stellar The Rockets could IMO Easily be as high as the #3 seed but probably no lower than #6 Thunder - Clippers - Blazers - Mavs - Grizz . . .I would not say any of those teams as they are composed now are HEAD AND SHOULDERS about the Rockets. I don't think the JAZZ, Kings, Pelicans did anything to catapult above the Rockets If the Rockets can get to the Second Round and make a GOOD Showing there They would be a very ATTRACTIVE location for Free Agents Rocket River It's the summer. . .people suppose to be full of hope *grin*
there's no doubt rockets will be a top 10 offensive (not just scoring) team. if mda's system works for the players then they can be an elite offensive team. defense is a big if. they have the talent to be a top 10 on defense
....the Spurs added Pau Gasol. That is a huge improvement. The guy was insanely good last year (even at his age). they are going to be trotting out: Parker Green Leonard LMA Gasol
Correction: The Spurs got Gasol who is an upgrade from David West. Better than the Rockets last year. Still projected better this year. Clippers got Speights. Still projected better than the Rockets this year. Grizzlies - got Parsons. Still projected better than the Rockets. But yeah. I expect the Rockets to exceed expectations this year. Pass the kool aid.
I agree with your post. I think we will win 50 games and be the third or fourth seed? Didn't the Spurs pick up Pau Gasol?
At this point . . . . I am not overly impressed by any of them I expect the Clips to have a better record than us but they are playoff fodder Memphis is iffy I think we might have underestimated how much coaching matters and much of an anomoly last year was I am no great fan of Antoni but . . . i think he will be better than JB Rocket River
I forgot about Gasol . .. but honestly . . .. did anyone expect us to go 2-2 with the Spurs this year anyway? Rockets Might take 7-8 loses between the Spurs and Warriors Rocket River
I actually agree. I see us as a 4-5 seed this year. This same roster (with very little of Dwight remember) was the 2 seed in a much deeper West 2yrs ago. It's not like we had stalwarts on that team that significantly worsened with age since then. Everything depends on James. So far I haven't heard any Kardashian news this summer, so it's already a plus. Aside from that, I would consider us improved at PF, backup scorer, and most importantly, head coach. Rag on Pringles all you want--I did plenty myself--but he's an upgrade over Coach "Roll the ball out there" McHale. Kevin McHale, the Mediocre Mediator, had ONE JOB--make sure Dwight and James don't bite each others' heads off--and he failed. Good riddance.
I think MDA is a rung right below Adelman. In my mind Adelman gets the Nod as being the better coach since he made to the Finals once. I think this years team will have ball movement similar to when rick was hear.
Spoiler You know you wanted to.... Spoiler ....mad KoolAid Spoiler GO ROCKETS!!! ....... ....... .......
The Timberwolves got better I think they will make the playoffs for sure. And they will be scary for years to come.
I predict Rox will be anywhere from 3rd-6th, it depends on how well our starting 5 meshes and the health of Anderson, DMo and Gordon. If everyone is healthy though I don't see why the Rox can't get 3rd seed, none of the other teams besides Spurs and GSW look unbeatable. And LOL at the predictions people have here, talent wise none of the other teams landed needle movers I mean George Hill? Festus Ezili? Chandler Parsons? You think these kind of additions are significantly better than Ryan Anderson and Ben Gordon? They are all roughly on par, so if you think these teams improved the Rox improved as well.
Sure other people mentioned it but Spurs added Pau Gasol Grizzlies will hopefully have a healthy season and added Chandler Parsons Clippers didn't do anything Jazz added Joe Johnson, George Hill. They also will be hoping to remain healthy this season. Blazers got Evan Turner and Ezili, but lost Crabbe and Henderson. Mavericks got Bogut and Harrison Barnes = better defensive team Kings won't be good no matter what Pelicans Moore and Hill. Likely won't be threat unless Davis has an amazing season Nuggets will be better from growth Thunder are worse Warriors are better
It all depends on injuries, if every team in the west is healthy.. then I project us to land somewhere from 6-8. A 5th or 6th seed would be overachieving for this roster.
If we stay some what healthy..I will sip spne Kool aiand as well... Warriors Spurs Clippers Rockets Blazers Grizzlies Jazz Mavs Sleepers are Timberwolves
If you search for past NBA seasons for teams with the same offensive rating and eFG as the Rockets last year, but you ONLY increase Assists/Game to 23 from 22.2 and decrease TO's from 15.9 down to below 14, every team such team won 49 or more games. http://bkref.com/tiny/DTrTc One would assume that the better shooters and MDA could increase the offense by 1 assist and decrease 2 TO's per game, if not do even better than that.
