Yeah thats what i was about to say..if were 16th rank than there basically saying were gonna barley make it to the playoffs. Maybe not even make it.
this article sucks. whoever wrote that have no clue beside jumping on the bandwagon 1. 2 Dallas (2) - fine, agreed 2. 3 San Antonio (5) -ok 3. 4 Phoenix (4) without amare they were great with nash, now with half of former self amare back... 4. 9 L.A. Clippers (8) - ok, questionable but will give it higher than rockets 5. 11 Memphis (9) - no way! i predict that they will missed the playoff and jump on the odgen bandwagon 6. 12 NO/Okla City (18) - lower than rockets for sure, even with addition of peja 7. 13 Denver (12) - agreed and they should be higher than the two above 8. 14 L.A. Lakers (10) - no major off-season moves, zen master is losing his touch 9. 16 Houston (22) - rockets should be the 6 to 7 seed
Let the haters hate. Cause next year they will sure as hell appreciate. Haha, sorry had to say that. Anyways, just like the MSN/FoxSports rankings. It's good that everyone thinks we will suck. Cause we know we have it, and pretty soon the rest of the NBA world will too.
...yet they STILL ranked them higher than the Rockets(five spots higher to be exact). I gotta agree with much of the sentiment here - we are underrated. The few writers who actually gave the Rockets respect(for once in their life) last year had to eat crow at the end of the year. NO ONE ouside of Houston is going to give them the benefit of the doubt this year - not after last year's debacle. We gotta earn it this year and I think we will. Memphis - no way they finish higher than the Rockets. We will find that Battier was the glue of that Memphis team. Unless Rudy Gay can step it up(big time), I don't think they nearly as effective as they were last year. Another first round sweep... Clippers - can be a strong team if some of their younger players finally step up and stop being inconsistent. Their biggest problems are their identity is tied to an aging Sam Cassel and they can't shoot to save their lives. They lost their one specialist to the Lakers in the offseason and a smart team is going to Zone them up and force them to beat them with the extra pass and outside shooting. They probably will make the playoffs(and even finish ahead of Houston by a few games), but they are a weak playoff team and overall I think Houston is much better than them. Denver - again, they can't shoot and when opposing teams need a stop they can exploit that. Melo will get his, but outside of him who else do they have who's still effective. Camby had a banner year last year when he wasn't hurt, but he is getting old and I wonder how much longer he can enforce the paint when the Denver guards let guys head right to the hoop with high frequency. Kenyon Martin is done. Andre Miller wasn't nearly as effective last year. Everyone on that squad(except Melo & Nene since he HAS to do better than the what he did last year sitting on the bench all season) is poised to do worse than they did last year. The Rockets will be MUCH better than the Nuggets next year. NO/Okie City - Yes, they may have a squad but I think they are still too young to seriously compete and their two main additions this year(Chandler & Pedja) seem to have reached their max potential already. I don't think Chandler & Pedja make them significalty better next year. I think they still fight for a 6-8th seed spot and get torn apart in the playoffs. Realistically, they will be chasing Houston in the standings for most of the year.... So here is how I think next year pans out 1 Dallas 2 Phoenix 3 San Antonio 4 LA Clippers 5 Houston Rockets 6 LA Lakers 7 Denver 8 Okalhoma/NO 9 Memphis
According to them Houston will be 8th seed since ther are ranked 16th. May not even make playoffs? pftt
Is there any reason for the national media to rank us any higher? Both of our superstars are coming off of major injuries, and we were one of the biggest disappointments last year with the 22nd place finish. As a Rockets fan, I'm inclined to believe several things will go right for the Rockets. Namely, (1)Yao will continue his superstar play from end of last year, (2)Both Yao and T-Mac will not miss more than a handful of games, and (3)our role players perform adequately with the 2 stars back in place. But there's good reason to think the above won't happen. In which case, #16 looks about right if some things go wrong.
I don't trust preseason rankings. Remember last season, when several 'experts' put us in the top five in the League and one put us at no. 2 in the Western Conference. But still, it's ok to be seen as underachieved. We will surprise them in the regular season.............
Let the doubters doubt. McGrady does love doubters BTW...It's going to motivate him and the whole team. We'll show them.
i agree. considering how bad we sucked last year 16 is pretty good. i like the fact that we fell off the radar. no talk about finals or conference finals. no talk about t-mac being a top 5-7 player. no talk about yao's dominance in the 2nd half of last year. i like being an underdog...just keep a low-profile and if healthy, we can come out and suprise alot of people. regarding orlando, i think they might be really good next year. them and chicago should make some real noise in the east.
I don't have thread starting ability but this deserves one. Jeff Hornacek's wikipedia page... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hornacek. Whoever did that, straight gold.
#16 is pretty high. Most of you guys bring up that we were injured all year, but in order to be an elite team, you have to step up when the going gets tough and we didn't. So we have to prove ourselves to get a higher rank.
most overrated: Memphis - they suffered without Damon and he is not recovering well. Loss of Battier hurts. Gay is not ready to contribute this season. Stro doesn't want to play there. Lorenzo Wright is gone too. overrated: Lakers - they overachieved last year. Kobe had one of the best seasons in history, unlikely to repeat. Radmanovic is inconsistent. somewhat overrated: NO/Oki - much better talent, yes. Need time to work the chemistry between the new pieces. most underrated: Minny - Randy Foye/Mike James huge upgrade in the backcourt. underrated: Sacto - They had a great second half. Bonzi not such a big deal compared to having Ronnie for a full year. somewhat underrated - Rockets. If T-mac/Yao healthy they can finish anywhere between fourth and ninth
Forgot to mention, the above is just for the WC. Otherwise, by far the biggest blooper in these rankings is the Knicks. NY will be a playoff team, possibly with HC advantage. All this talent with so much to prove, my bet is that they put it all together and start winning consistently. Last season was a huge fart that is not going to repeat.
