Who here is still bitter about this season and who here has moved on and is optimistic?

Oogie boogie,

No one feels entitled, but people are rightly concerned because 1) we have few good assets 2) our owner seems to be meddling in harmful ways 3) our best player got fat last year, regressed, and is back to partying this off season

 

There is no true version, superstitious believe material

Either you are bad, mediocre, good or a top contender.

We were shifting between mediocre and good.

 

I'm always optimistic about the Rockets. I don't know why. I'm not optimistic in other aspects of my life but I believe every single year we have a chance to go all the way.

 

I'm not always optimistic that we'll go all the way, Batman, but I'm always optimistic at the start of the year that we'll play well and be in the mix for the playoffs. By the end of the season, however, there are often various bumps and bruises on my noggin from pounding my head against a wall in frustration. I'm considering asking for a padded hat of some kind for Christmas. Any suggestions? My significant other thinks I need a padded cell, with a big TV, surround sound, and a door that locks from the outside. Ain't love grand?

 

This is why I don't think CF is ready for a tanking team. Everyone keeps saying they'd rather blow everything up than have one that is mediocre, but judging from people having a heart attack just from last season where we made a playoffs I thinks some posters will end up in a hospital if the Rox do indeed put up a lottery bound team.

As for me the main reason I'm optimistic is through some way Ty Lawson removed the last year of his 12M contract. If we had that albatross around our neck at this time and considering we gave our 1st round pick away there'd be no hope for next season. As it is though I'm optimistic we can sign someone good. People forget but the roster right now is basically what we had last year, sure we had Dwight but he played like **** the entire season. So adding 1 or maybe even 2 max contracts to our roster would be great, it doesn't even have to be a true max player like KD even guys like Batum or Horford would make the team way better instantly.

 

i'm both bitter and optimistic.

i'm still bitter about the complete and utter **** show that was last season. I was optimistic about getting the off-season started right by hiring a top coach and maybe making a move in the right direction on draft night. but MDA and zhou qi left me bitter again.

at this point, i'm cautiously optimistic about free agency. i don't think we will land any of the max guys (KD, horford, conley, batum) but i think we can add some good pieces which will help. i'm also optimistic that the team will rebuild their chemistry under MDA.

with a stronger roster and better chemistry, even with questionable coaching this team should be able to win 55+ games as we did under mchale. but that bitterness is still there, mostly for Les. forcing us to make the playoffs and give up the 12th pick, forcing the hire of MDA over vogel, drafting qi... Les doesn't make basketball decisions, he makes monetary decisions, and its sucking the fun out of rooting for the team.

 

I don't think there is any moves the Rockets can make this summer to make this team a contender short of signing KD and another star which isn't going to happen.

If you can't get Conley and a whiteside to come here which is the likely outcome, you have to take a hard look at this roster and realize that you basically have one star in Harden and some good bench players in Ariza, Bev, Beasley, Capella and Dmo but no other starting level capable players.

It won't happen but the best move for the Rockets is to make no move this summer that doesn't shed salary or get us picks. I would try to move Ariza, and anyone else and hope you have a lottery year. Then with a high pick and a ton of cap space - you get a big pick-up in the draft and sign two big names in the summer of 2017 and a few role players, as well as hoping some of your other young talent develops and you can leap into contention.

But I can't see how even adding a Mike Conley and a Whiteside makes this team anything better than a 4 seed that still loses to a G.S., SA, or OKC.

 

I think adding Conley and Whiteside would give us a legit shot... you never know how things will play out (ie Curry injury) but short of at least a couple really good acquisitions, I pretty much agree...

 

I'm not at all suggesting the tank route, but tanking would at least convey a vision a commitment to advance the team toward a ring. You'd have to be truly committed to such a strategy, and i think some could at least respect the method.

The reason it's hard to be optimistic is the narrative that Les wants a money making team vs a championship team is fully developed and out there for fan consumption. True or not, his moves and how he's handled decisions at least indicate that.

Last season was frustrating because we were a mediocre middling team void of clear leadership, discipline and direction.

Can that be corrected? I'm hopeful....but not optimistic yet.

 

Well, my butt doesn't hurt any more.

 

What is there to be optimistic about? We're a mediocre team that has little in young assets and draft picks. We also don't attract star free agents. At best we are a 7-8 seed that once again has ended up on the treadmill of mediocrity. No high draft picks, no playoff success. This is the worst.

 

How the hell are there more optimistic votes?
Although I'm no longer bitter about last season, how on earth can people be optimistic about the upcoming season? Is it because of Pringles? or because of the parade of GP2 or Qi from last weeks draft? Or maybe because of missing out on a Durant meeting (Oooh - that must mean he's coming to Houston!) or the cap space we have (just like 25 other teams SMH).
We're wasting the talents of a MVP caliber player who at this rate will walk at contracts end.
But in Morey we trust! I just hope he proves us all wrong and can turn things around.

 

How can a team survive utterly terrible decisions by its clueless owner?

I am more seeing it as a joke because bad health won't help the fan.

 

denial is more than just a river Egypt... as you mentioned, how many fans here STILL think we have ANY shot at Durant... when EVERYTHING says we don't...?

 

A lot of abused women are optimistic that one day the guys who abuse them will change.

To me, rooting for a team is not all about winning. It's about honor and spirit. This offseason has not given me any sign that the team will be changed into that. I am losing faith for the top management of the franchise to build a team I can be proud of. I haven't felt this pessimistic about the Rockets since the Steve Francis days. I felt more proud as a Rockets fans through the mediocre years under JVG and Adelman than when we played the Warriors in the WCF in 2015.

 

The poll is a false dichotomy. You can not be bitter but also pessimistic. The problem is we have no definition of what success looks like. Championship contender? I font see any path to that this offseason, but I could see them good enough to win 50 games and be a 4-5 seed.

 

I think people are forgetting what a gem Beasley is and I see us making at least a signing of Conley stature. Still need a couple of moves but three 15 mil players could make a huge difference. Conley may be more but the great Morey has something up his sleeve.

 

Not sure bitter is the right word for me. Jaded maybe. We went into this season adding Lawson and a "healthy" dmo along with a gunner (Thornton) I think I just put blinders on and seriously over valued our players and when they lost the first 3 by 20 points I sat in shock. Then as the season progressed I kept drinking from the river of denial thinking we would get our crap together until halfway through I realized that the rockets simply overachieved last year. I'm not making that mistake this offseason. I am not pounding the F5 key like last year. I am resigned to the fact that we will not be competitive with the Spurs, Warriors or Thunder this coming season. As much as I would love it would make zero sense for Durant to come here unless his relationships with Harden and Beasley are "priceless" because coming to Houston makes zero business or competitive sense for him. After that I am getting more concerned that the rox is a marked team. Marked as a team that free agents don't want to screw with cause they are made to feel like analytic assets and not people.

So no, not optimistic going into this season AT ALL

 

I'm not bitter about last year. It's over. There's no point in harping on it.

What I am bitter about, is what they've done since the end of last year. So I'm not optimistic either.

I hate the Mike D selection as our coach. It doesn't sound like we're getting a good chance to get top free agents. I feel like we aren't going in the needed direction at all, but have doubled down on our mistakes.

That being said, I hope that I'm wrong. I could well be wrong. I've been wrong once or twice before. I really have.

 

I voted bitter, not because I am angry anymore, more so because I'm not optimistic with the options coming.

We need to find a superstar (Durant isn't coming, so who knows who that would be) to pair with Harden and brand new role players (all of ours last year seemed to have forgotten how to play).