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[ESPN] West Playoff Race. Who needs to make moves?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Deuce, Dec 4, 2018.

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Deuce Context & Nuance

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2. Who's the second-best team in the West?
Snellings: The Rockets, who should legitimately believe they can beat the Warriors when operating at their healthy peak. The Thunder aren't far behind, and no one should sleep on what LeBron is accomplishing with the Lakers.

Windhorst: I don't know. Not the answer I figured to have at this juncture, but here we are. I will say that looking just at the Warriors as benefiting from the muddled West isn't accurate in my mind. LeBron likely doesn't fear any of these teams, and in a playoff series he'd like his chances to overwhelm all of them. Short of the Warriors when fully healthy, I suppose.

Young: The Thunder. It's very tight between them and the Nuggets -- and the Nuggets just beat the Thunder in OKC a week ago -- but with the best defense in the league while overcoming early injuries, the Thunder are more well-rounded. It's also a pretty big leap to go from out altogether to claiming the proverbial second-best spot, even though the Nuggets have a great case.

Pelton: I expect the Oklahoma City Thunder to be the second-best come May. Oklahoma City currently sports the West's second-best differential behind the Denver Nuggets, and that's despite Russell Westbrook missing eight games due to injury. The Thunder will still add stopper Andre Roberson to what's already been the league's best defense on a per-possession basis and have plenty of playoff experience.

Herring: For now, I think it's hard to argue against the Clippers, even though I assume another club -- perhaps the Lakers, Thunder or Blazers -- will hit another gear as we move closer to the playoffs. They're hovering right around being in the top-10 efficiency-wise on both sides of the ball, which generally signals contention. Tobias Harris has taken yet another step forward. It's very easy to like this team -- they just don't have a superstar, so I think they get less attention because of it.

3. Which West team needs to make a move?
Windhorst: The Rockets. You know who agrees? The Rockets. It's why they offered four first-round picks for Jimmy Butler. Last season, they were able to make a midseason addition in Gerald Green that really helped. They need something to help boost their depth.

Young: The Rockets are a pretty clear choice. They have a serious wing issue and, paired within that, considerable depth problems. Some things will be solved by improved health overall, but the mix of James Ennis, Gary Clark and a few weeks of Carmelo Anthony has not plugged the holes left behind by Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute.

Herring: I actually want to flip this one a bit: I'd encourage the Nuggets not to make too big of a move. They may get Isaiah Thomas back this month from his March hip procedure, but with how Monte Morris has performed -- he's efficient, plays both sides of the floor and has the NBA's best assist-to-turnover ratio at a ridiculous 7-to-1 -- it's imperative that they don't take any minutes away from him off the bench. Maybe he and Thomas can play alongside each other. But Morris has played too well to take him off the floor.

Pelton: It's a troubling sign for the Houston Rockets' depth that they can add Danuel House from the G League and immediately play him 20-plus minutes per game. Houston needs more on the bench, and consider me skeptical that Brandon Knight will be part of the solution given how much time he has missed and how ineffective he was in Phoenix prior to his ACL injury.

Snellings: The New Orleans Pelicans need to shift some of their frontline strength to the perimeter if they want to contend. Anthony Davis' impending free-agency decision is the elephant in the room, and they need to either bring in a star wing to show him they're serious about winning or else consider moving him early to get as much value as possible for a rebuild.

Bonus: Who are your current eight West playoff picks?
Snellings: Warriors, Rockets, Thunder, Lakers, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Jazz and Blazers

Herring: In no particular order: Warriors, Thunder, Clippers, Lakers, Rockets, Nuggets, Grizzlies and Jazz

Windhorst: I don't make predictions. But I would say there are a couple of MVP candidates on teams outside the playoff line right now -- namely Anthony Davis and James Harden -- who have a pretty strong chance of them bringing their teams back in.

Pelton: Nuggets, Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, Lakers, Pelicans, Thunder and Jazz

Young: Warriors, Thunder, Nuggets, Lakers, Rockets, Clippers, Jazz and Blazers

#1 Deuce, Dec 4, 2018

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JayZ750 Contributing Member

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I don't like the Thunder - obviously - but am interested to watch their approach. Because its what it should be. Defense first. Cause that team can be/is (1st so far) really good defensively, while middle of the pack offensively (16th)

And in general, in light of the early offensive explosion that has since abated, the
Grizzlies (5th defensively, 23 offensively)
Nuggets (4th defensively, 9th offensively)
Lakers (7th defensively, 18th offensively)

The Clippers are the opposite.
The Blazers are opposite.
The Kings are just weird (not great in either... will probably fall back record wise here)
The Rockets... of course, are incredibly opposite... can't play D for crap this year.
The Warriors, without Draymond so long, are opposite, too.

Will these defense first teams continue to be great?

#2 JayZ750, Dec 4, 2018
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Media are backing the Rox! Be alarm!

#3 daywalker02, Dec 4, 2018
Last edited: Dec 4, 2018

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Deuce Context & Nuance

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JayZ750 said: ↑

I don't like the Thunder - obviously - but am interested to watch their approach. Because its what it should be. Defense first. Cause that team can be/is (1st so far) really good defensively, while middle of the pack offensively (16th)
Click to expand...

The Thunder ADDed "playable bench depth" in Schroder and Noel. Couple that with bench guys like Felton, Patterson, Abrines, improved play from Grant and young legs in Ferguson and Diallo.

The Thunder has been able to "buoy" the team during injury stretches without Westbrook (and Roberson all season) because of the BENCH DEPTH.

The Thunder made the RIGHT bench moves and the Rockets made the wrong bench moves.

And here we are.

#4 Deuce, Dec 4, 2018

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JayZ750 Contributing Member

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Deuce said: ↑

The Thunder ADDed "playable bench depth" in Schroder and Noel. Couple that with bench guys like Felton, Patterson, Abrines, improved play from Grant and young legs in Ferguson and Diallo.

The Thunder has been able to "buoy" the team during injury stretches without Westbrook (and Roberson all season) because of the BENCH DEPTH.

The Thunder made the RIGHT bench moves and the Rockets made the wrong bench moves.

And here we are.
Click to expand...

Noel has basically the same contract as MCW.

I understand the desire for CP3 backup.

But its insane to me that DM though maybe MCW could work out on this team (much less in the NBA), while simultaneously thinking our backup bigs are covered by Nene/Zhou/Hartenstein (bearing in mind Nene only played 54 games last year at 14 mpg).

Of course, I don't know... maybe Noel had his choice of teams at that contract and preferred the Thunder.

But its confusing af that for all his analytics, DM thought MCW was a fit. In a world where you can pluck guards from the g-league to basically give you MCW impact.

Noel is like a mini-Capela, and would have been great in the minutes where Hartenstein has sucked.

#5 JayZ750, Dec 4, 2018

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Deuce Context & Nuance

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Yup.

JayZ750 said: ↑

Noel has basically the same contract as MCW.

I understand the desire for CP3 backup.

But its insane to me that DM though maybe MCW could work out on this team (much less in the NBA), while simultaneously thinking our backup bigs are covered by Nene/Zhou/Hartenstein (bearing in mind Nene only played 54 games last year at 14 mpg).

Of course, I don't know... maybe Noel had his choice of teams at that contract and preferred the Thunder.

But its confusing af that for all his analytics, DM thought MCW was a fit. In a world where you can pluck guards from the g-league to basically give you MCW impact.

Noel is like a mini-Capela, and would have been great in the minutes where Hartenstein has sucked.
Click to expand...

#6 Deuce, Dec 4, 2018
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Most free agents and buyout players want better owners. Bad owners learn to hate the good owners.

#7 Fish36floor, Dec 4, 2018

BigShasta Contributing Member

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Yo who is snelling@!!!

#8 BigShasta, Dec 4, 2018
pippendagimp Member

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JayZ750 said: ↑

Noel has basically the same contract as MCW.

I understand the desire for CP3 backup.

But its insane to me that DM though maybe MCW could work out on this team (much less in the NBA), while simultaneously thinking our backup bigs are covered by Nene/Zhou/Hartenstein (bearing in mind Nene only played 54 games last year at 14 mpg).

Of course, I don't know... maybe Noel had his choice of teams at that contract and preferred the Thunder.

But its confusing af that for all his analytics, DM thought MCW was a fit. In a world where you can pluck guards from the g-league to basically give you MCW impact.

Noel is like a mini-Capela, and would have been great in the minutes where Hartenstein has sucked.
Click to expand...

but morey said mcw was pegged as a wing player for us and not at point guard. in any case he sucks at everything lol. and during the summer i was pissed and posting in this forum how we screwed up not signing noel and jeff green and instead literally burning $ on mcw. i was pissed about the melo signing. the previous summer i posted the same about not signing willie reed and instead wasting $ on nene for a 2.5yr contract. if us novices on CFnet see all these mishaps immediately with such clarity, then how the F does a professional like morey keep F'ing up over and over and over again?

#9 pippendagimp, Dec 4, 2018
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Rockets ranking: 2, 3, 5, 5.

Will underachieving Rockets even make the playoffs?

#10 Fish36floor, Dec 4, 2018
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pippendagimp said: ↑

but morey said mcw was pegged as a wing player for us and not at point guard. in any case he sucks at everything lol. and during the summer i was pissed and posting in this forum how we screwed up not signing noel and jeff green and instead literally burning $ on mcw. i was pissed about the melo signing. the previous summer i posted the same about not signing willie reed and instead wasting $ on nene for a 2.5yr contract. if us novices on CFnet see all these mishaps immediately with such clarity, then how the F does a professional like morey keep F'ing up over and over and over again?
Click to expand...

There was no gurantee those dudes were gonna sign with us, Noel in particular seemed pretty set on OKC.

#11 HP3, Dec 4, 2018
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HP3 said: ↑

There was no gurantee those dudes were gonna sign with us, Noel in particular seemed pretty set on OKC.
Click to expand...

so we went from "we're going to have our choice of free agents" to having to settle for the worst player in the entire league (mcw)

#12 pippendagimp, Dec 4, 2018
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This is actually really interesting. So what we have is more national media members believing more in the Rockets than some here on the boards. Cp3's post-game comments that exude confidence in not being able to lose 4 out of 7 games against any team is one thing. But for the national media to believe that we'll break thru somehow and even citing Harden carrying us over makes me think we can't be too down on our own players. I'd like to see more accountability, esp on the in-game coaching decisions and on our star players with each other. Again, I'll keep calm and believe we'll break thru. Last night was super frustrating to see, but I'll err on the side of our star players' confidence in our current roster.

#13 RocketsFan247, Dec 4, 2018

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pippendagimp said: ↑

so we went from "we're going to have our choice of free agents" to having to settle for the worst player in the entire league (mcw)
Click to expand...

Yea...signing MCW was def not a good decision LOL. I think I heard one time it was because MCW had historically been a good defender of Curry or something and that was why lol, but whatdya know...he cant defend either.

#14 HP3, Dec 4, 2018
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If Atlanta cut loose Jeremy Lin or ask for a 2nd rounder, do you want Morey to get him?

#15 boiler, Dec 4, 2018

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We have become the last year OKC version of this year. A team that are on the brink of turning the corner to challenge GSW, but just never seem to get there. Hope the outcome is actually that and not what happened to OKC last year.

#16 gotsis, Dec 4, 2018

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boiler said: ↑

If Atlanta cut loose Jeremy Lin or ask for a 2nd rounder, do you want Morey to get him?
Click to expand...

Jeremy Lin is terrible at switching defensively.... he just doesn't have good instincts.

#17 Nook, Dec 4, 2018
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Nook said: ↑

Jeremy Lin is terrible at switching defensively.... he just doesn't have good instincts.
Click to expand...

Regardless of whether or not this is true or not, or can be fixed, we can't just IGNORE that MDA made Jeremy Lin a start and household name. So why couldn't he make him a capable backup PG for this team for 12 to 15 minutes a game? Or could he? He had bad blood with Melo, so we let Melo go after chasing him for years. He loved Lin, so why not give that a shot if it only costs a 2nd rounder or less? CP3 needs a backup in the worst way!

#18 FANfrom86toNow, Dec 4, 2018

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FANfrom86toNow said: ↑

Regardless of whether or not this is true or not, or can be fixed, we can't just IGNORE that MDA made Jeremy Lin a start and household name. So why couldn't he make him a capable backup PG for this team for 12 to 15 minutes a game? Or could he? He had bad blood with Melo, so we let Melo go after chasing him for years. He loved Lin, so why not give that a shot if it only costs a 2nd rounder or less? CP3 needs a backup in the worst way!
Click to expand...

my mind says yes, but my heart says no...

also imagine the turmoil on cf??!!

#19 hakeem94, Dec 4, 2018

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glad to see we're finally getting some love

#20 tc0330, Dec 4, 2018

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