How do the rockets stack up in the current western conference?

I wouldn't count stone and an eric gordon trade out. He needs to be moved. Maybe indiana wants him back?

 

I could see a trade of Gordon,House and Portland’s 2021 first for Oladipo being offerd to Indiana?

Then we can call it an all redemption team with Oladipo and Cousins looking to get back to their pre injury statuses

 

Would need at least 2 FRP, one to give away EGo contract and at least 1 for Oladipo.

 

The Russ trade pretty much handicapped that

 

Suns with CP3 are easily 8th or 7th seed.

Top tier: Lakers

2nd tier: Blazers (better than 2019 team), Nuggets

3rd tier: Clippers, Rockets, Mavs

4th tier: Suns, Jazz, Pelicans, Grizzlies

 

If we're still going to chuck threes with only one 40% three point shooter on the roster (BMac), we'll probably be a 6-8 seed.

If we use CWood and Boogie down low like we should, we'll be a 2-3 seed.

Lakers will be hard to catch. They are loaded.

 

The Celtics (a super team with Paul Pierce, KG, and Ray Allen) literally won the championship a year later in 2008.

 

I agree. As much as I enjoyed our gimmicky team, we were still a gimmick. If we go traditional we have the talent for 2 or 3.

The lakers would have to have a significant injury to fall very far.

 

There have been super teams for decades. I'm talking about the more recent trend where the players build up the teams themselves. That Boston trio didn't decide to team up, KG and Allen were traded for and were hesitant about playing together. Lebron, Wade, and Bosh decided to team up in their primes. GS recruited KD to join their already championship squad. Kawhi and Paul George decided join the Clippers together. KD and Kyrie decided to join up in Brooklyn together. Lebron and AD deterred any team besides the Lakers for trading for the latter.

Star players have always had pull but they are now de facto GMs. They collude with each other. The super teams of the past decade are different from the ones of before. Part of the reason Lebron's Heat decision was so shocking was because we hadn't seen something like it. Next year Giannis could decide to join the Lakers and it wouldn't be unusual at all. I'm pretty much expecting it if the Bucks don't get to the finals.

 

Some people really don’t understand how much Portland has improved. They struggled last season because they were missing Nurkic and Collins, and they failed to replace the perimeter defense Aminu and Maurice Harkless gave them. Nurkic and Collins are healthy again, and they added the best 3&D guy in the league in Covington. Derrick Jones, Jr. is another guy that should help them, too.

 

I know LAL looks unstoppable to many, but they're not. Lebron is a year older and even world class athletes are more susceptible to more injuries especially after 35. AD is 27, which statistically is the peak for NBA players, but he's battled injuries the last few years. Either one of those guys go down for a sustained period and they're not on top.

Also COVID will continue to impact the NBA, the season is starting in late Dec and has only 72 games. If the vaccine gets out and is effective, maybe that's a minimal impact, but either way there's factors. Almost every Western team has retooled to some extent, it takes time for all of those pieces to mesh.

Houston has both stars wanting out, a new coach/system and a GM who refuses to give in--a very interesting dynamic. We have a tough hill to climb and little time to get everyone up-to-speed and bought in to Silas and Stone. Personally, my expectations are low, but if we can stay healthy, get in the play-offs and have a cohesive team by then, I think we can compete. It may not be real pretty out the gate, but by the halfway point I'd hope we'll see what we have. If we can stay in that 4-6 seed range, that would be a blessing--anything higher than that and we've exceeded expectations. Of course this can all change with trades.

No matter what happens from here, I'm actually more excited by this team than what we played with last year.

 

In the pack behind the Lakers, including Denver, LAC, GSW and maybe Dallas. Need to see Phoenix play a few games before I buy in.

there’s not much separation 2-6.

 

Lebron may be 35 but the mofo literally sleeps in one of those cold chambers daily. Last year he looked more like he was a 30 yr old than 34 so you can expect him to still look great the next couple years barring energy. The lakers are so stacked now he can go chill mode and save the beast for the postseason and still be a top 3 seed.....not that homecourt will matter for them anyway.

People don't sleep on the clippers because of last year either. Getting serge was a huge move. What he brings is worth so much than trez. Zubac and ibaka is a nice frontline to go against lakers or nuggets...and still have the length of kawhi and PG on the wing. Tyronne lue > doc also

 

I think the 4th tier is a dangerous group here, and wont pretend to assume how the Rockets will do. The one thing the Rockets do not have going for them is a composed locker room or strong veteran leadership. This is a team of hot heads and players that have complexes and are notoriously difficult to play alongside.

I hate to be this jaded, but my feeling is there has to be a point at which you say 'this isn't working.' We've been re-tooling around James for years now with varying degrees of success. Maybe this year will be different, but the team right now doesn't feel that way, especially when your conference front-runner is arguably as challenging as the 2018 Warriors team we took 7 games with a much better roster.

 

As the roster stands, I believe this is about right. If we somehow acquire an upgrade to the SF position I see us moving up higher. Tucker needs to come off the bench and eric is just redundant. Stone better be working those phones. Maybe Ariza gets released.

 

Not good enough to seriously compete for a title.

 

Agreed... teams that win are complete teams with no glaring hole. The last time we were like that was 2017-2018. It was a winning recipe and for some stupid reason we decided Ego was good enough to start and we never got replacements for ariza and a healthy luc. I don't care how good someone's math is but you can't teach length and height something this team lost since that season.

 

with a healthy Russ and a motivated Harden we are a homecourt team. but this year there are a lot teams behind the lakers and clippers- Nuggets, Suns, Blazers, mavs, jazz and rockets are on tier 2

 

What the Rockets need is for Harden to hire an imagist. Maybe organization hire one, too. Then the league will want to push the “Harden / Houston brand”. We start to get “the calls” at the right times in games. The OP asked how look in the Western conference. My answer is only as good as the NBA pencil. The league is blatantly corrupt almost to the point of professional wrestling at times. That said we need to change what we are doing and make the office want to help us find success / push us. As of now we are still just upper mid card talent —> if you will. We need an image not a gimmick to get us over.

 

Assuming Russ/Harden sticks around with the team I see this as starting 5 combination:

Harden/Russ
Russ/Harden
Tucker or Gordon
Wood
Cousins

If Cousins is healthy and back in full force, I do not see why the Rockets can't be at least No.2 in the West with this lineup. All of the starting 5 can shoot 3s, except Russ but he makes it up with his speed and inside scoring.

If Harden/Russ are gone, then we are surely lottery-bound because I do not see Rockets landing any existing superstar for them.