Is it just me or is Stone building a team to beat the Lakers?

I think Cousins is underrated on D. He's just average shot blocker, and he fouls way way too much. But he's more active in position D than it seems. He gets lots of steals for a center too.

 

While getting one of those steals he ruptured his Achilles.

 

Which is the best thing for this team.

 

Don't count out the huge role Rajon Rondo played in that series (and in the finals). Schröder is unquestionably the better athlete, but Rondo's smart veteran playoff-tested mentality will be hard to replicate.

Dropping Howard/McGee for Gasol/Harrell is a big upgrade offensively, but defense takes a hit. Gasol was DPOY, but that was at age 28; he turns 36 in 2 months.

Also: LeBron and AD missed about a dozen games between them, total. Neither was out for long stretches. I'd be shocked if that happens again this year, especially considering AD's history and LeBron's age and short offseason.

Lakers are the best team in the league IF everything goes right for them.

 

Who else here is down for some Wood Boogie?

 

@ivergoat on Twitter said this is what the Rockets have been building for. Not sure how legit he is, but he has been dropping a lot of Rockets news

 

They are trying to Package Gordon for Buddy Hield I heard.

 

Chemistry, morale and health will determine much for Rockets. I don't know about Russ, but Harden doesn't want to be here because he doesn't think he can win a ring here.

Lots would have to go right, but if Boogie is healthy and 80% of what he once was and Wood is everything the optimists say he can be, then this team DOES have a chance at a ring. Not a great chance, but more than last season IMO. Enough to make Harden want to stay? If Harden gets happy, will Russ follow?

 

Just trade EGo for Rudy Gay straight up and call it a day instead.

 

hell no

 

People underestimate how much impact Harden asking out is going to have on this team. Don't get me wrong, he's still going to put up huge numbers offensively because he is James Harden. But the difference between an engaged James harden and a disgruntled James harden can be worth anywhere from 10-20 wins. Obviously this depends on Harden's level of unhappiness and how much he wants out. I dont know about you but if somebody rejects a 50 million a year deal, i'd assume he REALLY wants out. And my gut feeling is that he's going to pull some kind of shenanigan to force Tilman to trade him during the course of the season.

-He's not organizing those offseason Bahama pre nba training camps anymore. Those were important to keep everyone acclimated to the new season and ease new members to the offense + build chemistry.

-Those nagging injuries he usually plays through is going to take days, weeks to recover from.

-When it comes to transition defense, sprints is going to turn into jogs. Jogs into walks.

-What used to be a full day prep in advance for game night(Good night sleep, afternoon nap, showing up hours before for shoot around, healthy meal) turns into imma be there half hour before tip off.

-Suddenly, he's not going to fight as hard over a screen, run as hard in transition or defend as hard in the post.

 

I can see what he did

& log an average of 34.3 minutes

 

Must trade Russ for good value. No. 1 priority.

 

Harden will get the Rockets 45 wins on his own. All he needs is a little help to get the Rockets 50 wins plus.

 

Unless Silas is the next Nick Nurse, this team is probably about the same as last year. High 40-something win team, good not great.

Covington for Wood is at best a lateral move, the Boogie pickup could be huge but we'll see.

 

better than a team built to beat a Chris Paul OKC squad in my 7 games.

 

I totally get what an unhappy player can do to an organization and his team, but what is really at the heart of the matter is what made Harden unhappy in the first place. I for one am not going to take what the media says as gospel. And I am not going to pretend to know either. But I will say that if that reason(s) had to do with thinking Tilman wouldn't allow moves and Stone wasn't up to making them, then right about now, Harden has to be doing some re-thinking.

Add to this, I don't think Boogie comes here without some assurance from Harden that he will be here, at least long enough to see if it can work. If Boogie/Wood come out of the gate productive, the chemistry is working and the team is winning, difficult to see that Harden wouldn't be pretty happy.

 

I wont pretend to know whats happening behind the scenes. But i'd wager the reason Harden demanded a trade is related to whatever made Mike Dan Tony quit to become an assistant coach and Morey "retire". They're just fed up with the organization/Tilman. This is about years of meddling and cost cutting and active sabotage that led to the eventual downfall of potential championship contenders. That 17-18 Rockets is one of the greatest team of all time with or without an NBA title.

While i like the potential of a Harden/Wood pairing, losing Covington doesn't exactly inspire alot of confidence. Personally i dont see Harden changing his mind and i would be surprised if he stays a good soldier.

As far as Boogie goes, he is at the stage of his career where he's just trying to latch onto an NBA team. I think he just signed the first NBA contract that was offered to him. No team in the NBA even offered him an guaranteed contract. Him signing here has no relevance to Harden's story.

 

Workout and look good for the prettiest girl on campus......sets you up to win the affection of all other
lovelies as well.

I’ve mentioned Raptors playing some zone defense in order to protect M Gasol decrease in speed. I expect
most teams will use variations of the zone defense. This includes Houston and the Lakers trying to keep
Marc Gasol, Cousins, C Wood near the rim.

I’ve also mentioned that the need for switching everything defense is less necessary since most teams lack multiple
quick release accurate shooters accompanied with moving screens. Teams don’t get away with moving screens
as much. This will allow Marc Gasol or in Houston’s case, Cousins, C Wood, Wooten and a guy like Caboclo
to go under screens. So in other words, things may not be entirely the same as last season / playoffs.

Here are some interesting numbers from the Rockets / Lakers playoffs series 19/20: per NBA.com
Rockets vs Lakers defense.........Lakers vs Rockets defense (per zone):

Team..........Restrict Area................ITP......................mid-range...............Lt C-3...............Rt C-3................ATB-3...
.......................M/A/FG%...............M/A/FG%...............M/A/FG%...............M/A/FG%..........M/A/FG%..........M/A/FG%
Hou vs LA D...14.6/24/60.8%.....2.8/9.2//30.4%......2.2/4.8/45.8%........3.2/7.2/44.4%....3.2/7.4/43.2%.....8.6/26.2/32.8%

LA vs Hou D...20.4/26.8/76.1%....4.2/9.4/44.7%.....4.6/12.8/35.9%......3.2/6.6/48.5%....2.8/6.6/42.4%.....6.2/18.8/33.0%


Here are some numbers of cast of characters to set the scene for this season (using 19/20 reg / playoffs): DFG%:
Player..............<5 ft (reg / playoffs).........RA (reg / playoffs)...........In the Paint (reg / playoffs)
Tucker...................63.0% / 63.9%.................64.9% / 66.0%..........................36.5% / 39.8%
C Wood.................61.9% / ——...................65.1% / ——............................40.3% / ——
Caboclo.................57.9% / ——....................58.1% / ——.............................43.1% / ——
Cousins (18/19).....60.7% / ——....................63.0% / ——.............................36.7% / ——

M Gasol..................56.8% / 64.9%................58.1% / 68.2%..........................40.6% / 41.7%
M Harrell.................59.9% / 69.1%...............62.4% / 70.6%...........................38.9% / 52.1%
AD...........................59.1% / 62.2%...............61.1% / 63.6%..........................40.9% / 39.5%
Kuzma.....................59.4% / 62.7%...............61.3% / 63.9%..........................37.4% / 41.8%
LeBron....................58.3% / 60.1%...............60.1% / 61.4%...........................39.6% / 35.4%
Markieff...................63.0% / 57.8%...............65.7% / 59.0%...........................37.0% / 37.8%


So now that Morey and D’Antoni are out......we may have more Pick-n-Pop / mid-range shooters. We may need them.