Where are Our 1st two wins?

I’ll be shocked if they get 5 wins.

 

Yep and the challenge is early in the season you won’t get any asleep at the wheel games most likely. Everyone right now is feeling healthy, and energized. Around the all star break I think this team will have some surprise wins but early on it seems unlikely.

The truth is this is another development year. Stop worrying about wins and losses and hope the players are developed. If the rockets had their own pick everyone unanimously here would be thinking that, but unfortunately that hanging over our head has led to this arbitrary necessity to win games.

 

So the consensus is that we will be roughly 4-16 after 20 games?

 

Kinda shitty we had to play Wemby in one of our first games. NBA is going in hard to make him a thing. The Magic game was a ****ing disaster and should've been at least competitive. I don't even know what to expect tonight. I don't even care about wins right now so much as I want Jabari to look like a functional basketball player. But I kinda think those two things go hand in hand. If Jabari plays well at this point, I think we win those games. He just hasn't. At all.

 

Its a good question. After watching the first two games, I wonder where any wins will come from.
But then I realized that I am only looking at one side of the coin.

Other teams have problems too, especially older teams with multiple players with injury history.
Not making predictions, but these things happen.
Coaches lose their players, players demand trades. Lots of crap can happen.

But along the way, I think we get better. The gap narrows a bit, and winning a few here and there maybe turns into winning games more than occasionally. This is probably the best spin I can put on it. Just going to have to see.

 

id argue the fact that we’ve been a bottom 3 team for the last 3 years has been what’s hanging over our head to win games .

no one should be happy with 4 straight years in the bottom 5

 

Okay I’m wrong
We can’t beat Golden State

 

You do not have a great shot blocker, a great shooter, a great closer.

You got to have at least 1 or 2 of those.

It is not even Rockets science...... give up Van Vleet and Brooks for Donovan Mitchell or whoever.....

I would even take LaVine, he scores 40 or 51 once in a while.

 

If you go three years, why is four so much harder..... IF you are seeing progress??

That last point being key. Are we seeing this team progressively get better??... I would say that's a fair take which will likely bare out in the 2nd half when I'm sure all of these prospects will look better, and wins will come easier, BUT the big downer is we don't yet see anyone really distinguishing themselves as a go-to future star.

I see progress and signs that Sengun, Jabari, Jalen, etc. will all be good NBA players, and have a future in the league... but the problem is the more I see evidence who they are, and feel optimistic about their future, the more I see that it's unlikely that most if any of them will be Rockets in the next 3 years. Because what's hanging over anyone's head is Stone's job.... more than our patience as fans. Fans can, and should feel okay with progressive improvement over years. GM's however, need to save their jobs with a 3 to 5 year plan to contend because the ownership needs that in order to justify spending more than the bare minimum.

.......

Moral of the story: With rebuilds, GM's shouldn't bank everything on one or two top 5 prospects. You have to maintain and grow a winning culture even if your team is rebuilding. Don't send veterans like John Wall home for two seasons just so some young deranged women beater can get the starting job without earning it. You can never have too many draft picks. And for gods-sake don't keep a bad coach in his role for 2 years too long just because you think you are benefiting by getting a higher draft pick, and because you think he shields you from criticism.

 

Not to answer for others, there's a time clock ticking because the three-year guys eligible for extension, so can Stone get an extension on a reasonable number (not overpay and get stuck), since there is doubt currently. There's cushion in the timeline, but decisions will have to be made in next couple seasons.

The other item is okc having our top 4 protected pick. And the upcoming draft is supposed not good. Not the end of the world, but a constraint nonetheless.

...

We should stay the course as the pivot will take time. So more patience is asked of the fans.

But I don't fault fans for reacting on a micro, game-to-game basis, since that's why lot of us are here. To talk and analyze each game. The uncertainty is real because the team hasn't won much, so seeing at least some of it will help on the confidence.

 

We beating Charlotte for sure brehs

 

Seeing GSW 5-1 and Spurs 3-2 really put those losses in perspective. Losing to GSW by only 11 pts and Spurs in OT the Rox are much better than expected and we are still missing Eason.

Of course it doesn't change the fact the Rox face contenders till Dec but at least after that they should start stringing wins.

 

Honestly, good.

If they come out of this stretch with a respectable record they will have learned a lot and likely found some confidence that they can hang with the bigger teams and so should win against teams below that.

For once I'm actually looking forward to playing the Nuggets next week. Might get molly whopped for sure but what if they don't?

I used to dred games against contenders these last few years because you knew the Rockets had 1% chance at winning those games, they were over at tip off...but now it feels more like a 10% chance and it could be seen as a good test to see where their defense and offense is at.