Before the season started, I was thinking 32 win team, no chance for the play-in. Then I thought we had a chance. Now, I'm thinking it will be very hard without injuries to other teams. As others have said, GSW and PHX will move above us. I just don't think we can stay with them or above them. I have no fear of Utah, SAS, or Portland (at least no fear of them passing us). That leaves the Rockets fighting with NOP and LAL for the 10th spot. A healthy Lakers team beats us, especially with the refs. And I'm not counting out Memphis as coming on strong with Ja back. We have to play much better than we have been to have a chance at the 10th spot.
Well I guess its a miracle being at dicey level since good portion on here thought they would be a bottom/top 4 pick candidate and the early brutal schedule would have them around 5-7 wins by this time I felt they could push around 35-37 and with a full healthy of key/core rotation they could hit 40 Rockets have shattered most preseason w-l predictions even with a SG who has been better defensively according to his past matador style defense under Silas, while trying to figure out his way on the other side which was supposed to be his strength Even in most of their losses they have been super competitive, which is a complete 180 compared to Silas administration and helps out the young bulls (sengun/bari/green/tari) getting that type of experience who are trying to learn how to win at NBA level Rockets are lit and are looking like one of those surprise teams that usually happen annually in the sports world
It's going to come down between us and New Orleans for that last play-in spot. Golden State is a veteran team that wil inevitably start playing better. Question is: what are the team goals this year??? Make the play-in or ultimately find out which players moving forward will fit in Udoka's system?
Nothing is a given, thats for sure. Despite exceeding pre-season expectations to this point, we could still miss the playoffs entirely, make the play-in or make the top 6.
these are not mutually exclusive. In fact you find out the most about your players when the team is under competitive pressure to win. That’s the difference between basketball and figure skating. show-off your routine in an empty gym, summer workouts, Ignite, the SilasShitShow, etc and you look good, that doesn’t tell me anything. Do-or-die play-in game, now we talking
I think if we can address the 2 biggest weaknesses on our team, which is upgrade at our starting SG position and a legitimate rim protector Center coming off the bench, then we'll be a sure spot in the play-in. As of now, those 2 weaknesses are being exploited, especially in those road games
My biannual reminder about what this team is doing: We are currently in Phase 2 of a 3-phase rebuilding project. None of us should have expected this year's version to be a play-in team. Even Ferntits himself said this is the year we should be "learning how to win again" with the idea of "getting back into the playoffs soon." Sure, it's a possibility, but nobody in the FO really expects it to happen THIS year. That said, what we've seen thus far has been extremely encouraging for the future. The biggest threat to our playoff chances is that we are STILL a young team. Our home-away record accurately reflects the current status of the multi-phase rebuilding effort: 11-1 at home and only 2-10 on the road. That's the hallmark of a talented, well-coached but young and inexperienced team. Our next step towards contending will be to learn to win half of those away games. In fact, starting today, 9 of our next 10 will be at home, and I fully expect when those games have been played, a lot of you will be thinking we're playoff-bound. Don't get your hopes up, because from that point forward, we'll have 20 home games and 28 on the road, where we've been competitive but still haven't figured out how to win. Our playoff hopes depend on that. TL;DR: Getting a play-in spot would be a near-miracle unless we can quickly learn to win on the road.
https://stathead.com/tiny/8wUaU Where is the downvote option, geez. Jalen was the cancer? And we played decent without him, was that the 20 win or 22 win year lol... But benching him isn't addition by subtraction? And if only he could be Shaedon Sharpe! The mental gymnastics are stunning. For real this is 60 games to go. Should we also discuss our draft slot positioning or nah? 2024 free agents? It's Wednesday night in December in this bish.
Tari needs to start over someone He needs more regular minutes at this stage GSW Memphis will definitely push for a playin spot. We just gotta keep above 0.500 & I'll be happy with this season. But injuries & suspensions can change everything. Look at Phoenix dropping.
Team was missing Eason tonight, The bench was non-existent and Jalen Green is becoming more of a ****ing joke with every game. We need another bench guard and a real guard to replace the #2 mistake.
Team may be regressing to the mean. We're a .500 team, which considering from where we were; is still a leap.
In both 21/22 and 22/23 seasons we were close to 0.500 in games where Jalen was injured, google it. He was the cancer in a sense that his complete lack of effort on D, lack of competitiveness and ballerina-demeanor on the court was demoralizing the team. Nobody's busting their behind if the supposed "franchise" is lollygagging it on the court. This year is different, Jalen's giving more effort, so just getting him out would not be as beneficial. He's turned from a net-negative into a net-neutral, playing somewhere close to replacement player. Regarding Sharpe, I agree that there is more hype than warranted, I just haven't watched enough of him to judge...
Agreed. Better than I expected but still right at the edge of play-in status and might not quite get in. A better backup center would help. Also wonder if there's any chance of a major trade for an all-star; not so much to try to get into the playoffs, just if it makes long-term sense.
This is pretty crazy, yeah? The 20 tank games Jalen missed over 2 seasons mean nothing. Nothing. Sharpe should be hyped, Jalen should be too. Y’all think these guys are just everywhere, dime a dozen? Perhaps you should give other squads a look, or look up the stats before you speak fictions into existence. Truth is you just need a place to be negative and it doesn’t matter about what, as if the internet was lacking in ill-informed negativity and desperate for the musings of an ignorant edge lord.
