I was talking with my oldest son before the season about the Rockets and he was like, how many do you think they can win? I said, I dunno, and he said he thinks 45, I said maybe, maybe more. My thoughts are that once teams find their WINNING identity, there are no limits. The Rockets have been in search of a "Dude" a lead dog so to speak, we argue about that here on the website...Jalen, Alpi, Bari etc...etc..etc.. But what they have done is create a "TEAM DUDE" in the aggregate. Their identity is defense and rebounding - which is pretty much their DUDE...ie their identity. They have figured out how to win, and it doesn't matter who scores the most that night, it is simply about winning. So, how far can they go? I dunno, OKC went from 40 wins to the number 1 seed last year. The Rockets this year? NO LIMITS !! Go Rockets....
Rox depth is gonna play a huge role as unlike last year we have the depth to cover for guys as they get injured. I have them as the 4rth seed at least when all is said and done.
54 A lot of the Wins will come against the East where you see Milwaukee, Philadelphia and surprisingly the Knicks giving up a lot of Wins and accumulate Losses against the West. What we saw with OKC was that Defense can win you a lot of games in Regular Season. They were not that bad in the 2nd Round either, scoring exactly as much as the Mavs. Mavs just got the better end with PJ Washington hitting shots, winning the closer games. Luka was not exactly setting the world on fire during that series.
While it's a nice idea, I still think we will need a dude to be a real contender. There's a reason every single championship team in the modern era has had a dude, other than that one pistons team. Maybe we can be the second team to ever do it, but I wouldn't count on it. Eventually I think we'll need one. If we're just talking regular season though, we can definitely win a lot of games.
He's a 5x allstar at 26 years old and he's been first team all nba for the last three years. Averaged 30ppg on elite efficiency. I think he definitely is. I'd count anyone getting a bunch of 1st team all nba selections as a dude.
Ok, I would say he is a star, but not sure he is a superstar. Here are the guys I currently consider a superstar or have been one. 1. Lebron 2. KD 3. Steph 4. Giannis 5. Luka 6. Jokic Then I think you put maybes. 7. SGA 8.Tatum ETc... In the top, ..the 3 at the top are ending their runs as "Dudes" DD
Yeah okay, it seems that we have very different definitions if you still have SGA as a maybe. SGA was 2nd in MVP voting and is one of the most consistent superstars in the league. Clears the eye test easily, and is near the top of the league in every advanced stat. In my mind he's a no brainer.
Ehh, to be honest the Celtics won mainly because they were the best team overall. Their "dude" was super underwhelming in both of their finals series, and they had different dudes actually stepping up and playing better. Tatum wasn't the playoffs MVP of his team or the finals MVP of his own team. So, while technically he's their best player, they actually won based on the team collectively just being better than competition (and defense was a huge part of their success). You do NOT have to have a specific guy always be the best in order to win if your team overall is good and deep enough. You can have different guys step up on different nights, like the Celtics had with Brown, Derick White, Jrue holiday, and Tatum.
Rockets playing great but I'm still wait-and-see. They found some mojo here with the 'terror twins' and catching teams off-guard. Soon, teams will adjust so let's see how the Rockets do after that. As Tari says, we dogs. Let's see. Fingers crossed.
This was my guess. I remember someone telling me I was nuts that we could reach 50 but their pick was like 47-48 Ws lol. It was kinda funny to be discounted and their pick was so close.
