I think some of you are giving these other teams too much credit based on past results and not what the teams have actually done so far this season. I see 3 tough ones (OKC,@GS,Bos) all the rest are winnable or games we should be outright favored in against bad teams. I don't expect the Rockets to dominate, but they could easily finish this stretch with a winning record. Frankly if they don't I'll be a little disappointed. Its hard to fluke your way to our current point differential, and they've done so with shooting from FVV/Green/Smith that should improve
West has been a complete debacle. I expected more from Mavs, T-Wolves, Kings, Nuggets, and Grizz. Rockets are in position to beat all in the West except vs a healthy Warriors/Thunder. Should push all chips to the center and go all in. Trade Jalen Green and set him free to excel with another team without a Post Up Centric Center that doesn't shoot 3-pointers. He would dominate. We are wasting his time and the Rockets. He be dogging it lately to prevent a trade. Embrace it Jalen let's move on to better. NBA league office always gets it way. They'll elevate Jalen to stardom once he is off this Rockets team.
Hope we get randomly hot shooting Jalen for those next 15 games. If he randomly shows up we could go 10-5.
They have won games w their defense and have a high overall point differential, so i think their play is real and not just luck. They have gone 2-5 in close games (decided by 6 points or less), so they have not really had a ton of luck or won by some call going their way. If they had some early on luck, their record would actually be noticeably better.
I know this was at least partially tongue in cheek, but not one of your best efforts. Jalen won't be traded this year and neither will Sengun, you know that. We should, however, be willing to make some moves with the rotation or a small trade for a Jalen insurance guy like Brogdon just to try and get a bit of playoff experience.
So far this season the Rockets have been 4-3 on the road and 8-3 at home. Their next 10 games feature 8 road games. Last year the Rockets won 66% of games at home and 34% on the road. You are really underestimating home/road splits in the NBA. And perhaps even more so for a young team like the Rockets. Even a 7-8 record in the next 15 games would be a major improvement from last year in terms of team quality
We've had a relatively easy schedule and Ime has blown a couple of games with his vet-itis. If we can come close to .500 in this stretch, we have a good chance to be at least in the play-in. Being a sixth seed is going to take a lot of injury luck for both us (positive) and our competition (negative). Denver, Dallas, Memphis and Minnesota will most likely surpass us with no injuries. Lakers will surpass us if AD and Lebron stay healthy (big if). That's seventh seed right there. Clips and Kings have the personnel if healthy as well. Of course, if Jalen and Jabari start playing well the sky is the limit.
There is very little out there in regards of help. We have Rockets fans here who only want 19 year olds (pedo's that won't accept 29 y/o and above) Choices are slim as Stars go: Giannis, Durant, Butler, Paul George. Butler is combo age w/injuries. Durant won't play for Rockets. Gianni's team is in contention again. PG-13 is in that Butler ball park Because of new CBA.....teams are not letting go of their potential stars in that 24 to 28 year age. Jalen Green can be traded this year. Poison pill salary for the other team, but it doesn't change the current distribution of his contract much as it is now. Trade kicker can be waived by player. I know Sengun has delayed the Green progress. I've been saying since Harden/Dwight Howard combo that it's now hard for a post up presence to coexist. I said Harden wanted to join Embiid while he was playing for the Nets. But Harden would have trouble coexisting with Embiid/Tobias Harris. Maxey and Murray can bow to Embiid and Jokic, but Harden and Jalen Green need the ball in their hands to get a rhythm of the game. Work up a lather. Jalen needs a #1 similar to him. A facilitator that can get out of his way when he wants to cook. A PnR, Iso, hand off threat that can shoot. Dueling banjos with a third option like a better VanVleet. A #1 Giannis #2 Jalen Green #3 Jerami Grant or Cam Thomas Franz Wagner is in that Jalen Green spot as being a #2 or #3 option.....but get Banchero out of the paint and they do better.
I agree there is little out there in regards to help. We might be able to get a serviceable rotation shot maker like Brogdon for pretty cheap. It won't help us compete for anything meaningful this year, except the playoffs. The only thing would make us a contender is for Jalen to become march Jalen the rest of the year and for Amen to make the leap to superstardom a year early. I don't expect either to happen. I also don't expect us to make a blockbuster trade this off-season, but we should be able to make some moves to get a few shooters that would give us a better chance. Our defense can be elite along with our transition offense. If we can get a few serviceable 3 point shooters (maybe Cam or Sheppard take a leap) we could be contenders even without a tier 1 star. We are in year 4 of a re-build and in my opinion ahead of any reasonable schedule with lots of future draft capital and tradeable players. The new second Apron rules complcate trading. In my opinion, the whole superstar thing is overblown. There is nobody other than Jokic, I would give up more than one of our core (and not Amen ever). Jokic is the only one other than Curry (who is too old) that can carry a team to a championship relatively on his own.
We should have at least three more wins. The first game, Spurs, and Portland games were ours. These next 10 or so games are where the real teams show their colors. They’ve worked out enough rust and kinks that their schemes should generally be working on both sides of the ball. Rockets could/should be in second or first place right now. But I’ve seen teams precipitously fall after looking promising early. Going to be an exciting next few weeks.
It depends entirely on Jalen IMO. If he's going to continue shooting sub 30% from 3 we'll be lucky to play .500 ball.
I personally wouldn't touch Brogdan. You could wrap him in bubble wrap up until the playoffs and still get hurt in the playoffs. He is washed. Rumor last week mentioned: Rockets: Michael Porter jr. Duncan Robinson Cam Johnson Not stars; but they can shoot. I've wanted Tyler Herro or Duncan for designed plays much like J.J. Redick sets up for Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht. Didn't think we had a chance at Kyrie Irving; but on present course.....this summer he might be available as a free agent. I agree with Morey, it takes two or three stars to win the championship. One gets hurt, you still have two others. Hopefully. Role players help. Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Porzingis are options 1, 2, and 3. Porzingis went down, so the others carried the work load with the help of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Horford Luka, Kyrie.......they were hoping Klay Thompson could have a role greater than P.J. Washington. No Luka or no Kyrie......no NBA finals
Everytime I predict us playing well we always end up playing like dogshit so this time around I'm predicting us going 2-13
Here's a vidoe of the Rockets practice session, preparing for the game against OKC. FVV dropping some defensive knowledge on the group. And nice to see Whitmore practicing with the A-team.
