Gotta be impressed with Rockets winning 14 of their first 20 games this season so far. Of their 6 losses, 5 of them have been by 6 points or less to include 2 losses in OT. 7 of their 14 wins are by double digits and the last 2 wins in OT. Leading the league in rebounding with 7 players averaging double figures in scoring. Props to Ime and his coaches and the players. Hopefully they can keep up this pace, future seems bright. Just imagine when Jabari, Cam, and Steve Adams start increasing their production, wow!
This is why you wait 20 games in to see what kind of team you are. Too many knee-jerk posters overreacting to everything early on, whether good or bad. Give it 20 games at the very least to see if anything truly stands out. So far, it looks like we are a beast defensively, Sengun is an all-star, and Amen is on his way as well, while our team as a whole just looks unified and a team to cheer for. Even Jabari is starting to shine at this point, Brooks/Tari are beasting too. FVV is worth his money so far as well. I'm not breaking up this team right now, stock is going up for our players. We need JG to keep up giving us good games and Cam to get out of his head and start playing to his potential to truly be a contender, because if we ever get good to great consistent offensive play from our SGs, it's game over for the league.
The positives, this is the first time since 2018 (6 years) that I did not even look at the Loss Column.
Defensively this team is elite. If we could just get consistency from Bari and Green they could reach championship level. If you keep the core 7 together until they are all in the 25-28 age range, we could have a monster team.
It's clear this team took another step up from last year. The two things I will be looking for going forward are how they can handle injuries, given how poorly Reed has played and whatever happened to Cam. The other is how much they can keep up the defense as the season goes on. I do think they're now more of a baseline 45-win team with this start. Ceiling depends on whether anyone can actually shoot
Bari is quietly playing very well after his rough start, much like Sengun. He is still up and down, but his ups are more frequent than his downs. He is showing what you want out of year 3 player and I think if he reaches his potential he is still the ideal 4 next to Sengun as a 5.
