The Ringer: Why Can’t the Rockets Win the Next NBA Title?

Thornton already making an impact...

 

This is the upside case that is certainly why Stone has stayed the course. It makes sense from a basketball standpoint but team chemistry may be broken beyond repair

 

Insert scene with maitre d laughing at Christian Bale on the phone.

 

Also older, injury prone key players. Adams, Dickerson , and now Fred, will always be question marks moving forward. Can you count on their bodies to survive a championship run? That's not even talking about if they are talented enough....can their bodies even withstand the workload? If the answer is no, then we're already done.

 

I’m sorry, Fred and Smart don’t solve our ball handling. We still have no rim protection. And we don’t have enough shooting as we did nothing to address that eternal problem as well. The roster is badly constructed. We are 6th best in the west at best and certainly not a contenders. We’ll be lucky to win 50 games.

 

That's how I've been feeling. The doomers here just want to dwell on anything they consider a negative, but we still have a very solid core that's under 25 locked up for years to come. We're not far away, might need to make a move or two, but I think we could compete with some internal growth and some smart roster changes once we see what we truly have on our hands.

 

Fruit Cake or Tres Leches?

One you want to throw away and the other you don't want to share.

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The playoffs are tough. I would not call winning 50 games a chip shot for the Rockets, but it should not be considered lucky if the Rockets win 50 games for three seasons in a row.

 

Im sorry but the west got better, rockets are counting on old injury prone vets to send them
somewhere, is not moving forward at any means. This will be another wasted year under the Stone Era.

Atleast Fertits is under the 1st apron.

 

Wasn’t Fred’s assist/turnover ratio outstanding prior to his injury? He absolutely fixes our ball handling problem if healthy. That’s his one elite skill.

 

Assist/To ratio is not the end all be all. He was a high use PG that averaged barely over 5 assists. It’s not hard to not turn the ball over if you can’t drive to the rim and spend most your time dribbling around the perimeter without being doubled.

 

Sure, but it also really shouldn't matter much (outside of qualifying for the playoffs or seeding). The next step for this team is actually advancing out of the first round. If we get knocked out early three years in a row, you'd have to think there will be some big changes (at least I hope so).

 

Yao got China to clone Hakeem. That’s the only way I can see it happening.

 

The fact is he can handle the rock and not turn it over, that was our biggest flaw last year. Him and Smart fix that.

 

Simple answer of why not? Ime.

 

These are my optimistic scenarios for the 2026-27 season. Neither is what I expect to happen. What I expect is the same shite we've seen the past 2 seasons: a good but not great regular-season team that gets bounced in the 1st round. Still, there's room for optimism.

Best reasonable scenario, a 50+ win team with a chance for at least 2 playoff rounds:
-- Fred, KD, Stevo, Tari, Smart and Bogdanovich are available to play in 60 games apiece.
-- Sengun and Amen return from the offseason with useful middies.
-- One of them returns with a useful 3.
-- Sengun returns to the form he flashed earlier in his career, especially under the rim.
-- Reed progresses as much as he did last season, both offense and defense, and develops into an average NBA PG.
-- Jabari progresses on the same slow trajectory he's already established.
-- Tari realizes he's a rich man and brings together the high points of his game -- disruptive defense, reliable 3, and valued teammate -- into a cohesive whole.
-- Smart provides enough of a Dillon-like spark to ignite a dawg defensive mentality.
-- Thornton, Bogdanovich, Copeland and Crawford provide good bench minutes and even rotation minutes as needed.
-- Capela is moved and replaced by Oscar Cluff or similar.
-- KD keeps his mouth shut and plays his game without drama.
-- Udoka learns nothing from prior seasons and continues to play his slow, basic offense.

High-upside scenario, a 60-win team and potential contender:
-- Most of the above, plus...
-- Some combination of the old vets have genuinely healthy seasons, similar to Durant's 2025-26 season.
-- Sengun and Amen become truly reliable shooters.
-- Reed takes the mythical 3rd-year leap.
-- The Rockets shoot league-average from the line.
-- Udoka opens up the offense to the point that the team plays with league-average pace and shoots league-average 3-point volume.

 

Excerpt:
There’s still true franchise-altering upside here [in Reed Sheppard], though. Aside from Durant, who belongs in his own extraterrestrial tier, Sheppard was Houston’s best shooter last season.