I'll admit that I am a glass half full kind of guy, I just hate to go into a season not being able to go "all in". Last season was okay because of Yao's dam foot but still painful and the early 2000s were HELL for me. I will again get to go "All In" and hope for the best with Yao.
I kind of think the West is more wide open than it has been in recent years. LA, the Mavs are the Spurts are getting older, Denver is crumbling, the Suns and Jazz lost talent and the Thunder might be in for a bit of step back after they caught everybody by surprise. I am not saying the Rockets are lock cinches, but the road is open for them (and several other teams) if everything goes their way.
They had Durant last year, and we won the season series 3-1......without Yao. Yao is back, and the fact that Cortney Lee is much better for our team chemistry as opposed to Ariza makes us much better than we were a year ago. But yeah, as long as they have Durant, they will always be better than us!
yeah.......We are NOT contenders. 1) AB for 3 is cool. but Ab didnt see the pass, is not 2) Martin is good offensively but gets done up on the D(injury prone too) 3) Yao not 100% 4) scola is limited in the post game 5) shane, maybe can defend like he did before but he was never good on Offense (occational 3's) Bench: 1)young players have potential, but that wont be enough this year. 2)miller good, meaning he knows aldemans O 3)Lowery, he is a nice player All teams have flaws i know, but stepping back and taking a look at this team from a far, they look a little weak. I HOPE IM WRONG OF COURSE. Another thing that bothers me is Morey. lol, I know that sounds funny, but when do the trade rumors start to get to the players. And im only talking about the ones in trade rumors...............which is everyone .
How can people make predictions at this point???? How can people say that Dallas, Portland or OKC are better then us, without any doubt???? If you ask me, Utah jazz will have a better regular season then all those 3 teams, but I don´t make this statement, and act like it is a fact If we trade for a superstar we are instant contenders???? People make these statements like it is nothing, so you are telling me if we trade AB, Martin and Battier for let´s say Melo we are instant contenders???? It is not only about what we need/get, it is ALSO about what we are giving, you cant trade 5 good players for a top 10 player, and act like everything is done, a roster is not 1 or 2 guys I have an opinion that we can´t beat LA in a 7 game series, and that is simply because of our SF position, I think that AB would destroy Fisher, Martin will have a career year, and will be top 10 scorer in the league, will have defensive problems against Kobe, but I bet that Kobe will have problems defensively with Martins quickness, Yao will destroy Bynum, Bynum is as overrated as they come, Scola will have some trouble defending Pau, but it is not something that will earn the Lakers a win, Scola has that mid-jumper, that will make Pau come off of the paint, making him less effective on D and letting Yao do work on Mr Bynum And the "problem" we have is battier, that right now has 0 offensive game, and if that happens, the Lakers would put kobe defending Battier, and Artest on Martin, and that would kill the series, in my opinion And that is why I say that for me, WE SHOULD go after Mr Iggy, get a player that CAN PLAY 82 GAMES EVERY SEASON, a guy with mobility and athleticism (obliging the Lakers to play artest on him) and an above average defensive wing player, WITHOUT GIVING ANY STARTER And believe me, there are better players then IGGY, the problem is, I don´t see those teams giving him away for draft picks and young studs, on the other hand, I see Philadelphia doing that, and that is huge So for me, our under average aspect, is the starting SF position, other then that, I don´t see neither the optimist nor the pessimist point of view, I see preseason games being played, and I laugh every time I see people saying we are better then LA, or say that OKC, POR or DAL, are clearly better then us PeAcE
The problem with this team I that we have solid players from 1-15, but they all play at around the same level, give or take a little. We do no have the one or two players that are really game-changing. You need a player who can step up and lead the team night in and night out. Hopefully one or two of our guys will develop into that type of player through the course of the season, but if not we are little more than a good, solid team. That being said, I am optimistic to a fault, so I still think we can win it all.
Well, we ain't the Lakers and we ain't the Heat. Beyond that, who knows what we've got? Or how long any of it will last? I just want to watch as many games as possible and crack out on ClutchFans.
It's not like the only function of depth is to allow more players to play. The most important function is to cover for injuries. How can you say with a straight face that THAT is meaningless in the playoffs? Having solid backups at key positions is a luxury not many teams have.
I'm not even convinced we're a playoff team yet. I don't know if swapping Ariza for Lee and adding half a Yao is enough to make up the 8 games we missed the playoffs by last year. If we are a playoff team, we're likely only a 6-8 seed at best. So no, we are not contenders.
Hell yes we are contenders !!! Sing it from the mountain tops, some are slow to recognize, but they will come around. Anyone here is destined to be a true believer. I BELIEVE ! DD
I'm not so sure that the thunder are better than the rockets. The rockets did win 3 of 4 with the thunder getting better at the end and taking the last game. But, the rockets were undersize and they didn't have battier, Jeffries and Hill. Now they the size and another scoring option.
The way I see it is that the season has not started, so every team is a contender. Basketball is so unpredictable. This season, some players will decline and some stars will be born. The injury bug can hit any team in the league. Trades will happen. If the contenders are already known, then they should just start the playoffs now instead playing these meaningless regular season games with the pretenders. The season is played for a reason. I know the Rockets will go out there and play hard and play to win. They are contenders in my book.
Playoffs are a different season all together. That sounds like a whole lot of fiction. There is no proof of any improvement chemistry wise plus, LEE HASN'T EVEN BEEN HERE FOR A SEASON!!
I agree with you about the players at about the same level, give or take a little. Another thing being said is how deep our bench is. I'm not going to say we have a deep bench until our bench out perform the rest of the league benches. It might look good on paper, but not on the court.
honestly, do you disagree with what i just said? we have repeat champs in the NBA with far greater frequency than any other sport. for the most part, you can tell me within 4 teams who will be in the NBA Finals with near certainty nearly every season. that's not a knock on the NBA or basketball, generally.
Yeah, in general I guess, but I think that is more the product of 7 game series in the playoffs....I think Baseball is about the same thing though, pretty much the same teams with an occassional surprise... I don't know Hockey very well, but they have a lot of the teams make the playoffs like the NBA does.....so maybe they are the most similar. Did we think Orlando would be there 2 years ago, or Boston last year? Did we predict Cleveland the year they lost to the Spurs? There does seem to be one or two teams that get their act together at the right time every year...... I think I sort of agree with your thought process, but I think the results are not as concrete as you think....or maybe they stay concrete for a few years and then there is a turnover...I think we are in the turnover stage now. DD
