Were they better than the Mavs last year? If I remember correctly the Mavs played more games than us.
Mavs are a playoff team and have a lot of balance in their starting 5. But the Rockets do have 2 players who are arguably the best players in the NBA at their respective positions.
We should be better with Harden and Howard on our team, but I think thanks to the Mavs having a more experienced group of veterans being led by a far superior coach that they could wind up with a better record than the Rockets next season. The key is Parsons. If he continues to improve and actually rededicates himself to playing defense(which could happen under Carlisle), that could give them the boost they need to pass us in the standings.
First futures betting site I pulled up still has us as better odds to win the conference and the finals. Vegas odds don't mean everything, but they aren't hiring idiots to makes these lists and every site I have looked at has us as better odds. So I don't think this is just some Houston homer point of view to think we should be better. http://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/ Has Houston as 6th favorite to win it all and Dallas 11th. Also Houston as 4th favorite to win the west and Dallas tied with Memphis at 7th.
Stop reading ESPN and reddit. Those guys are completely biased against us. I don't know what it is, but people all around the country HATE the Rockets. We're like the villains of the NBA now. The propaganda machine is trying to push us down, but stick to your guns and you will be rewarded when the season starts. Mavs gotta worry about even making the playoffs before they start firing shots our way. In my mind they're still not a rival.
Rockets still out weight dallas by having a kobe like scorer in harden, and having a defensive monster at center, who can dunk/post up you right out of the game, and scare/block your shot everytime down the court in Howard.
Jose Calderon ranked 5th in the league in 3's. He hit 191 and shot .449 from 3 They will definitely be missing that. Raymond Felton sucks from three (62, .318). Vince Carter hit more threes (146, .394) than Parsons (130, .370). And he hit a game winner in the playoffs, didn't he? Richard Jefferson hit 123 3's at .409. I guess he is supposed to replace VC. Obviously I am just looking at three pointers. But I would say they took a huge step back in that category, replacing Calderon with Felton.
They just picked up Rashard Lewis so that fixes that 3 point issue. Parsons, Greg Smith, and now they have another guy who played in Houston _ high school anyway.
In the paint, Dirk + Parsons + Tyson Chandler DPOY 2012 vs Dwight Howard. Outside the Paint Monta Ellis on top of Harden. This is how I view the matchup in my head. Mavs have edge in my book.
Rashard Lewis 2013-2014, started 6 games, 971 total minutes. hit 46 3 pointers, .343 Calderon was a starter, started 81 games, played 2468 minutes. Is Lewis going to start for the Mavs? Even if he does, .343 is a long way from .449
Rockets better than the Mavs undoubtedly. The Mavs are ONLY better than the Rockets in two positions. At PF where Dirk is better than anything we have and coach where Carlisle is much better than the useless, incompetent, pathetic, clueless joke of a head coach in McHale. Bev >> Felton Harden >>>>>>> Monta Ariza = Chandler TJ <<<<<< Dirk Howard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>Tyson McHale <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Carlisle The biggest drop off is not even the PF position but the coaching. Dirk is borderline top 5 PF in his last years (Blake, Love, Aldridge) while TJ is a top 20 PF. Carlisle is a top 3 coach (Pop, Thibs, Carlisle) while McHale is a bottom 3 NBA coach probably the worst NBA coach out there and an embarassment to the Rockets.
I will bump this thread again. Overall results as is, they are better than us. I'm talking playoff results. On paper they got us but people are underestimating Mchale.
Harden is miles ahead of Monta offensively, but Harden's D kinda wipes out his real impact. So I would really say Harden >> Monta Ariza is better than Chandler because Ariza will score some on Chandler and Chandler won't score on Ariza. So Ariza > Chandler Don't forget benches. Our bench and theirs are pretty equal. We have good talent like Canaan, Daniels, and Dmo. They have guys like Jefferson, Lewis, Harris. Our guys are all young and could improve a lot from last season. THeir guys are old and they all regressed but they have veteran experience. I say benches are =. I don't really think McHale is that much worse. I actually don't really mind McHale as much as most of the people on CF. It's like a group mentality thing to hate on the guy. I think he's just an average HC. Carlisle is still a top HC, so they still win in that department. Just not as much as most of the people say.
Continuing the numbers game. Guess which is Terrence Jones and which is Tyson Chandler (per 36 minutes). Player A FG% .542 FTA 3.4 FT% .605 REB 9.1 AST 1.5 STL 0.9 BLK 1.7 TO 1.2 PF 2.4 PTS 16.0 Player B FG% .593 FTA 3.4 FT% .632 REB 11.5 AST 1.3 STL 0.8 BLK 1.4 TO 1.5 PF 3.1 PTS 10.4
