5 Reasons Why I Think The Rockets Could Be Better Next Season

Good number, though I should point out that all but 1 player on that list (especially the first one.) essentially had career FT% over 70%, that one extreme anomaly was obvious Bruce Bowen . So those guys showed they had touch but might have had a year or two where they shot poorer than their normal average from the line.

 

Your motivation and focus can certainly improve. Your discipline. Maybe even your shot selection improves. Maybe you do extra shooting practice on off days.

Who the heck knows? But one thing is for sure - Ariza is historically a very mediocre 3 point shooter. One season he lights it up after 10 years in the NBA. Just happens to be a contract year. If you don't think there's a significant chance he regresses back to the mean and has a 33% year next year, than I think you aren't being very realistic.

 

That is just statistically wrong. Ever since his championship season he has been a good three point shooter. He has only one year below .330 and that was a product of being on a really bad team. If your definition of a good 3 point shooter is over .4 percent, then you think Kobe Bryant is a loser because he usually shoots around .330 and has a career avg of .335.

Ariza is a nice player to have at the three, period.

 

Agree with all this other than the Daniels part, Daniels is taller, heavier, and younger. Daniels will never drive to the hole like Lin but he won't make the same turnovers either.

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Please don't try to bring intangible reasons to the new wave of stat zealots who've never played basketball at any competitive level yet they feel entitled to crap on anything not statistically denoted. It's unfortunate that there used to be extremists who refused to look at any stats. Now they've been replaced by people who only look at the game thru the lens of statistics.

 

The league average for 3pt % in that span has been between .349 to .360, he has crossed that thresh hold twice , both in the last couple season.

Between his 2 contract years Ariza has had 3 horrendous season in terms of true shooting percentage and 1 ok one. between that and age I'm pretty sure he'll regress next year, the only question is how much, if he was even 2012-13 Trevor Ariza (you know, his best non contract year to date) I think we're in a lot of trouble. that Trevor Ariza couldn't even permenantly keep a starting job on a horrendous Wizards team.

 

love the fascination with Ariza and contract years, presume this also holds true for Chandler who was also in a contract year

 

It pisses me off how people go deep into numbers like the Morey minions that they are to make nothing out of something AND make it seem that's all that matters.

 

One reason it won't that trumps all 5 OP's reasons: McHale!

 

well seeing that Asik was gone for 1/2 of the year while injured and out of shape for the other 1/2 when he returned, Dorsey can definitely provide more than Asik did last regular season as long as he is able to defend/rebound at a decent rate for the majority of the season.

 

Very nice article.....it's 6:20 in the morning and now I'm happy.

 

It does for sure!
I certainly think he played selfishly last season - ~40 minutes a night of only offense. When the rumours came out last season that there was dissent in the locker room and that not everyone was on the same page with respect to team goals, I'm quite sure part of it was Chandler and his "offense only to boost personal stats" mindset.

 

It can also depend on your teammates and coaching. There certainly is a chance to the regression of the mean. Let's be hopeful that Ariza will show maturity this time around, and be a successful player for us.

 

There is no doubt that T-Jones will be a very solid player, but to think that he will improve so much just because he was sucky in the playoffs is wishful thinking. He will be a bit better, but don't expect him to turn into an LMA stopper overnight. Our PF position is not great. Same goes for Harden. He can't magically become a lockdown defender over the course of one summer. No matter what the media says about his Team USA stint, he simply cannot improve his defensive game dramatically in such a short time.

I love it that we can find ways to be optimistic, but the team has changed so much. They will need to work on the chemistry again.

Oh God... they'll have to...


Gel.

 

Sure, let's hope, but hard to be optimistic.

To be as good as last year and build upon things we have to have at least the following happen:

Ariza / Papa = or > Parsons
John / Cannan = or > Lin
Dorsey = or > Asik
TJones 2014 > Tjones 2013

That just feels like a lot to ask for.

 

Not all those things have to happen. A combo of one or two of those + the organic growth the team will go through just by virture of another year of Howard/Harden playing together can result in as good or better season.

 

Good point. That's something that nobody seems to even mention.

 

Chemistry? Last year's team had everything but defense and chemistry. The fact that they were able to win 54 games is a testament to Howard and Harden's talents. Now that the malcontents are gone, this squad has a better chance to develop as a one unit. Barring further trades, it is the two stars and a bunch of role players. It doesn't come more simple than that, as it should be.

 

Notice I put on there =. The organic growth of the team will be very incremental. Incremental can make a difference....with all things being EQUAL.

Howard isn't going to get that much better. Harden will improve a bit but he is still young.

Now who else will improve? Lin? Parsons? Asik?

The competition is getting better too. So organic growth only is relative against aging teams. In other words, you need more than that to really have an overall impact.

Durant will get better. Westbrooke will get better. PHX will grow organically. So will Portland. So will G.S. And so on.