This question and this thread shoudld be shelved until the season starts. Until then it is a total swag as to what our roster or any other western confernce team will look. That being the case you can't make a reasonable prediction.
Wow, so but for Rudy, the Rockets would have been 1-15 against the top teams in the West, no better than the Nuggets. Thanks for that scientific analysis. Rudy is gone. Van Gundy is the coach. Deal with it.
The most important thing to consider is not the number of wins but our chances[without improving our team with a serious upgrade ]of getting into the playoffs! There will be a natural improvement of players gelling and gaining of experience. There will be an improvement in our defence under JVG. Teams ahead of us and having improved rosters:- SAS, LAL, SAC, PHO, DAL, MIN, PORT, SEA. Denver is going to show a marked improvement, so the Rockets ,Golden State,New Orleans,Utah, Denver and Memphis will be fighting to dislodge either PHO, PORT or SEA from the chosen EIGHT. Go Rockets!
Please read my post correctly next time! Seattle will be improved. Note the 'Teams improving'.No mention of 'last year' . You are reading things from my post which are not even mentioned! This is trying to draw attention to the fact that we might not be making any significant Roster upgrade this year , which will add to our task. I am surprised you didnt catch that!
Nope. Shaq was out for the Rockets victory in LA. The Kings were injured for their two losses to the Rockets. Change that health situation and you more than likely get three losses. I don't believe this squad under JVG could've won that home Lakers game. There is your fourth loss.
Right, and as we all know, all those teams will certainly have no injuries at any point in time next year; Change any number of factors in any number of games and yo can have the Rockets going anywhere from 82-0 to 0-82. You have no cause to say what the Rockets would have done with Van Gundy during certain games; You've never watched him coach a single game for the rockets. Your pessimism appears to be born solely of sour grapes.
Nice try, yetti, but you wrote "TEAMS AHEAD OF US AND HAVING IMPROVED ROSTERS" and listed Seattle in that group. How did Seattle get ahead of us? Did they go on a winning streak in June to improve their record? Please elaborate. Also, elaborate on Seattle's Roster upgrade thus far. Nick Collison? Don't say Luke Ridenour, he's already got a broken foot or something. Or how about Phoenix? Or the Jazz? I hear Jason Kidd is interested in both. In fact, how can you say that anybody improved? Free agency just started and nobody signed a contract yet. Arguably Minnesota made a deal, but thats about it. The rest of those teams all got late round draft picks. How insurmountable. You know, when certain teams upgrade their roster, that means that certain other teams rosters are downgrading. The Rockets aren't at the level where they need to worry about matching the Kings or Spurs step for step. yetti, maybe you should read the junk you type before you write it so that I don't have to correct it for you.
My pessimism comes from the fact I don't care for JVG as a coach, and I don't believe in the ability of this group of players to rapidly adapt to a new system. Obviously no one has seen him coach the Rockets yet, but I have seen him coach the Knicks. I didn't care for his style there, and his record shows him to be a hard-working, occasionally above average, but mostly "adequate" NBA head coach. No more. If you care about why, go find the other thread.
When i see the new schedule i will predict how many wins they will get. How many road trips will their be and how many homestands is there. How many games back to back. It makes a big difference in their records because of what type of schedule they have.
Everyone keeps talking about his "system". What I saw when he coached the Knicks was great D, and a slow down style of offense with Ewing. When Ewing went down with injury, they started to run with Camby as the center. So what is his system?
I really don't see any huge differences between Van Gundy and Rudy's system except Van Gundy demands his players play hard every second of every game. I think you're overrating the impact a coach has on a team. Van Gundy, regardless of whether he's a fanastic coach or simply an "adequate" one, is not going to be the deciding factor to whether this team succeeds or not. Ultimately, it's up to the players to decide that. Yao and Eddie both gained a season of experience and will likely be improved coming into the season. Taylor will have come into the season completely healed from his injury. Posey has had half a season to get used to the team. The rest of the team has gained a full season of experience playing with each other. I don't see how this team could not improve regardless of who the coach is.
I like that part. I can just imagine players playing hard for 48 minutes! That would something the Rockets haven't done in years! No giving up late in the 3rd quarter.
our season will hinge on Yao and Mo Taylor. Mo was heating up late last season and hopefully will be fully recouperated from his hamstring injury. Yao will most likely be better than last year. cuttino's ankles hopefully won't be bothering him. also, VG will instill more discipline, stability, and teamwork. Theres no reason we shouldn't get the 6th or 7th seed. Sacramento's gonna be weaker than last year (their best player is recovering from a torn ACL), as will be the Blazers (if Pippen leaves), and the Jazz (no more Stockton and Malone). Also, San Antonio's losing Robinson and they and the Lakers will be weaker next season unless they make major moves in the off-season. In Phoenix, Penny will be a year older and Marbury is recovering from possible nerve damage in his shooting arm.
