Are the Rockets any better than last season's team? People (including Morey when he goes on radio interviews) talk about the Rockets getting defensive focused, having young genius JB Bickerstaff revamp defensive scheme, getting savvy veteran with championship experience, improving chemistry, better Harden, etc... They dumped guys who got blamed for "coin-flip" losses to Portland-- Lin turned the ball over! Role Player Parsons didn't defend Lillard's shot! Unhappy Asik was team cancer! They are all gone now, and then what? Has any of these things amounted to a hill of beans? The Rockets were a substantial step away from being a real contender last season. They still are. They turned the ball over often last season, they still do. They couldn't defend a high level offensive team in Portland last season, they are defending the Clippers even worse. At least we have flexibility to look forward to-- As we always do going into every summer.
Last year's team actually played harder, this team got lucky playing the Mavs. They play the same stupid brand of basketball though.
Last year we had a much, much better bench. If our starters were hurt or not playing well, we had bench players that could step up. We also had a few other playmakers than just Harden that could move the ball around.
This is a pretty irrelevant question. Was that ever Morey's intent of putting this makeshift team together? Morey did a pretty damn good job assembling a team of role players and pretty much maximizing what they could do realistically speaking. But obviously, Morey's goal is to get us a 3rd star, thus sacrificing a ton just for a chance at landing Bosh (this was Plan A). There's no point comparing last year's team to his Plan B essentially.
The 2015 Rockets outclass the 2014 Rockets in nearly every way. Sadly...after Game 3 in Dallas, the 2015 Rockets reverted back to the 2014 version.
Last year we were the 4th seed and got knocked out of the 1st round. This season we were the 2nd seed and will get knocked out of the 2nd round. There is clear improvement from last season. We're just getting beat by one of the 3 elite teams in the NBA. It is what it is.
We are better than last year but nearly not good enough either way. We got beat by the Blazers who are a 2nd tier team and we are a 2nd tier team. Not a contender clearly. We are one of the best 2nd tier teams though for what that means...
