I am super optimistic about this team. They are aiming for the play in. I would like to think they have a chance to do that, but they would have to be better than 5 teams in the west. Here are last seasons final standings Western Conference ------------------------------------------------- Denver Nuggets* 53 29 Memphis Grizzlies* 51 31 Sacramento Kings* 48 34 Phoenix Suns* 45 37 Los Angeles Clippers* 44 38 Golden State Warriors* 44 38 Los Angeles Lakers* 43 39 Minnesota Timberwolves* 42 40 New Orleans Pelicans* 42 40 Oklahoma City Thunder* 40 42 Dallas Mavericks 38 44 Utah Jazz 37 45 Portland Trail Blazers 33 49 San Antonio Spurs 22 60 * playoff team (the poll wont allow me to list every western conference team)
I misread the poll and thought you were talking about the entire NBA. I def think we will be better than Portland and SA, but beyond that I'm not sure. I do think we are better than a few East teams though. West is tough, lots of teams in the play-in range.
They're not making the play in and they realistically have a shot at only having a better record than 2 teams. Spurs/Port. Spurs are a given who probably won't even get 30 wins but Port isn't going through a full rebuild. Port has established vets and proven everyday rotational players on their team surrounded around scoot. Port will be around the same 30-35 win mark the rockets are.
Right now unbeknownst of who is plagued by injuries. The problem with this is the so called middle of the pack teams will be more than motivated, there is no telling who will have a bad season. Portland had 2 fantastic trades Stone can only dream about. SA, Portland, (Clips might self implode) (Mavericks might implode) That Utah front court is pretty sick and tall-ish for a non contender. Having Robert Williams and Ayton is mighty fine as well.
I project Al Pee will grow another inch to inch-and-three-quarters over the course of the 2023-24 season
I think this Rockets will better than Spurs, but Spurs could be the mid/upper 20's in wins. Not really because of Wemby, but the non Wemby guys is good enough. We might be better than the Blazers. But remember they were really actively tanking last year. Ant Simons is a fifth year player going to sixth and on paper is currently better than the young guys we have (at this stage of their career; 2nd /3rd years). We do have FVV and Dillon, but they also have Ayton and Rob Williams. I think Rockets could be better than Blazers, but the gap might not be as big as people think. This Rockets team can do it. LAL overachieved last year, if they ran it back with the same group I say they have fewer wins. Over the summer, they got Gabe, Taurean, Reddish, and Wood. That team got deeper. Same with DAL they got more pieces over the summer. Jazz got 37 wins last year. Might regress this season, still if they're in low mid 30's, they'll be neck and neck with us. West is stacked: My criteria for success is beating the teams we started out tanking year with: ORL and DET. People like to say we should be better than ORL, just because we got free agents, but again, takes time for players to gel. New players, new coaches, and undo the bad Silas behaviors takes time. Beating ORL in w/L is not a given, but we could do it.
I was thinking along these lines as well. The Rockets are going to need help from other teams to make the playoffs.
That Mark Daigneault dude whose name is hellish to pronounce.....is underrated. My dark horse coach. I cannot really bet against him. They would not improve by much, but stay around 39-43 Wins.
Similar to last year I think there will be 11-12 teams with 40+ wins or very close to it in the West. I don’t think we will be one of them. My guess is we add 8-12 wins, but it won’t be quite enough for the play in.
The most obvious being SA & Portland but there's a couple others that could fall apart - Dallas & both LA teams and maybe Minnesota if Ant misses any time. I really worry that this Rockets team struggles to score. They were terrible shooting as a team last season and didn't help that with any of their offseason acquisitions - None of them are plus shooters and their best shooter from last season has been banished permanently. Then you watch the training camp videos which has been a clank-fest, those rims are going to need new paint by the time the Rockets head back to the H. Udoka really has his work cut out for him on this end of the court .... Defensively I expect them to be significantly better, maybe not top 10 but top half which isn't much difference statistically. They'll get better defensively on effort alone .... They'll be a better / more competitive team, I just wonder how much that shows up in the W/L columns.
There is one factor that I think may be key to realizing the Rockets make the play in. The Silas factor. Let me ask this, how good would the Rockets have been last year with a solid culture and a great coach? 5 more wins? 10? How about the right coach for the last 3 years? -------- -------- ------- -------- --------- -------- Projections are based on how the players performed last year and extrapolated to the current one. Player growth and development are taken into account, but how about said players underperforming due to reasons mentioned above? My point is, the players from last year may be WAY undervalued and underestimated. Tie that in with the vets we added and the great coach (hopefully) that these guys have never worked with before and we might have a much better team than most expect. Maybe not as professional basketball players, but most of us have had the displeasure of working for someone that causes us to underperform. For me, it caused me to do only what I actually had to to keep my job, and thats it. On the other hand, I have also worked for someone who brought out my best. The difference, if someone were measuring, would be substantial! Almost night and day. We dont know this will happen, but if Ime can really reach these guys, get them to believe, get them to give that extra bit that only occurs when the situation is right, this team could far exceed expectations.
You had Lionel Hollins as assistant. In his days a legitimate coach. As much as Silas was ass nobody stood up and did something. Everyone was busy cashing them checks. Stone told them essentially to keep tanking.
I believe we only get to keep our pick if its top 4. I also dont think this coming draft is projected to be very strong. If we are a bottom 4 team again this year, I would say something has gone terribly wrong.
Still Tanking: Spurs Blazers With additions and growth we've moved past: Pelicans Thunder Can't stay healthy: Clippers
