https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-lebron-james-decision-making-machine/?addata=espn:nba:index The houston part of the article: If LeBron wants to win right away, the Houston Rockets are the obvious choice. The salary-cap machinations would be involved — James would have to opt into the final year of his Cavs contract, and the teams would need to work a trade that basically guts Houston’s entire roster, all while the Rockets would probably want to simultaneously re-sign Chris Paul and Clint Capela to new contracts as well. The resulting luxury-tax bill would be enormous, and it’s not clear how James, Paul and James Harden would play together. But if it all came together — and last year’s Rockets could help assuage some of those concerns about fit — this Houston superteam might instantly have a better NBA-title shot than even the Warriors (!) do.Seriously. CARMELO thinks a core of James, Harden, Paul and Capela would win 66 games even if surrounded by Ryan Anderson and stray minimum-salary finds; as currently constituted, the Warriors project to win about 60 games next season. And any playoff experience adjustments might not tilt things back in Golden State’s direction much, since the Rockets would be adding a guy who has made the NBA Finals eight times in a row. Perhaps the only question is whether the potential for championships outweighs the negative effects such a move might have on the narrative arc of LeBron’s career. According to our straw poll, Houston was the ninth-most-damaging potential location for James’s legacy — though it was also the most polarizing destination in the poll. Through one lens, James’s suiting up for the Rockets could be viewed as “taking the easy way out” to join up with other stars. But it could also be spun as an Avengers-style team-up, with the mission of ending the Warriors’ stranglehold on the league.
I am skeptical. That page with the Carmelo factor also predicted the Rockets to win the Finals by 60%.
Because Lebron's legacy in the straw poll they did took a big hit by doing another "easy way out super team" jump.
okay (not directed at you but you) but never knew rockets were a 4 star 73 win super team who who beat lebron 3 straight after being down 3-1 and went to the finals even if you add lebron to the rockets, the rockets are still no superteam. still underdogs compared to gsw
so Lebron won't join a superteam.. KD did.. 2 superstars (only 1 in their prime) and no other all stars 2 superstars in their prime & 2 all stars in their prime only one of these teams is a true superteam
"James would have to opt into the final year of his Cavs contract, and the teams would need to work a trade that basically guts Houston’s entire roster, all while the Rockets would probably want to simultaneously re-sign Chris Paul and Clint Capela to new contracts as well." Or they could take Ryan Anderson and a couple of extras And LeBron would not be joining a super-team with the Rockets. He would make them a super-team, but right now the Rockets are just a really good team.
Well, we're more of a superteam than anyone else except the Warriors, so I'd guess that's what they mean
In a league without the Warriors we would be considered a super team. Teamups of guys at the upper echelon of the league is pretty rare. In terms of advanced metrics, the Paul/Harden/Capela tandem is every bit as good as the Lebron/Wade/Bosh tandem. We also won 65 games and were significantly out front of the rest of the league in terms of wins. This is despite injuries. The Rockets this year were a historically great team with two first ballot hall of famers and a guy posting big advanced metrics in Capela. Couple that with really good role players.
