After the first 2 games it is easy to see this team is not really a lot better than the team we finished with last year. But I am still very optimistic and here are some reasons I think we could actually be alot better by seasons end... Yao gets in game shape and gets his offensive rhythmback while improving his defense too... gets his minutes up to at least 28 and gets at least 12 on back to backs. Lowry comes back healthy and proves to be everything we thought he could be on defense and motivation. Brooks' offense benefits from less minutes, learns from his mistakes and plays harder and smarter with less minutes. Martin becomes even more of our goto guy. He is clearly the best offensive weapon on the team but Brooks and a couple of other players ballhog a little too much overlooking him. I don't think it is personal and I think Adelman will eventually design more plays were Martin is the first option and the team will look for him more as they say this kid is amazing at scoring efficiently. One or both Patterson and Hill will deserve real minutes because they are both playing harder and smarter. I actually think PPat has the better upside at this point. I am really impressed with his athleticism and all around game and that he at least tries to play hard all the time. My hope is he improves so much over the course of the season and beats out Hayes for minutes. That would mean we are better at the 4. If hill can do the same our backup center spot will also be better. Lee makes major improvement in his game that he deserves to start over battier. Yes not Bud beating out Battier but Lee. If Lee has already showed signs of guarding Kobe well than he can guard almost any wing player. And Martin and Lee are much better together than Martin and Bud. But he still has to improve defensively and understand the offense better. If that happens than he could deserve a spot in the starting lineup and that leaves us Batier and Budinger as backups. Those are some awesome backups. Yes all those people who hate battier as a starter got to love him as a backup. And Bud is instant offense off the bench. So there you have it. A path to being a real contender. But make no mistake about it we are a long way off from most of them happening right now. And there is no guarantee they we will all happen. But if most of them do and I would emphasize it starts with number ONE, than we have a legitimate chance to be an elite team. And all of those are without making a trade. The only trade would make at this time would be for a superstar or at least borderline superstar and or some minor tweaking trades to improve or backup center without giving up any of our main core listed above. otherwise stick with what we got and hope most of what I suggest transpires.
Theres too much negativity in the site but lets look at the positives. 1. Kevin Martin has been impressive, effective and efficient. 2. Rockets were without Kyle Lowry who is arguably the leader of the second unit. His absence puts a lot of pressure on Brooks and Lee. Once Lowry returns to anchor the bench, the roles and rotation will have more clarity. 3. Its only 2 games thus far. Championships are not won in October. 4. As reported, the Rockets may re-evaluate the 24 minute rule imposed on Yao. If it does increase to 28-30 mpg and remove the mandated "not playing on back-to-backs", it improves the Rockets continuity and game planning. 5. The offense is better this year than this time a year ago. 6. Brad Miller has been sensational backup 7. We are going home which means home-court advantage but also Yao is once again available. 8. The Rockets is still in the process of developing chemistry. Once everyone settles down, gets healthy and accepts their roles, the possibility of this team is downright scary. Danny Granger was right when he said that we have 2 starting units and the bench has the potential to be more exciting than the starters. Cohesion takes time, just asｋ Miami． Ｗｅ ｊｕｓｔ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｈａｖｅ ｐａｔｉｅｎｃｅ
The main problem is the rockets are playing like a RUN N GUN team without the qualified personnel to do so. They've got Battier, B.rad Miller, Yao, Scola to do the run n gunning and they will gas by the 4th quarter and the defense will be non existent as shown by the high scoring results. They're not young assassins like Hawks or Warriors or Suns (back in the day) so Rick adelman has to slow down the play one way or the other if this are to improve.
