We lost Lowry, Dragic, Scola, Camby, Lee, Dalembert and Budinger We added Lin, Asik, 4-5 rooks and some journeymen This thread is terrible.
I think I agree with you. People are setting themselves up to be disappointed if they assume our very young team is somehow able to put all the pieces together this year. We have so many question marks going into this season. Who really knows how well Asik will do as a full time center, and who is his backup? What player is going to step up and replace Scola as our low post scoring threat? Lin looked really good for about three weeks last year, but can he do it for an entire season? After you get past our starting five, what do we really have? Can McHale coach a bunch of young guys? Can McHale coach at all? Maybe everything comes together and the Rockets surprise a lot of people, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I'll be perfectly satisfied if Lin plays well and a couple of our young guys show a lot of potential. I'm not very concerned about how many wins we have. If we can get a couple of high draft picks for this next draft and plug a couple more holes then I'll be happy. Is Asik really a long term solution at the center position? I'm really looking forward to the season to see what happens.
Who said anything about high expectations? All I said was I don't think we will be one of the bottom 3 teams in the west.......if you think that is high expectations you my friend are one negative person.
No.....this team full of rookies and 2nd year players, only have 2 players who can even be called proven commodities.
Ever since that godawful collapse during our push for the playoffs last year, it is incredibly hard to be positive. I think those of us thinking we're going to be basement dwellers are being realistic rather than negative.
Thank you! imo i thought we had a great off season. We blew up our starting line up from last season, which is not that big of a change considering how no one really had much upside. We lost a good defender in Lee, and good PGs in Lowry and Dragic. And whoever said our backcourt took a downgrade: we still have a better KMart, Delfino, J Lin, Machado, and J lamb. At the very LEAST that is equal to last years backcourt. And theres not even an argument about how much better our frontcourt has improved. Just my 2 cents
You did, check again what you wrote: this year's starting line-up is better than last years. I can write an essay on why this is far from true and highly unlikely to be true. You say we will surprise people. Both those things are high expectations because unlike past few years where we did surprise a lot of teams, now we are young and experienced. Of course, we could surprise but you're saying we are definitely going to surprise which is an high expectation, don't you think?
What is the detail on Toronto pick 2013 draft? I missed out on that one and need confirmation. Thanks Folks!
I think a lot of fans on this board are underestimating this team. On the face of it, that would seem counter to most sports boards since most fans overrate their team. The way that I see it, as a more unbiased outside observer, is that people here overrate Dragic and Lowry and underrate Lin. I guess that is understandable since the Rockets previously dumped Lin and Rox fans have been supporting Dragic and Lowry for awhile now. My guess is that once the games start, we will be seeing plenty of fans on this board saying that Lin is better than last year's PGs. I think the Rockets will outperform expectations and will get the 8th seed this season, and their improved backcourt will be a big reason why.
we have fans thinking that this team is better than last year, I am not surprised that we have so many Morey supporters.
I think the biggest reason is we will have a real center for the first time in a long time (Camby's short stint notwithstanding), and a pretty good one at that.
Part of me would love to see the Rockets make the playoffs, but the other part really would like to hear "With the #5 pick, the Houston Rockets select..."
I think something a lot of people overlook is how good Lowry and Dragic played defensively .... While Lin might be able to score as well as Lowry , he's nowhere near the defender. PG is not a wash IMO. There was a definate step back taken here. Martin might get his head on straight but thats not going to make him a better defender .... Or get rid of the rules changes that took away those things he relied upon to be efficient offensively. Patterson might be the better defender but who's going to score out of the post to keep teams honest ? For this roster to finish with better than 32 wins .... One or more of the rookies has to have a hell of a year. There are just too many flaws .... No reliable post scoring option and a lack of defense at the guard positions. (I predicted 27-55 in the other thread)
I have a feeling it's either going to be a surprise in a good way or pretty bad. The schedule is favorable early on which is good for a young team because if things go really bad early they may tend to pick up bad habits and attitudes and right now based on the youtube practice sessions it looks like everyone is buying in. My concern is injuries with Lin and Asik, other than that i think they have a chance to be acceptable this year and won't tank like most hope. Either way with the Lakers and Heat so good can't expect much anyway....
