Are there any Teams Behind the Rockets in the Standings with More Talent

Portland
Golden State

DD

 

I think the team is overachieving but only slightly. The whole "no talent" argument is one I never agreed with. This team lacks a superstar or even an All Star but it has better than average players at multiple positions and a fantastic bench that outplays the starters on many nights.

Brooks
Scola
Landry

 

fixed

 

i don't get where we have "no talent."

AB is more than just a pretty good offensive talent. landry is a beast on the offensive end. scola is extremely crafty. those 3 guys would start on a TON of teams.

the other guys are more defensive hustle guys, but they are at least average scorers.

the kings i believe had less "talent" than us, although tyreke evans is a budding superstar.

 

What did you fix?

 

define talent.

Are we only taking offensive talent in to consideration?

 

how about Hornets? they have two all stars

 

I agree, I've been saying this for a while. The fact is that people just poorly evaluate our talent level since we don't have any big names, and a lot of our guys were late picks that no one was paying attention to. But while these guys work hard, they're also pretty talented. Props to Morey for finding them all.

 

Objectively speaking, our talent level is not that high. Scola is the only obviously above average player at his position. Brooks, Ariza, Battier, Lowry, and Landry are all the types of players that we have realized are good, but could easily be wasted on other teams. From that perspective, here's my list. All the following teams are behind us.

More talent than us:
Miami New Orleans Toronto Washington
Golden State Philadelphia Chicago

Comparable talent:
Detroit Oklahoma City Milwaukee
Sacramento Memphis Indiana Charlotte LA Clippers

Less talent:
New York New Jersey Minnesota

 

Its not so much the teams behind us aren't as talented as it is how close we hang with clearly superior teams. Portland, Utah, New Orleans, those rosters are significantly deeper than ours.

 

I agree.

And to put another way, just because a team might have the one or two best players on the floor does not mean they have the most talent. The Rockets seldom have the best or two best players on the floor but everyone in the rotation is a high quality player that can go off on any night. The Rockets have a ton of talent and more desirable pieces than at any time in the last 10 years IMO.

 

It is as much buying into and playing in a system that maximizes the talents of the players on the team. Kudos to Morey and Adelman for implementing and the players for putting team first.

 

Rockets have the least talent in the league.

 

I think if you give every player a grade
1 thru 10

Alot of teams will have maybe one or two 10~8 players
and a bunch of 2~4 type players

I think in our starting line up and bench
we have a bunch of 5~8 players

Brooks, Landry, Scola - solid 8s
Battier, Chuck, Lowry, Ariza, CBud - Solid 6~7 players

I think when it averages out . . . Rocket maybe above average because
collectively they are. . .while no individual is a 9 or 10

Rocket River

 

Well put. I think that's exactly the issue.

People conflate the concepts "No marquee player" with "No talent," not looking at the breadth of the roster.

 

The Rockets lack skilled 1-on-1 scorers. There's Brooks, Landry, maybe Scola (though he's really more limited on the post than a lot of people realize).

I would say there are a number of teams ahead of the Rockets on that basis that are behind them in the standings.

 

And the misconception is that 'skilled 1 on 1 scorers' = 'talent'

IF that is what talent is, then sure, the Golden State Warriors are one of the more talented players in the league....

But good basketball players do so much more than scoring!

I think the Rockets have better 'overall talent' than most teams in the league - we just lack a superstar who can 'bring it' at both ends and step it up in the crunch. Or - I should say - we lack someone who has consistently done that so far in their career.

 

Just for fun - comparing us to the 'supremely talented' Blazers squad (imo)

Roy vs Ming
Aldridge vs McGrady
Miller vs Brooks
Oden vs Landry
Outlaw vs Scola
Fernandez vs Ariza
Webster vs Battier
Blake vs Lowry
Batum vs Budinger
Przybilla vs Hayes
Bayless vs Taylor
Howard vs Andersen
Cunningham vs Dorsey
Pendergraph vs Cook
Mills.

You could make a fair argument that the player in bold is the 'more talented' - I left the bottom 3 spots undecided since they're all a bit of a wash really (I mean, we hate Dorsey and Cook - but trading them for Cunningham and Pendergraph wouldn't be on any sane persons agenda!)

For what it's worth - I do think the Blazers have deep talent - but at worst this list should show that we have depth of talent!

 

You always have to watch out for any texas team, utah, and more recently the blazers.