The Rockets have an 18% chance of making the playoffs while playing in a league where more than half of the teams make the playoffs. They have .7% chance of making the finals, and .1% chance of winning the finals. They are at the same level as Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Detroit. You could say that all of these teams are an All-Star away from being a contender. If you compare the Rockets starting lineup to the top echelon teams in the league, our starters would be backups on those teams. As fans, we overestimate the value of players.
I honestly believe in my heart that this team "as is", is only a 40 y/o deke or a Tyson Chandler away from a solid #4 seed.
Remember that Clutchfans as many other fan sites are made out of bipolar fans Are we THAT bad. It depends who you ask.
Same here. In the end, you are what your record says you are and the their records says that the Rox are a mediocre team. They most definitely have to rebuild because the Yao experiment has failed but my problem with the idea of rebuilding is that in order to rebuild, you have to be smart about evaluating talent and lucky to get those great players you need to contend. Recent history demonstrates that they have been neither.
Maybe it wasn't clear but my comments were directed more towards the unfair perception that the Rockets organization is just fine sitting on their hands, than it was meant to be a measure of the likelihood they make a big move. The Yao experiment wasn't officially over until two months ago, and it seems like many fans already expect the team to have a rebuilding plan implemented and executed before the lame duck season even ends.
We have overachieved for the most part over the last couple of years. Give this roster credit for doing that...but ultimately this is a mediocre team without at least a go to scorer/creator and a defensive/rebounding presence. I said this before, but if we could get a couple of pieces like that, this team instantly becomes a serious threat because we have such a solid/deep team of guys who can play. As it stands now, we have to execute 4 quarters perfectly to beat playoff quality teams with little to no margin for error and while we occasionally do that, it's not the way a true contender plays. We come into most games undersized and or unathletic at almost every position on the floor so yes, we are that bad.
I don't know if "bad" is the preoperative word. As many have suggested, the Rockets are mediocre. The case and point of this is just as Adelman states "We have little room for error." That is a statement you make with a weak team. A playoff team can beat most teams when not playing their best. A championship team can beat any team when not playing their best. The Rockets right now have to play perfect to beat contenders, and have to play nearly perfect to beat playoff teams or on-the-cusp teams. When they are not playing their best, have a key player out (not Yao), or whatever, they essentially do not win. The only time they win when not playing their best is when they are playing a bottom basement team (like Cleveland, Toronto, etc), but they even lost to Minnesota just last week because they made too many mistakes. So yes, the Rockets are just that bad.
This season feels exactly like last season. And we'll probably end up +- 3 games from .500 like last season... ...unless we give Aaron Brooks his starting role back. He earned it last season. Kyle Lowry is NOT an upgrade so while we continue to start him is beyond me.
Roll the dice a little differently, and with this roster we could be "overachieving", sitting in the #6 position in the west. AB's ankle is the big injury of this year. Lowry started the season injured. The whole first half of the season we didn't develop any chemistry due to a combination of trying to play everyone, and the injury bug. Are we bad. Yes. But with a little different luck, we could be "overachieving" right now. To make us a contender, or a favorite we need quite a bit, as everyone says -- superstar, and a defensive center, more two way players, etc etc But a few relatively minor tweeks, and we can be "overachievers" pretty quickly, and have the potential to make some upsets in the playoffs.
The only WC team that has shown the "ability" to be upset in the 1st round the past few years has been the Dallas Mavericks. While I as much as every single person in the city of Houston would love to see that happen, the Mavs are the Rockets nemesis. The Rockets have a 11-28 regular season record against them over the past 10 years and no wins against them since New Year's Eve of 2009.
didn't say that...there's a difference between a big and a guy playing at 7'5" or above. it's like the breaking point...seriously. and these injuries are exactly the kind of injuries you would expect for a guy at that size playing in the NBA. foot injuries or joint injuries in the lower extremities. none of this should be surprising...they were talking about it on draft night in 2000.
here's the problem...you're going to have to trade that "solid depth" to get the scorer/creator and defensive/rebounding pieces you want. "solid depth" is our ONLY real trade asset at this point...and frankly, i don't think that will be good enough to land the pieces you're talking about. unless of course...you have a season where you lose enough games for the draft to truly matter to you.
In the NBA, unless you are one of the premiere destination teams, your chance to get a Super Star only comes around about once a decade. After Hakeem we were incredibly lucky with the ping-pong balls to get Yao. It very well could be that we go another decade without having a Super Star and probably need to experience some lottery suck years to hit on one; either getting a 'Kobe' lucky lower pick or or the improbable odds, top 3 pick in a good year. It's a Super Star league.
