Are you as confident as last year

YES!!

 

Your loss bud. I made hundreds of dollars thanks to the confidence I had in JVG.

 

Last year, my hopes were for the Rockets to make the playoffs again, win 50+ games, and get to the second round. The Rockets nearly got all three. This year, I'm a lot more confident in the team. They've added much needed depth and brought in a new coach to make the offense run smoother. Last season's playoff loss may have been a blessing in disguise. It really showed us what the greatest weaknesses were and what to do to fix them.

 

we haven't lost any defensive players, which means our defence is as good as last year. but we've gained a few good offensive players and loses some defensive liabilities. i have to say we got better not worth, but has any team above up got better?

 

I'm confident rockets will go to the playoffs, I'm confident Yao will be even better this year, and I'm confident that the rockets have the ability to beat the top four teams in the west from last year.

what I have questions about is Yao's ability to stay healthy the whole year, and I do know that his injuries aren't necessarily related, still...

questions about what the PG role, i'm glad rockets have firepower, and i luv steve when he is on, but that is a big ?. But, i'm leaning on the positive side of things based on the fact that steve can create his own shot, and the offense won't be bogged down simply because of the inability to get the ball in yao's hands, or tmac trying to do everything by himself. more creators the better.

Scola looks like a good player. nice touch, good body to bang low...

For me, the PF with scola is a HUGE sigh of relief. it will not be the same series with Utah if rockets meet them again simply because of scola.

so i like the rockets chances. not saying they are the favorite but certainly capable. I felt at certain times last year rockets were capable of going all the way, but what dampered that feeling was that yao wasn't quite what he was, despite the giddiness of his first game back where he scored a ton on howard?

i feel better this year because of scola. yes still unproven in a nba season, but looks capable. for me not a repeat of billy, man has all around skills.

 

It seems that we have prepared all stuff for a wonderful dish.The point is whether they work well.How far Rockets go depends on how these guys play together.
I'm confident more than last year.

 

Rick Adleman

Last season JVG (who I always supported) did what he does and that is to minimize the potential to lose. Problem is he didn't ever seem to maximize our potential to win or to dominate, and it really wasn't in our players attitude either. I think we did all we could with our roster and JVG as the coach. JVG needs a player with a will to win like The Dream or MJ that takes victory as the only option.

Now we have Rick. The thing I think about when I think about the Kings teams that Rick coached is that they were always put in the best position possible to win. When they lost they lost because the players couldn't get it done. Rick will blend and change and adapt his roster to give them the best opportunity to WIN, not to avoid losing. He is a coach that will put winning into the hands of the players. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we don't get it done we will be looking at our roster and not our coach this season.

Roster changes.
Scola - This is the big move that will make a difference this season, heart, leadership, win at all costs attitude. Bibby is the only player I think of on those Kings teams that had this kind of attitude. (Bonzi in one series)

SF3 - Can Stevie produce in a lesser roll, he hasn't shown that he can? SF3 also has a fire to win in his belly but has a tendency to want to do it himself which won't be our best option in most cases. I like his drive but I don't have confidence in his game. Prove me wrong Stevie I'm rootin for you.

Mike James - I am afraid that Mike James and SF3 are going to be either or and not both. I don't think both these guards are going to be effective and happy with their roll. IMO it will be Mike James that wins out, mostly because he will be more accepting of his role. I think this he is #2 behind Scola as our best aquisition.

Butler - If this guy can prove 10 mins a game without killing us I will be happy with him.

AB - Aaron has already done more than I would have given him credit for. I don't think he will ever be able to run a team in the NBA as a starter because of his size but I do think he will play and provide a scoring punch and nice change of pace. He is a shooter and a seems to do well under pressure but has to prove that under the spotlight of an NBA game. I think putting AB in the game and having the opponents PG chase him around for 10 mins will give us some points and if they leave their starter in he is going to need some rest when AB is done with him.

Bonzi - I have no expectations for this guy and no respect either. If this guy does anything positive it will never make up for the PITA he is nor the distraction he is.

 

I'm never confident, but I'm always hopeful, so I'm as hopeful as ever... I just hope the team picks up Adelman's system quickly and we still hang onto our defensive tenacity. I'm also hoping the knuckleheads we have on the roster get along and egos don't start getting in the way. If all this doesn't happen, we're going to be talking about next season by mid-season...

 

Good for you, to bad the Rockets didn't cash in.

 

i think people need to understand JVG sacrificed some offense for his defense. he always packed the paint and thus nobody is able to run upcourt fast enough for a quick score. he wants all of his guys to help w/ the defensive rebounding and all the defensive responsibilities.

though i think that helped make us a great defensive team, but we needed some easy scores.

another thing is we have great individual defenders in tmac, battier, francis, and yao. and adelman preaches D, which seems to be a myth to some here.

our defensive efficiency will still be top 5 i believe. but our offensive will also be top 5

 

Highly doubt our defense is top 5. SA, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Orlando, Memphis, Seattle, Sacramento all have defensive-oriented coaches. People on this bored think we'll average over 100 points per game, so that means we'll likely give up 96. That's not top 5 defensive material.

 

52 wins, with the MVP of the league out for over half the season, is good enough for my wallet, since the boys in Vegas had us losing most of our games.

 

Man, you just used the JVG word...and you said something sort of negative about him. Some posters are about to come after you....I said the same thing about JVG twice and it got a few instant responses defending JVG. Even though, most of what you said was true. A few won't admit it, but we are better off without him.

 

well adelman had his kings in top 2-3 defensive efficiency during their 2-3 peak year run and they were the best offensive team then.

it can be done. or i want what the spurs are doing. averaging 99-100 pts and still the best defensive team in the L.

it's possible my friend. we have the defenders. we have the offensive players. we have the bench. we have the coach. now we have to execute.

 

b/c those fools under-estimated the power of tmac. everyone thought he fell off, including most rocket fans, who thought he would never be a star again.

 

We won't be favorites though....I don't think people realize Scola's potential and think the James/Francis experiment might too much. We might about the 3rd or 4th favorite.

But I know a Eastern Conference team won't favored over us.

 

The difference between Adelman and JVG is Adelman will have broader imagination on the floor. Adelman would have put Yao on Okur and let Hayes/Deke tie up with Boozer. Then when Boozer came out, Adelman would have flipped Yao back in the post and ran a smaller player at Okur on the perimeter like Howard or Battier. I don't see the big deal in Yao out on the perimeter against teams that play backwards like Utah. Yao has plenty of talent. The best thing that could have happened was for Okur to receive the ball with a 7'6" giant draped on him and he has to put the ball on the floor to try to get his shot off or drive to the basket and get a charging call because we got 2 super quick players in Hayes and Battier that can get set against a guy like that. JVG's mind just wouldn't flex that far.

The difference with the rotation against teams like Utah will be huge now. We can run Hayes/Deke on Boozer and we can put Scola out there on Okur if we have to and then when Boozer goes out we can run Scola and Yao together and tear them up offensively.

Offensively, Scola is going to create so many more opportunities for Yao, it is going to be unreal. Teams that cheat off Scola are gonna get burnt. His midrange game smokes, he's twice the midrange shooter Howard was. And not only that but because we have 2 bigs that can shoot the face up jumper and Adelman is gonna run some high post face up for Yao, we can alternate whichever guy has the bigger mismatch in the post. We play Utah, we run Yao in the post and Scola up high. Boozer has to stay honest on Scola or Scola burns him. And that leaves Yao alone in the post to plough up Okur. And both of those guys are smart enough and see the floor well enough that when AK-47 cheats to help out, they can burn him with the pass.

Scola also means we will never have an offensively challenged lineup. In fact, we will always have extremely talented offensive players on the floor, even when the whole 2nd unit is in. We are gonna tear up a lot of team's benches with our 2nd unit.

San Antonio had 3 go to players that can get their own shot offensively, Duncan, Parker, Manu.

Phoenix has a bunch of finishers around Nash, but outside of Barbosa, they really don't have anybody that can get their own shot.

Dallas has 3 1/2 guys that can get their own shot, Nowitzki, Howard, Stack, and sometimes Terry.

We've got 6 1/2 guys that can create their own shot and cause defenses to have to adjust, Yao, Mac, Bonzi, Scola, Francis, James, and Brooks (1/2) and they are going to be playing in a passing, move the ball offense. These guys are pros. We're not going to have dribble mania from Francis and James. They're gonna share the ball and create offensive mismatches all over the floor.

Defensively, we may have lost a little scheming from Van Gundy but I think we're actually man to man defenders. Francis and James are an upgrade to Rafer. Scola for Howard defensively is a wash. And Bonzi is going to be getting minutes that Head got last year, so that's an upgrade.

Anything less than 60 wins will be a disappointment.

Anything less than Conference Finals will be a disappointment.

 

ROCKET FIRE burns brightly in your chest my friend

I truly Agree

BRING ON THE SEASON
only thing about the 60 wins is the adjustment time in the
beginning of the season

Rocket River

 

I think this team is going to get off to a better start than any of Van Gundy's teams.