As currently constructed: are Rockets championship contenders?

Nope.

With no team play-maker other than Harden, this team is going to be easy to scout, prepare for, and defend in a 7 game series, especially in a stacked western conference.

Rockets are not even guaranteed to get out of the first round.

I say this without even taking their regular season into account.

 

Harden has been so good that it covers up the fact that we need a better 6th man. Our 7th 8th 9th and even 10th (Brewer, JSmith, Terry, Papa) are great but we are really missing the guy that can come in and put some points up or create for everyone. If TJones didnt get hurt, that guy might have been Dmo in the paint but his injury has left some questions unanswered. Dragic would be ideal, but Phx is going to start by asking for Dmo and Papa and probably NOP pick (at least I would if I were them). Hopefully Tjones comes back and either regains his starter spot or comes off the bench and provides some scoring. Bev is a good PG but ideally we could use a better playmaker to reinforce the PG spot.

 

Quoted for posterity's sake.

But no, I don't think this team is a championship contender.

 

This team IMO is def a contender IF!! some players put their pride to the side an start reevaluating their rolls... Dwight needs to stop being the prime post up player and give it to DMO.. Josh needs to become the ultimate garbage man that can pass and slash! And let's get back to that defensive grind!

 

Yes and No.....Tweener

 

Champion? u thought too much!
If the team can pass first round, It's very luck

 

They have the talent to be a contender. The problem is their hot and cold. WCF will be amazing but I'll be ok if they make it out the first round

 

I don't feel like it is Dwight's inability to be a primary post player on offence. Our guys lack consistency. Dmo, Dwight and Josh are all lacking in this department. None of our players are playing with a sense of urgency. None. We need a true floor general out there. A player who is not afraid to tell Dwight and Harden to pick up his game or tell Harden he needs to pick up his defence. Or tell Brewer to go out there and be that real spark off the bench. A guy like
Jarret Jack comes to mind or David West. I was hoping Terry would be more vocal as well as Ariza but they seem to be more passive leaders such as Battier was. Until we can get that type of vocal leadership our team will not get passed the first round. This team has talent. It just needs maturity and guidance to build that consistency. We can not expect to win every game but a consistent effort is something that we SHOULD expect.

 

*they're

 

Honestly this team is a big mystery. They are laMar Odom inconsistent. ...
they go on good stretches where they look un-defendable, then turn around and look like a dleague pick up crew.
basically, and this is sad to say...I'm not surprised if we get knocked out in the first round and not surprised if we make the finals either....

 

how are they contenders when dwight is playing like a role player for almost a month? its been basially harden and a bunch of role players.

we have a stacked team and still rely heavily on harden. and the inconsistency is killing me. u never know which rockets are gonna show up.

they have the right pieces. they just need to stop being so daam inconsistent, dont screw up the rotations and dwight needs to step up. if that happens then we'll see if they start playing like contenders.

 

They aren't contenders but they aren't pretenders they are more like wait and see

 

Could and should be but they need a strong coach who can define their roles correctly.

DD

 

I don't think we are a contender.

Harden is the man, but he is playing with only "good" players. Dwight was supposed to be the other elite guy, but he just isn't getting it done as consistent as Harden.

We need a better elite/second option. And Dwight may need to be our 4th or 5th option. (Sounds wierd saying that, but come on Dwight)

I'm hoping for that splash at PG

 

dwight is getting padi too much to be anything less than a 2nd option, maybe 3rd. unfortunately we have to wait awhile to see him at 100% so ffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuu

 

I don't know if we are contenders as current constructed, but I know for damn sure we aren't contenders as currently playing. That was a pet hectic showing for the defense. I saw a lot of the old Harden defense and a lot of lackadaisical defense by Howard. On top of that you've got josh smith jacking up more threes and Shved out there handling he ball for 24 seconds, then cast jogging back on defense. Unacceptable.


I get the feeling Morey sent Canaan to the d league to hide him from the league so he doesn't have to part w him, otherwise it makes no damn sense to give shved any pt.

 

I said no, which pains me.

They need a proper PG. Beverly was the adrenaline shot in the arm over the past two seasons that made them play at higher energy than they would have. However, now that everyone is capable of solid D, you have to look at who can do the job they're assigned with effectiveness. One of my favorite players, no doubt, but I think we need to upgrade to a proper playmaking point guard at this point.

Also, construction and utilization are two different things. You can have an entire team of superstars that, if poorly utilized, won't win a championship. You can have a team of hard workers with decent skills that with good direction that can punch way above their weight class. I can never put my finger on exactly how well this team utilizes all its talent, but I suspect it's well below what it should be.

 

Not to take up his cause but Morey has changed the players so much plus the minor injuries, they're still trying to learn each other. Example Shved didn't play badly but it was obvious that he had no idea what the other members of the team were doing.
Example 2 more to your point is why when they've been successful pulling Howard out as the first big when Smith enters the game do they change in the past 2 games in taking DMo out first. No real preference on my part just a typical no idea why there's a lineup change that keeps things from having any consistency.

Also Howard whether it's because of his knee, age, want to or whatever other excuse you want to give him IS NOT a top 5 center any longer much less the best. I'm not quite with Shaq yet but he is not dominating like he should be or as expected.

 

The real issue for this team right now is coming from the emerge of MVP performance of James Harden.

Yes you heard it right.

Before the season started, there is one thing in this team's mind : we lost the first round with 0.9 seconds left, one shot.

And that's the motivation, that's all the good defense and going for the loose ball, fight for the rebounds coming from in the early season.

Harden, no doubt had been performing in a MVP level this season, his offensive game is in a level we have never seen before.

But then, it came with side effects also.

Players become more confident, in fact, over-confident lately, especially against lower tiered teams.

We are not fighting for loose balls that hard, we don't run back for defense in transitions, we are missing our rotation assignment and overall, we are playing horrible defense of late.

And even on the offensive side, we are making more careless passes, dumb TOVs.

Hey, we got James Harden, he can take over the games whenever he wanted. We got Dmo, probably the biggest surprise since the Iphone. We got lazy.

We got Morey too, the wise guy made all the right moves to help this team, now we are deeper in almost all positions, we have a strong bench. We started to relax.

Look at the Clippers game last night against the Blazers, its a good lesson.

The Clippers are in a downtime now, they are not playing very good this season.

They do not have a great offensive talent like Harden that can take over the game. Their bench is a joke, they have one guy that can contribute from the bench and he plays like JR Smith.

But then, they played like a team, they fight for the procession, the hustle, they run back to defend, they don't make much dumb mistakes and they make the right decision.

You can feel the Clippers are still missing pieces to win it all.

But you can also feel that they are playing much harder than the Rox.

That's the kind of spirit you want your troop to go to war for a championship.

 

I am becoming more and more convinced you can't win with Dwight as your 2nd option offensively.