Assuming health: What's the ceiling for this team?

I expect 4-5 so i sort of expect the lakers in the 2nd round, and that's if there's no deadline trades, which there probably will be mind you.

I'd honestly say jumping from 5 to 2 in the west might really come down to which team had an unlikely rim in sometime in january for a 1 game advantage.

 

I say 58 wins and of course ceiling is a championship

 

So many fans selling this team short. Has the Lakers really improved since our last meeting? Not really(Blake got torched by Brooks too just a series earlier). Have we? HELL YES! ... assuming health.

To me, the Rockets ceiling can beat every team in the west. Granted, they're not likely to do it, but you asked for ceiling. So at the very least, the Finals.

I'll hold off on whether we can win a champion until I can gauged the Heat better.

 

55-60 win team, people forget how good Yao is, how just his prescence helps the defense, how he commands double teams leaving Martin, AB, and Bud wide open.

With health this is the best Rockets team since the days of the Big 3. The T-mac/Yao teams had no depth and relied on crap like Rafer, David Wesley, Clarence Weatherspoon, Maurice Taylor, etc. and those teams won 45-50 games.

 

I believe in this years Rockets team...only if healty, they can make it to the NBA FINALS, and i believe that ur bench is one of the best in the NBA and that also helps teams....HEAT on the other hand won't be able to win because they won't have good bench players and D-WADE, JAMES, BOSH are not that raw that only them three can win the championship. i expect them to lose in conference finals

 

WCF. 7 games vs lakers.

 

Wow I thought the Rockets really underacheived last year. I mean not at first. I thought without Artest, Tmac and Yao we were headed for the Lottery for sure. And then the Rockets proceeded to win 20 out of the first 33 against some of the toughest competition and worst scheduling I have ever witnessed in my years of watching the NBA.

After that the scheduling got much easier and the competition got easier. I was sure we were headed for the playoffs and then in the easiest months we started to suck. But it wasn't coincidence.

Ariza struggled with his role. THe reality was he is a great role player and not a star or go to guy.

Lowry was injured and never really recovered fully. We suck without Lowry as a backup because the next option is DL material.

Battier was injured. He really is alot more important than anyone realizes.

We mad a trade in the middle of the season. Not a little trade but a big trade. The kind of trade that disrupts team chemistry. Yes even on the Rockets it was a setback.

I can go on but suffice it to say all those setbacks lead to an underacheiving Rockets team. What I witnessed last season was a team even without Yao and Artest Tmac played far worse than what they could have if we just stayed a little healthy and adjusted to the trade quicker. By the end of the season IMO we were actually better than that team that started off 20-13. Martin and Brooks were jelling, Hilll was playing better than Andersen. Jeffries was contributing in ways that w didn't have before and Ariza had finally settled into his role and proved he was every bit of the MLE. If we had started the season with the same team we ended and stayed injury free we would have easily made the playoffs IMO, EASILY!

So now we come back with Yao. Martin is better situated. Brooks is coming off the most improved season. Hill actually made strides at center spot in Summer league (not as much as many wanted, but more than I expected) and can play some real minutes as a third option at the 5. And we get the big guy back. And I am not even including Patterson contributing or the possibility of signing a backup center. With all that how can you not think we will be better.

I have to think you didn't watch many games last season because the season I watched we were underachievers. I think we will be much better and if we can get Miller and 3rd pg just in case Lowry gets hurt we will be contenders. I don't put us ahead of the Lakers and I am not even sure what all the other teams did and how much better they will be. But I am sure if Yao didn't come back we would be a much better team any way and with Yao we will be a force to reckoned with!

 

If our entire team is healthy for the rest of the season + postseason?

Finals. No joke.

 

Conf Final... One big if, our PF (Scola, Hill, or Jeffries) who plays with Yao has to hit the open 15 ft jumper or they will front Yao all night. If they can't we have to go with side and high PnR with AB and Yao, Kelvin and Yao, Scola and AB, Scola and KM.

We can't force the lob to Yao and must pull him out and run PnR. I hope Rick and the coaching staff have figured out how to get Yao the ball when teams front him. They've had over 2 1/2 yrs to figure this out. It's checkers not chess.

 

I don't like the Lakers without Farmar as the backup PG. AB eats Blake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

Absolute best case scenario is 55 wins.

Realistic scenario is 40-50. We could easily be worse than last year if Yao and Kbrick miss a lot of time since nobody will be able to score. Landry was a very consistent closer and we don't have him anymore.

 

I don't think there is any reason to believe that Yao makes it to the playoffs, but with that off the table, the team has playoff potential. Likely the second round, but if the planets align, maybe more. I am still looking for more talent and size.