Assuming no major trade, how many games do you expect the Rockets to win?

I voted 21-25 out of mostly hope (of us sucking).

I'm cheering for a Bobcat like bad season. If we don't get Dwight, I'd love to have a chance to add a Shabazz or Noel next year to go with this young team. We don't have any potential superstars on our roster currently imo, so we need one.

It would be nice if Toronto also ends up terrible enough to get a 4th pick for us.

 

I'm not looking at future potential or looking at a player's past.

I'm looking at RIGHT NOW.

Based on his current skills RIGHT NOW, he is a scrub in the NBA.

I don't care if he's 21 and he's only played 1 season in the NBA or if he's 40 and has played 20 seasons in the NBA.

I'm only looking at their current skills at this point in time. And based on that, he is a scrub.

 

I'm assuming that we keep Martin past the deadline, since CH said no major deals. Martin is in a contract year, and if he stays healthy, and McHale lets him play, the guy can definitely average 20-25 points per game, especially with Lin at the point. And Lin is a scorer, as well as a distributor. Thank goodness, because we really need him to do both. I look for Asik to get a lot of dunks and layups around the basket. He'll average around 10 points a game, IMO. If Parsons continues to improve his offense, it's a big bonus. I'm hoping we get the Patterson we saw as a rookie, but with experience. If he's healthy, he can score. Asik and Parsons will anchor our defense. Anything we get from the 4 rookies is gravy. I'm hoping we get a lot, eventually, and close the season strong. The team during the first half may be god-awful for stretches, but hopefully improves a lot after the break.

My quandary is that I still don't have a handle on what McHale is going to do with this team, if this is the team. I'm guessing 36-40 wins, probably on the low end of that. Man, there's a lot of "if" in my post!

 

WOW! Some of you guys are crazy! I see 4 other teams (CHA, NO, WAS, and CLE) that will be neck and neck with us at the end of the season for the worst record in the league. We win 24-26 games this season if every team kept their lineup the same and nobody got injured. We will get a top 5 pick next summer if we stay where we are.

 

I still think you're misusing the term "scrub."

 

Based on the Rockets winning percentage this past season, they would have won 42 games if it was a full 82 game season.

You expect this current group, with only one player who has ever started a full season (Martin), to approach a .500 record like the Rockets of last season did?

Last season the Rockets had Scola, Lowery, Dragic, Budinger, etc.

I doubt they are going to be nearly as good as the Rockets last season.

 

OVER .500 FOR SURE

 

.... no I'm not. All scrub means is somebody who is a "nobody". Just a scrub.

And at this point, Parsons is a nobody... or a scrub.

 

I expect about 36 wins. I think we have the players that can achieve that. What I don't know is if the coach can take this team there. I certainly hope so. Optimism is my middle name. Rick Optimism Deckard. Didn't know that, did you.

 

I'm an optimist, too... but I also try to be realistic and keep things in perspective.

I think this team has the talent and potential to be pretty good in a few years. But just not next year. Most of the team is rookies and unproven players.

Not-to-mention, they've never even played together before. So not only is there going to be a lot of rookie mistakes, but there are going to be the growing pains of a newly-formed team trying to feel each other out. Then on top of that, these players just aren't going to be that good yet because their skills aren't that good at their young ages.

So in a few years, they will be more talented individual players, they will have gotten the rookie mistakes out of the way, and they will have played together for a few years.

At that point, they could be a solid team. But I don't see it next year.

 

Why tank when the team is good enough not to? We already have a lottery pick from Toronto and a 1st from Dallas(?). I say try to add a vet before the season and go all out.

 

I'm just realizing that I used the word "is" in a couple places that I should have used the word "are". I'm embarrassed.

 

Yup. The guys you listed are familiar names, but they're not major losses. I think Lin is at least as good as Lowry/Dragic and has the upside to potentially be better. Budinger's role as a three-point marksman is easily replaceable. And Scola? I like his mentality and his history here, but at this stage of his career... he's a sub-50% shooting big man with weak post defense, no shot blocking and Mo Taylor-esque rebounding numbers.

There are a lot of ifs, of course. But there's potential for the group that's here now to break .500 and be better than last year's team. Will Asik's defensive prowess carry over into a larger role? If it does, you've upgraded the center position. Will Lin continue to develop and become a star PG? Will Martin stay healthy? Will one or two of the rookies (Lamb, Motiejunas, White, Jones) immediately be rotation-caliber players? If the answer to most of those questions is yes (and it can be), it's very easy to see this team as better than last year's.

Do I think it will happen? Not sure. Lot of variables. If I had to peg a number, I'd say 40. General range of 35 to 45. I don't buy at all that this is a sub-30 win team, which is what it would take to get a high draft pick (tank). That's why I'm more convinced than ever that a Howard/Bynum deal will ultimately get done.

 

Believe it or not, I'm trying to keep the downsides going into this season in perspective. 36 wins would be 5 fewer than we've had in a very long time. There's a lot of talent on this team (assuming this is the team), and while young, some of it has solid experience. So yeah, I'm being optimistic, but I don't think it is baseless optimism.

Or, you could just read what The Cat said. While he's more optimistic than I am about our record, his reasons for optimism coincide with mine. Just don't pay any attention to what he said about Scola.

 

it really doesn't matter how many wins we will have.. we'll still be number 14.

 

I would define a scrub as the guy of the bench. Or any of the Bobcats starters last year. I certainly think that word does not apply to Parsons.

 

Given that Parsons was about a slightly above average SF in the NBA last season, it also means he was one of the 15 best SF's on the planet.

 

What makes you think he was an above average or top 15 SF? He's not a scrub, but he's not THAT good either.

 

25-35...fine with that as long as Toronto doesn't make the playoffs and we have two top ten picks.

 

Might as well think big and hope for two top five picks.