For the first three or four months, I'd expect the starting lineup to often look discombobulated while figuring out their roles and hierarchies. The backup unit looks promising, but if the rookies get any minutes (and they should), there will be rough patches. But like others have said, this is a developmental year. Getting the maximum number of wins should not necessarily be the goal.
Regardless of losses and wins, everything will look so much better. We will realize how bad the last two years were. We'll cry out of joy.
I have a tough time with the Thunder & T-pups being on that list when both teams have a star on the roster. The Thunder were a game under .500 last season and add Chet to SGA and a young improving roster. If we are to believe our own young guys make an improvement, why wouldn't theirs? The T-Pups were .500 and have Ant who is a better player than anyone on the Rockets or OKC. As long as he's there, I think you have to pencil them in for .500. Kat & Goober limit their upside, moving one or both of them and get Ant some help .... he could lead them deep.
Nah. If anybody thinks this is a 70 win team that's on them. BRUTAL is watching a team win 17 games. 20. 22. Our team's longest winning streak outdoes or equals three consecutive seasons. THAT was brutal. Watching this team struggle but get close to or maintain .500 ball will be absolutely LIT.
Look honestly it's been a while since I've watched a complete game of the rockets.But this season will be different Silas really fooled me but this coach looks like he is well respected by his players here and around the league. This season I'm tuning in for sure.
Wins aren't the only measure of improvement. If we can see Jalen fighting through screens, if we can see guys showing pride in their defense, if we see players moving off ball to help create lanes for offensive players, I think we can call that true progress. We have been bad for so long, it doesn't take much to show real progress - I mean you guys don't realize how LOW the bar has been set from the Silas/Stone era of the last 3 years. If we just put up a fight late in games and don't roll over and let a team rattle off a 20-5 run on us to close a game out, that will be huge.
We might barely kiss the playoffs this year, and barely make it next year. It will take a while for these guys to gel and for udoka to impart the corporate knowledge into our young guys. Years .
We might barely miss the playoffs this year, and barely make it next year. It will take a while for these guys to gel and for udoka to impart the corporate knowledge into our young guys. Years .
I don't think they will be a piss poor team like they have the past three seasons but if the bar is only as high as the Vegas line of ~31.5 wins, that to me is a massive disappointment. Looking back to the start of the rebuild, I think the perception, at least from my part was after 3 years of early lottery picks and $60m in cap space to use to acquire star talent, the team would be in a better place than struggling to win 30ish games. I really expected to be back in the playoffs this season. Part of that is established stars are hard to acquire and those that moved in trades really didn't make sense for the Rockets. I wonder how much of that is the Silas / Stone effect on Green, Sengun & Smith. But damnit, if the bar is 31.5 .... I'm disappointed. Three years of Total Suck has to be worth more than that.
Basically Stone missed out on the trends of the NBA when he announced in his celebratory mood that we have the most cap space....... The trend being that superstars are signing extensions way before their Free agency. Most of the younger or relatively in their prime stars are bound to their previous employers. That is why Stone looked like a fool and people who knew were just smirking at him.
Band wagoner. I watched every minute of every game I had access to. We were 11-17 when leading going into the 4th quarter. 7 of the wins were against the likes of SA, OKC, Detroit, etc. We may not make the play-in, but this team is going to be fun to watch.
My guess is the Rockets win over 36 games. Rockets win total odds Over: 31.5 (-115) Under: 31.5 (-105)
You have to look at the West and see the competition they are facing. The 3 yrs of suck are to get foundational talents who are only in their early 20s, not really to win 60 games this year.
Some of y'all are delusional. It's incredibly hard to win in the NBA especially the West. Just a reminder than the Wizards with Beal, Tingus Pingus only managed to win 35 games last season in the East. We don't have a single player that is on the calibre of Beal or Porzingus maybe except for FVV from 2 years ago. People are going to be in for a rude awakening. I think if we get to 31 wins with improvements to our key players, it will be a overall win. You need established players to get you wins, we have projects. The reason Grizzlies, OKC, Kings started winning more games is because their projects turned into stars
Can a mod help me change the title of this thread to “Playoff teams need to brace for Rockets in brutal first two months”?
This was a post I made on July 3 right after free agency, I was expecting the Vegas line to be 35.5 this year (31.5 in reality) and explaining why I would take the over. These were my main question marks that could swing things: Jabari has looked like a completely new player starting from summer league. This was a decent bet now getting confirmation. Going from one of the worst players on the team (the league) to a net positive is going to be huge for wins. My expectations were very low for Amen as you can see, this was before summer league and we had no data on how OTE would translate. So far from everything we have seen and from Udoka singling him out as the player that stood out in training camp, it looks like this will be way better than I expected. The nba is still tough on rookies and starting off as a net positive may be still too much to ask, but it seems like Amen will be a neutral at worst and nothing like rookie Jalen and Jabari. This was a total loss and we got the worst case scenario. However in hindsight I’ll say this, the numbers say he was a positive, but at what cost? The team was built around kpj ball to make him look good, and made everyone else look bad and that reflected in the numbers. Subtracting him loses that net positive player but if he was hurting everyone else then they all get better? I’ll still count this as a complete miss. Brooks has taken 5 shots in 27 minutes so far in preseason. This one was so freaking obvious. I made an entire separate thread explaining how Brooks averaged 10 shots a game when Memphis was healthy, and that he only jacked up shots when they were missing their top scorers. People are creaming in their pants to find a reason to hate on Brooks so it’s easy to miss obvious counter points right in front of your face. Udoka is going to reign in Jalen Green a #2 pick, you really think he will let Dillon freaking Brooks go buck wild? An in control Brooks is going to be a big net positive. I said I need most of these swing factors to go my way for the Rockets to hit 40 wins, and from what we have seen I’m confident in 3 out of 4 hitting. Yeah I know, iTs JuSt PrEaSeAsOn. Preseason has predictive value for the regular season statistically over the years. Also open your damn eyes, ptsd from Silas years have you guys disbelieving what you are seeing. I have been a Rockets fan for over 20 years and tonight might have been the best defensive effort I’ve seen, preseason be damned. 30 win teams do not play defense like that, I promise you.
