[ClutchFans] Podcast: Are the 2016-17 Houston Rockets a 50-win team?

Do to the fact that I hate coach Pringles and the offseason as a whole I hate say the Rockets have a strong chance at 50 wins, really don't hate it. But they will fail in the playoffs like d'antoni does so often

 

51-31

 

It really does not matter. Pringles like McHale will probably run Harden to the ground, he has to score, assist, rebound, try on Defense and be a leader for 38 minutes a game.

He is not perfect but the best player we have and I do not think it will be much different under D'Antoni, sure we will have win streaks but by the playoffs Harden might still be tired.

You got to have players for the playoffs.

 

you were so right.

 

Hey Clutch, we saw one of those Gordon quick-release 3s last night that you mentioned...in the 1st Q.

noice

 

So far, this is true. No change whatsoever in his work load. I guess we keep hearing the excuse for taking possessions off, until Bev gets back at the least.

 

45 wins, at most, book it

 

After last night, no way.

DD

 

mid- high 40s, just enough to get in the playoffs

 

41-41

best case scenario 45-37

 

Harden just played 37 mins the last game, that's a pretty health minute allotment considering he had a lot of 40+ minute games before. I think the load on him is way easier now, the only problem is the pace since before he can milk the clock but now the ball has to move really quickly so I think that's why he got winded.

I'll wait and see how they respond to the loss, hopefully it was just an aberration and Houston can show it by beating a better team than the Lakers.

 

Agreed. We are at least 10 games better than we were last year.

51~53 wins barring injury

Rocket River

 

I honestly don't understand the fixations on win number, the important thing are the seeding which you can't really predict right now, maybe the Rox just get 41 wins but if the rest of the West end up with low win totals that might still be good for 4rth seed, I mean the East had teams with losing records who still made it into the playoffs before.

I was dead wrong the Spurs, I thought they would have problems mixing Parker, Ginobili, Kawhi, LMA and Gasol altogether since those guys all like to score in the paint but so far they are jelling on the court. OTH, even with KD and Pachulia's additions GSW has struggled out of the gate, their wins have been close against mid tier teams like the Suns and NO. Apart from those two though I have not seen any big surprises so far, I think the Rox are still good enough to get 2nd-3rd seed barring injuries.

 

To get to 50, they needed to be a top 10 offense and an average defense.

So far, according to adjusted ORtg and DRtg, they are 15th in offense, 30th in defense, and 29th overall.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2017_ratings.html

 

30th in defense should do it.

 

The Suns teams were almost always eliminated by the golden age Spurs team with prime TD, Manu and Parker. Maybe you can forgive them for getting eliminated since they were running up against a brick wall almost every year. It's like when MJ got eliminated 2x in a row by the best Celtics team ever and 3x in a row by the bad boy Pistons, if MJ was old like Nash and only had 5 playing years left you would've said he sucked when the reality was his competition was just too good at the time.

 

Well the Rox have now become the 2nd best in offense, 29th in defense and 13th overall. They scared now

 

haha 5 games into the season, wait till the 42th game or the deadline.

 

Reality is probably 47-49 wins...... close but likely not 50 barring super saiyan Harden and healthy Gordon throughout 80 games.
Anderson should be better than average I hope.

 

80-2