The West is loaded. The Rockets will hit a rough spot and need to do everything possible to improve their club. They do need a good back up 5 and to add a star if available or another useful player or two.
I think we just hit a rough spot missing our starting front court and depth the last 10 games.... other west playoff teams will feel the injury bug too.. a LMA,curry, Bogut, ellis, lillard goes down for a significant amount of games... those teams will be in trouble.
I claimed your post was laughable because of the analysis of the rockets season so far, claiming we will win a ring is ridiculous of course but your analysis of the rockets season was off base and totally biased in a negative light. So far, the Rockets have looked as good as anyone in the league and optimism of winning a championship isn't misplaced. Based on what we've seen so far this season in the West... there is a lot of parity and I think a number of teams have a chance at a title... The rockets are most def improved from last season (crucially on the defensive end, its night and day)... it's been pretty consistent through 22 games (1/4 of the season) and there is no indication that defense will go away.
No. This team will hit a patch where they lose 4 out of 5 or go 3-7 in a stretch. The Rockets have been very fortunate thus far winning almost every close game. This Rockets team is not the Spurs or a team that knows how to win based on experience. The Rockets need to do what they can to fill their holes and aggressively try to get another elite player if they become available. The beginning of this Rockets season reminds me of the beginning of the Blazers season last year.
We are likely to face most teams at full strength, like we had to against the Blazers in the playoffs. Another ball handler/passer who can shoot and defend along with Harden would help us out a lot.
I was explaining why I thought that roster wouldn't guarantee us a ring. That's the context. I never said we weren't good in general or that our current success wouldn't continue. In the context of a playoff run, we haven't played enough games to predict playoff success with any certainty. Will we make the playoffs? Yes. High seed? Seems likely, but that's all regular season success. We can say we own the east and the western lottery teams, but what about the western playoff teams? Haven't even played Portland at all. Yes, we've had guys out, but does that prove anything, when so did OKC, SA, and GS? We played the Mavs before they started having some chemistry. It just proves things will look a lot different in April and May on both sides. Could be better for us or worse. We just don't know yet. What I do know is, those other teams have more experience and/or depth up front than we do. That's a significant disadvantage, period.
It's all about match ups in the west. If we face the clippers or OKC we'd lose without a doubt in my mind. Every other matchup can go either way.
Except that we had Asik last season. In some cases, he was more effective defensively than Howard. Pick your poison, almost. Now, teams aren't going to fear anyone behind Dwight. Their number one goal will be to get him in foul trouble.
He is our only non-injured big guy who can kind of shoot. I don't think either Black or Dorsey works as a PF next to Dwight. The spacing is just gonna get all screwed up. At the very least, I wouldn't hesitate to trade DMo for a non-big (except in a no-brainer deal) until we get Jones and Papanikolaou back.
Can dragic be got with just the nop pick, TPE and fillers though? Isn't PHX most in need of front court help? I wouldn't trade Dmo for dragic personally though. The drop with Dmo out is greater for us than the gain in our backcourt with dragic.
I love Cody Zeller. A front-line of Dwight, D-Mo, Cody, Jones would be awesome! I'm assuming Cody would get flipped later on in a bigger trade though, for a playoff-ready 3rd star, or at least that's the idea.
Oh Bima was talking about Tyler Zeller. I like him too, but I think Cody will eventually be the better player.
