This Rockets team as currently constructed, with a resigned Chuck Hayes, and even without a legit center, is easily a playoff team next year. The 48 EWL is nice, but remember that is factoring in a horrendous first half of the year, which I believe we underachieved significantly. Also that number does not take into account any further improvements in player development, which for one of the youngest teams in the league could also be a big factor: Lowry, Patterson in particular. And lastly, it does not factor in new players like Marcus Morris, who IMO could become one of our best players(although too soon for next year), or a center who surely we will be after. All in all, the people overreacting after the Adelman departure, like those in this article, are in for a rude awakening.
I am one of the biggest Shane Battier fans, but i even i have to admit that the team was better with Bud starting. Yeah, his defense needs much improvement but still, they were fighting down the stretch.
It’s just one dude, and he’s the Kings beat writer, so you can’t really blame him. The Kings did way worse the year after Adelman's departure and have never made the playoffs since. I hope you're right about McHale and Adelman being a wash...and better luck + Marcus Morris making us a playoff team.
For the sake of clarity, Jason Jones is the King's official beat writer at the Sacramento Bee. Jonathan Santiago is apparently an ill-informed blogger for the Truehoop network of espn.com
Sorry, I should have said blogger. But his team is the Kings, that was my point. Thank you so much for bringing clarity to my mistake.
GREATNESS man the sad thing is that we got all these writers blowing us up because we look good on paper. we suck guys. Straight up, we suck. our veterans who lead this team should be bench players on contenders. We are nothing but a bunch of role players and bench players. the reason these players have attractive stats and is because we need someone to play on the floor for extended minutes, so im sure even tyrone lue would average at least 10 pts and 5 dimes if given the minutes we give these scrubs. cut everyone. keep morris/patterson/martin/lowry. flynn is a toss up because the guy has the talent just needs the coaching. dragic is a good back up. everyone else just needs to go. i mean we should literally try to sign some free agents or do sign and trade with teams that need to unload. because i dont see any team like the thunder/lakers/boston/hawk just giving us star power for a bunch of role players when they can sign veteran role players at the cheapest price possible. we need to cut everyone and sign. there are tons of scorers/play makers out there in this free agent class, so i dont see why we can't be a competitive team coming into this next season if there is one. Jamal Crawford Atlanta Unrestricted F.A. Carlos Arroyo Boston Unrestricted F.A. Glen Davis Boston Unrestricted F.A. Jeff Green Boston Restricted F.A. Von Wafer Boston Unrestricted F.A. Caron Butler Dallas Unrestricted F.A. Arron Afflalo Denver Restricted F.A. Wilson Chandler Denver Restricted J.R. Smith Denver Unrestricted F.A. Tracy McGrady Detroit Unrestricted F.A. Tayshaun Prince Detroit Unrestricted F.A. Ming Yao Houston Unrestricted F.A. T.J. Ford Indiana Unrestricted F.A. Josh McRoberts Indiana Unrestricted F.A. DeAndre Jordan L.A. Clippers Restricted F.A. Marc Gasol Memphis Restricted F.A. Hamed Haddadi Memphis Restricted F.A. Mario Chalmers Miami Restricted F.A. Michael Redd Milwaukee Unrestricted F.A. Sebastian Telfair Minnesota Unrestricted F.A. Carl Landry New Orleans Unrestricted F.A. DJ Mbenga New Orleans Unrestricted F.A. Jason Richardson Orlando Unrestricted F.A. Thaddeus Young Philadelphia Restricted F.A. Aaron Brooks Phoenix Restricted F.A. Andrei Kirilenko Utah Unrestricted F.A. Josh Howard Washington Unrestricted F.A. Nick Young Washington Restricted F.A Vince Carter option i see some talent right there that can easily get us to the second third round in one year.
not to mention i still think allen iverson/marbury are good bench players that have the IQ to go out there and get you points. Its the nate robinson effect. He might be silly and lack star power, but hell still win you a game here or there.
not meaning to correct you. I like Jason Jones and didn't want anyone to confuse him with some douche blogger. cheers
Since I said "several" rather than "two", I'll give the Rockets "Real Win - Expected Win" over the years. -4 +2 0 0 -3 -2 -2 -2 -3 +1(The year Stevie went down and we sucked) Funnily enough, I actually made my statement without looking things up. As I felt like I do watch enough games to not severely misguess the Rockets in general over the past years. They look about average to slightly below average in terms of expected vs real wins. Maybe not as severe as my original post sounded, but hardly signs of consistent clutchness. Oddly enough, better under Morey the "stat geek who ignore clutchness" than Carroll Dawson the "old school GM who brought in closers like Steve Francis and T-Mac".
I agree with most of your points, but you fail to mention that we're also going to have a completely new coaching staff. A young team with a new coaching staff? It's definitely up in the air.
BRO. this is the NBA we clearly have four good players as outlined in my post, who can keep up with any given team. There isnt a considerable widespread difference in talent, but our overall team dynamic is trash. Plus we got rid of a HOF coach for a scrub who hasnt proven hes a good coach. you expect the rockets to just blossom into a 50 win team and make the playoffs and make noise? Hell no. Lets be realists instead of fans for a minute so we can pressure some changes for our team to get better. we need to make moves to draw in a big, and a good 3 with a bench of playmakers and defensive specialists. Honestly, we have good pg line up that can probably keep up with most and our 2 guard can score too. we have good 4's who dont get playing time and need to play. there is a reason why morris and patterson were highly touted, they are good. play them.
