[ESPN Insider] Can Houston win it all this season?

I think alot of fans are understating this team. I firmly believe that the rockets with a core of Howard/Harden/parsons is better than 98% of the leagues top 3 players on every team and should be competing for a championship this season.

I know what those three guys bring every night. If parsons can improve and become that reliable 17-18 ppg scorer with good defense and playmaking than this team doesn't need anymore stars. I think what some don't realize is that if we get a love or Aldridge then we will not be able to keep parsons wen he hits the market.

I think parsons at 12 mil and a starting pf at 6-8 mil I better than love or Aldridge. But back to topic this team Gould be a top 5 team in the entire league and I will be very disappointed if were not.

 

The third coach seems really sour...who could it be lol

 

Anyone else think that Broussard was all 5 coaches? lol

 

I have a hunch

 

Is Gritty what they call that garbage the leastern conference puts out in the playoffs?

 

We don't realise it because it's not true, Les has already said he's willing to pay the luxury tax

 

He might pay it for 3, 4 years max...it becomes excessively punitive with the multiple offender fee

 

The talent is there but it's up to the coach to make it work. Looking back at last reason, the big problem was too few set plays, so that they ended up with too many Harden isos. Not sure McHale is capable of change.

 

The parts about Dwight not being a leader and the Rockets needing someone who can call him out if need be are the truth. I thought the team needed someone who could do that with Harden last season but I understood that was sort of putting the cart before the horse but it isn't anymore. The fact is we have two young superstars who are not known for being obsessed with winning or even giving consistent effort on both sides of the floor night in and night out. If the Rockets don't get some vocal, veteran leadership (Garnett, Billups etc) then McHale better become Greg Popovich 2.0.

 

As a matter of fact they did.

 

Who is this coach? he is right on the money. In addition, the rockets coach does not have enough playoffs experience. It is hard to image such a team could be in final.

 

The cap, and by extension the luxury tax, is going up. But ball park figures in 2 years have Harden 16, Howard 22, LMA/Love 17, say Parsons start at 10. That's $61mil. Lin and Asik comes off the books so they won't count(assuming they weren't moved). Luxury tax will be projected at $75 next year. So low estimate of $76mil in 2014. This gives the Rockets ~$13mil to spend on role players.

I know it's counter-intuitive, but having more stars is actually BETTER for the cap situation. Because you can surround them with lesser players while still having a championship team. The only reason Miami's in luxury tax hell is because they don't develop young players due to all the picks they gave away for big 3. They have Miller and Haslem combining for $10mil. Morey OTOH has gazillion 2nd rounders coming up along with our own 1st rounders. The Rockets with 3 max players will be the definition of moneyball team. Max contracts and rookie contracts.

 

next year YES this year, no chance

 

Thanks for posting.

 

That's a no-brainer.

One of the things I noticed most about the Lakers last year was how many open layups Kobe seemed to get because Howard was on the floor. Defenders don't want to leave Dwight Howard or it's a highlight dunk. That means if you beat your man off the dribble -- and Lin has the first step to beat his man -- then you will often have a clear path to the lane.

Lin, like the rest of the team, will benefit from having Howard around. That's not very difficult to understand. It's like saying the flowers will do better if the sun's out rather than if it's not.

Asik is a good player, but he's not particularly polished on the offensive end and he certainly doesn't finish like Howard does.

Lin seemed to have good playing relationships with both Chandler and Asik. Can't think of any reason he won't with Howard, also, if they end up both playing for Houston next year.

 

Now thay we have another black player in the starting lineup we have a very good chance.

 

Yup, that's the only thing that scares me, that nobody holds those two accountable. However, McHale sounded like he was putting a lot of pressure on Dwight during the meeting so even though Houston has more media friendly environment and McHale might seem nice during games, I'm sure he will rip Dwight a few new ones if he has the same attitude like the last few years.

 

What matters is what Brousstard has to say...

 

Yes we can. I predict Dwight has his best season yet and we make it at least to game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.

 

This is our version of Kobe and Shaq.