I know no one likes to see their team lose, but how could you possibly be satisfied with another mediocre season with another mediocre lottery pick three years in a row? I dont know how you could possibly justify making a case that this team is going to win more than 29 games. I don't know about anyone else, but I fully welcome a under-29 win season. No one is going to watch the players this team has anyways as evidence by the amount of empty seats there were last year.
I don't see how the upside is remotely close to a .500 team. I think the upside is at best a 35 win team. Look at our depth and our scoring. No true point guard and we don't have a reliable scorer. I know you will point to Martin as a reliable scorer (especially in tight games where his percentages plummet), but he isn't if he can't get to the line. He hasn't been getting to the line in the preseason and he has been shooting far above his normal fg% and 3p%...meaning he will regress. He is still bad on defense too. Lin does not look healthy either and is having an absolutely horrendous preseason. He is the only other guy on the team with the talent to actually get to the basket, but his shooting is unreliable. This is just a very young and not terribly talented team and we will be really bad this year. How bad is going to depend on how hard McHale can get these guys to play every night imo.
Center is more Asik/Patterson vs Camby (or Dalembert)/Patterson Asik will probably play as many minutes as Dalembert and Camby. Patterson will probably play about as much center except he is healthy. Provided Asik doesn't get hurt, center is a big upgrade. Patterson was horrible at times last year. I expect a drop off at PF, but not as bad as center is a good upgrade. SF/SG is probably a slight drop off losing Lee. PG...I think Lin is about the same as Lowry and Dragic, but there will be a huge drop in talent at backup.
I personally don't look at preseason performances. I just look at talent compared to last year. At center, if Asik plays up to potential and Patterson actually develops his game, we should be significantly better on D. Parsons should be better than last year. KMart should be better than KMart/Lee from last year, and the only question is how long he sticks around. Lin is a slight downgrade from last year's Lowry/Dragic. PF is the biggest question mark. But if someone steps up, and lord knows we have way too many young PFs, we can mitigate the Scola loss. I think we're one breakout rookie + Asik/Lin performing "well" from a .500 season. I wouldn't say that's implausible, as many players drafted in the 12-18 range have done well as rookies.
If only basketball were a democracy. But it aint. Do you imagine Coach McHale, for example, will make the kind of substitutions that will help his team to lose??????? Ever watch the movie Major League? In that movie the owners of the Cleveland Indians set it up so that their team finished in last place; however, the players (and their coach) had something different in mind. Though short on talent, they were big on heart; and they eventually won the penant. Many players on this Houston Rockets club are young and with a lot to prove. There is a lot of competition on the roster for spots and every guy knows that if he doesn't give 100%, he may not play next game. It is arguable even, that Kmart has elevated his game in very response to Lamb's breathing down his neck; and also this is a contract year for him. This Houston Rockets team, of all teams, will not tank.
Three thing wrong with this: 1. We did not downgrade in every position. We still have Parsons at 3 and K-Mart at 2. K-Mart is no longer battling an injury and Parsons has improved. So that leaves us at 3 downgraded. Asik is a better defensive player than Dalembert. And he's taller. And Younger. So now we are at 2. McHale said that Patterson has learned a lot from Scola over the years and it seems like he is a faster, younger Scola. Maybe starting wise but I would take Jones over Patterson for Backup. So last years Scola/Patterson/Morris PF Line up is worse than this years Patterson/Jones/Motiejunas. That leaves us at PG. And Lowry is inconsistent. Lin isn't anymore unproven than Dragic. Oh and if you think that tanking is a good thing, clearly you shouldn't be a fan, or we just shouldn't have a team. The point was to build with great young players and take the OKC approach. Not to be complete r****ds and bomb our team just to watch us keep rebuilding and rebuilding and rebuilding.
Asik/Motiejunas/Smith>Camby/Dalembert/Smith Patterson/Jones/White>Scola/Patterson Parsons/Delfino/Morris>Parsons/Budinger Martin/Lamb/Douglas>Martin/Lee Lin/Livingston/Machado<Lowry/Dragic/Boykins/Fortson
