How Many Games Will the Rockets Win in the 2009-10 Season?

really? a phil jackson-coached team has no idea how to deal with a team that then had zero post presence?

i mean, what are the rockets going to do? run? more team-game? i mean, that's unthinkable right?

btw, after the rockets won game 4, the lakers should know exactly what we want to do. they still lost game 6.

we'll struggle this year, and we might even look bad at times. but we have a great coach, players who are itching to break out, and excellent team chemistry.

 

As a longtime Rocket fan, this is the first time I have no clue how well this team will play or how many games they will win in a season. Usually I have a number in mind, but this year, nothing.

If McGrady returns to form and if Ariza and the new guys pan out, the Rockets could win 40+ games and compete for the playoffs. But then again, I can see this team dig a deep hole early, never get their team defense together to compensate for their lack of size, and barely make it to 30 games.

This is one hard team to figure out.

 

I say 50 wins. 6th seed. Same as Dallas last season.

In Rox i trust.

 

less than 30 games, sorry!

 

I think the ya'll get about 40 wins.

 

I'll play the roll of optimist and say 45-49. I've seen this team do amazing things in the past and I'm hoping for it again.

 

I voted 45-49 wins. I think they'll be anyhwere from 7th to 9th seed.

 

If we can't find a 'in the rotation shot blocker', 39 wins.

 

46

Rocket River

 

Still think there's no logic?

 

I went with 45 wins at the start of the season, but I definitely think they could get 48 or 50. I think 55 games is the ceiling. Worst case I think they win 39 or 40. They should be at least hovering around .500 no matter what happens. They are going to win plenty of games at home.

 

I am one of the ones before the season even started that this team will be a 55 win team.. i voted for that and i still believe that. i have every reasonable reason why we will win that many games and get a GREAT seeding in the western conference. i have repeated myself why. and as i stated in the "myth thread about the rockets" we WILL SHOCK THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN

 

I'd like to see where they'll end up. I hope I picked less than their final win total.

 

52 wins

 

I could see anywhere from 35-49 wins, but most likely it'll be somewhere in the middle of that-I'll say low 40s. Best case scenario is McGrady comes back healthy, finds his game circa2006, the entire team continues playing like they have played lately with McGrady complimenting, instead of disrupting, the rythm of the offense and the Rockets beat the teams they are supposed to and win 40-50% of the games they play against teams like SA, LA, Dallas, Cle, Utah, and Boston... thats about the best scenario I foresee that is actually possible, and if that comes to fruition they'll win 45-50 games and find the playoffs seeded 5-8. Then... fully compete and push any playoff opponent to the limit-regardless of the round or opposition.

Worst case that I see being both plausible and terrible is 30-35 wins on the wings of early success that floundered by the break, and never re-emerged for more than a game here or there. Team's successfully begin gameplanning and stopping the Rockets fierce defense and newfound pace, effectively shutting down Brooks, Ariza, Scola, Landry and any true offensive force that exists among our team of hearty, talented role players. McGrady returns as a shell and finds absolutely no success or rhythm offensively to speak of; which tandemly causes him to start moaping, defending less aggressively, dogging it in practice, being an anti-leader and distant in the locker room, and falling into a mental slump which he'll find unconquerable-regardless of whether his physical slump is temporary and due to rustiness, or if he is actually finished like how, say, Steve Francis is so washed up and finished he might as well be a genetically inferior, poorly cloned version of Stevie Franchise from 2000... because that's the only way to explain such a prolific player becoming so UN-prolific that he could play for that team of whities that the Harlem Globetrotters always pounds on and he might be the 2nd-3rd best player on that mess of a team. MIGHT be...

Anyways, worst case means us still beating 50+% of teams like the Grizzlies, Bobcats, etc., but usually getting beaten against avg. teams, and getting utterly beaten 75% of the time or more when it comes to facing your Portlands, Utahs, Chicago's... or worse. In other words, even at its worst I don't think this season will amount to a wasted year, a high lottery pick, or resignation to being excluded from the 8th seed until the near end of the season. Even if this team goes into a nosedive there will be reason to hope for a possible playoff birth into the spring, because this team is unwilling to give up on itself and it has a coach who can get the best out of what he has. Adelman, and this squad (regardless of whose come and gone the past few years), have consistantly found success inspite of hardship; making the best out of injuries and adversity to such a level that few could match. Every year the script has read similarly: "Promising Rockets lose Yao/Tmac for an extended period of xx games, almost certainly putting an end to any hopes of a successful season" and every year Adelman has been there he has managed to take that script and write it into an overachieving winner.

Despite this year's sequel being perhaps the most compelling in light of last year's success, and the initial hope after game 7 in LA that the Rockets could be one of a handful of teams truly in the hunt for a title in 09-10, it hasn't caused Adelman to accept the sad ending written for him and his team by fate and the media. And he has seen to it that no one on this team of young up and comers, undersized forwards, talented role players, and hungry competitors has dedicated themself to anything less than winning at all costs-even if the only tools for victory this squad has is its collective heart, penchant for team work, and desire to work hard and win. Those things may not make up for its lack of a superstar or true scoring threat, but even in the worst case scenario this is a team thats gonna battle hard every game; whether theyre looking at maintaining a hard earned playoff spot at the end of the reg. or facing a near certain exclusion from the playoffs a month after the all-star break they are gonna work hard to win.

Fortunately, 12 minutes into the current season, we are actually beating some of the best teams in the league; the win against GS was good, the win against Portland was better, but the win against Utah, a top team in the west and the bane of the Rockets existance in past years, was huge; not just because of the lopsidded margin of victory IN SLC but because it shows glimpses of what this team is capable of when it plays its best. Utah and Portland are both better teams I think, certainly based on talent, but when we play at our best we can beat them. Indeed, at our best, any team in the league should be fearful of facing the scrappy Rockets, but even without flawless execution the Rockets can go toe to toe with the Lakers and Celtics of the league and know they have a real shot.

Most likely, this early success against top tier teams will be both somewhat more fleeting into the mid-late part of the season, but also a glimpse of what's attainable and necessary to beat top teams. And though it may become more fleeting as the play style that lead to our recent success becomes familiar to the better coaching staffs and teams in the league, I predict we'll still be seeing the Rockets upsetting "better" teams all year in the same sort of style we've seen in upsets lately. We probably won't win a majority of games against top and near top tier teams, but we can probably win enough to find our way into a 7th or 8th seed by way of doing what we have to do against average and especially weak teams. Then, we'll probably face a near certain trounceing at the hands of the Lakers or Spurs, but in the unlikely event we play at our best AND get lucky we'll somehow win and the victory will taste as sweet as the sweetest nectar! ...Or more likely, we'll play hard, steal an unlikely win, and push one of the two top teams in the West to the limit... which, well, it won't taste as sweet as the sweetest nectar but it would, and will be, a satisfying conclusion to a season that meant enduring and overcoming injuries, limitations, and one which was initially viewed as a likely step back from any progress made thru the past few years under Adelman.

On the other hand, if we beat the Lakers next game, we'll be sitting much, MUCH prettier than I ever expected looking at the difficulty of our early schedule. Sure, the Lakers will probably beat us, and even if we do win its too early to really mean anything with regard to our playoff hopes and chances, but a victory would go even further in fueling my belief that this is a Rockets team that can still hang with the big boys and, if not seriously compete for a title, then certainly compete for a shot at the playoffs and an admirable playoff run.

 

I wasn't too far off. I said they'd finish in the 7-9 range with 45-49 victories. I just wish it wasn't the 9th spot.