You are right about the defence. We will have a great defence, and that is something I am rejoicing about, and we have not seen in a while. When one has a great defence, it is hard to tank.
Don't think the likes of Delfino, Martin, Douglas and Patterson are the difference makers between a 30-win ball club and a 40-win ball club. Sorry to break it to you, but even collectively they aren't that good.
I agree that this team will do better than expected. No superstars, but at the same time no major holes either.
we aint....goin..nowhere....we aint....goin-nowhere....we can't be tanked now...this is les' toy for life
As long as we don't draft 14. I'm fun with being Utah (young team in the playoffs) I'm fine with getting a high pick. But I don't want to be the "best worst team".
In a way, I think your right. This team will not be as bad as the tankers would like, but I honestly think you are over exaggerating it a bit. DPOY for Asik??... not sure about that. I think he's already a top 10 defensive center, but thats stretching it. Asik's defense alone isn't the key to this team making a deep run for a championship. They are much further away from being an elite team that just that. I think he helps the defense tremendously, but he's just one guy. One guy who at any time can turn an ankle(knock on wood) and sit out 5 games in a row. I love the Asik aquisition, and I think he's going to be a guy we can rely on for the next 3 to 5 years to be the man inside. -The vets situation. Look, Im sorry but if our young guys aren't good enough to beat out the likes of a Patrick Patterson, Toney Douglas, and Carlos Delfino for minutes, then they just might not be that good to begin with, and If those guys are the best players on your team then you are going to still be very, very bad. After a few weeks I fully expect some of the rookies to earn minutes over these guys once they get used to the speed of the game, and step up their games. With the exception of Delfino, I think Morey would cut every single one of those "vets" right now if they had non-guaranteed contracts. More than likely most of the vets will not be Rockets by the end of February if they do in fact make the final 15 man roster. Kevin Martin is due for a very nice start to the season. I think he's going to bounce back very well, and end up getting traded to a contending team which Im sure he's totally ok with. All in All, I see this team winning about 30 to 35 games this season. Not quite bottom feeders, but definitely in play for a nice draft pick. Some players will show all-star potential, and some will fan out pretty quickly. However, they will have a few young players they can rebuild with going forward, and they should have the potential of picking up another couple young studs in next years draft.
Martin and Patterson will be gone by February and the team will go into tank mode. We won't catch up to teams like the Bobcats, Wizards, or Kings, but if we really try hard we can gun for top the 4-5 spot and hope we get lucky with the balls.
If Asik goes down, we're screwed. If Lin goes down, we're kinda screwed too. You do not want TDouglas getting heavy minutes and I don't know enough about Livingston or Machado.
what a terrible thread. OP basically copied and pasted between what Morey and Feigen always say. very original... smh
Great post. I have to agree with you. Although Morey may want to develop the young guns more, McHale will make sure whoever plays better gets more time and hence more wins. I believe the Rockets will still be at the boundary of playoffs, because of the quality bench of the rookies.
