http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=9217 http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2011.html
The answer is yes...delusional. It was the same delusion that had everyone insisting this team this year would be fighting for home court advantage. In a league where more teams make the playoffs than don't, our franchise has missed the playoffs the last 2 seasons. 82 games is an adequate sample size to know what you have...frankly, I think the NBA could get away with playing far less games and have a much more compelling product because of it -- that won't happen, though. But we have about 164 games with this bunch...a little less if you consider when Martin was added. And they've finished in the same spot two seasons in a row. Next year, with pixie dust and a Mr. Miyagi rub on Yao's ankles they'll be competing for home court advantage? Unlikely. I wish I thought otherwise, because it would be a lot more fun.
Was there much of that going on after Yao went down? I mean, yeah there was a lot of optimism about Yao and this team's chances with him in the off-season. Absolutely delusional, though.
keep: lowry martin hayes lee scola (maybe) 2Pat (preferably) makes sense.. everyone else is tradeable. only problem is, who could we get with our other players? bud broke out after the allstar break so im sure he'll get some attention. Scola could be a big time asset. but twill? thabeet? we wont be able to trade for any stars next year. lets just hope we win that lottery............. LMB
If we did nothing to improve the roster, we'd be looking at around the same if not less wins. We still need a center and unless Thabeet has an awakening we still need one to be a legit playoff team. The team played better defensively in the 2nd half but still not good and EVERYONE would need to improve or at the very least stay at the same level, that doesn't normally happen.
If we did nothing this offseason we'd still have to find a way to get playing time for three rookies. I guess at least one would be in Europe.
REBOUNDING!!! One of the biggest reasons why we lose so often is because we cant secure the defensive boards. We most improve on our frontcourt if we want any hope of becoming a 50+ winnning team again. Even Lowry and Dragic are stepping to get the boards because our frontcourt is rediculously too small.
Lowry/Dragic Martin/Lee Hayes/Scola/2pat Are the only ones we should keep. Give away everyone else, trade exceptions, draft picks, etc.
Very delusional!--- It's part of the fun! Even if the Rockets do not do anything there will be possibly significant improvement. For example Lowry showed a marked leap forward and hopefully will improve again in the next season as his average numbers do not show how he was so great towards the latter part of the season. The trade of Battier helped the uptempo of our play and brought the play of PitaPat and Chase to contribute, they should also make their marks next season, along with our back up, Dragic, who possibly could be viewed as a true Point Guard, more so than Lowery! If Yao Ming returns to become a player, he could improve our defense! So without the trades which will likely occur we could show a significant improvement next season.
The Rockets should be shooting for 55+ wins or 25- wins, but these 9th place finishes need to stop, now.
I think they might pick up a game or two, but nothing big. Yes, they played great after the trade deadline and this group seems to like playing together, but they also had some things going for them. The post-trade deadline schedule was soft and the Rockets also got unprecedented health from Kevin Martin.
