It’s settled: Rockets are going to be worthless this year

Reading this is a bummer. If you feel that way, and you have seen enough, please feel free to quit watching. You are absolutely entitled to express your opinion, but reading it is like finding a turd at the bottom of your coffee cup.

Folks have very short memories. Last year was exciting as heck and we were one injury, a few shots or fairer calls from winning it all (take your pick).

Sure 1-4 sucks. But it is a lazy take to simply give up on the team now.

 

“It’s settled: Rockets are going to be worthless this year”
No, it’s not settled... what, we haven’t even played a half a dozen games out of an 82 game schedule and we are in gloom and doom mode. Let’s see what the brain trust can come up with personnel wise and let the team have time to gel. No, we probably won’t be the #1 seed but we will make the playoffs....then we can go from there!

 

Easy there with the font size snowflake...

I have an idea and yes, I.D.I.O.T. @Os Trigonum @hakeem94 but way too many dumb threads going up lately so here it is...

We should actually aim for the 8 seed. The Warriors like to rest some stars (AKA fake injuries) in the first round. This way they can't do that, and also it allows us to get them out of the way early.

Brilliant, I know.

 

Amazing how quickly this became a lost season.

CP3 contract looking very bad at this point. If we aren’t competitive it’s a waste.

 

The font size was a carryover from the cut and paste first quote..........snowflake???

 

This was going to happen when you make a 33 year old injury prone player the highest paid player a multi year ludicrous deal. Even If he was our best player given his age, years on the deal and his injury history it still would have been terrible. Given the fact he is the second best player and all the other factors it was a dumbass move.

 

The team plays with that horrible unwatchable style. Give it one more season then blow it up.

 

The user posts with that horrible unreadable style. Give it one more post then blow it up.

 

We've only played 2 games with a healthy roster...I'm not ready to call it quits just yet.

Yes, we have a lot of issues that need to be worked out.

Yes, it's taking us a while to realize that just because switching everything on defense last year worked doesn't mean it will keep working this year when you lost the mastermind behind that defensive philosophy and the high-IQ defender who was critical in bringing that philosophy to life on the court (no matter how many open corner 3's he missed).

Yes, MCW and Ennis have turned out to be terrible signings and it's a travesty that they are getting as minutes as they are (were, in Ennis' case) on a team that's supposed to dethrone the Warriors.

Yes, we need another competent big as it has now become obvious that we are woefully undersized and overpowered by teams with competent big men like the Pelicans. We saw glimpses of this issue last year when we would lose to the Pelicans with Boogie and AD playing. Hartenstein, as promising as he is, isn't going to cut it as a rookie. Nene is...old. And Zhou Qi is....Zhou Qi.

Yes, the talking heads on the sports shows we love to hate are starting to look like they were right about us and our championship window closing after Game 7.

-BUT-

We have an EXTREMELY competent GM and an owner who now is seemingly determined to make amends for his "fiscally conservative" restraints this offeason that placed us in our current **** sandwich by showing a willingness to make it rain (with his newest business venture coming to fruition) and giving the green light to go ALL IN on the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes. Forget all the posturing by Thibs on not moving Butler-we all know how toxic that situation is in Minnesota.There is NO WAY Butler doesn't get moved and I don't see any other teams offering a former 6th Man of the Year plus 4 (!) first-round draft picks

I wouldn't be heartbroken for a second if we gave up EGO and those 4 draft picks to get Butler (just please, please, please don't move Tucker). Butler gives us everything that we're missing right now on the defensive end that was provided by Ariza along with a not too shabby All-Star level offensive arsenal. Sure, we lose a bench punch in EGO, but like I said in another thread, when you have Harden, CP3, Butler, and Melo on your team, I'm sure the coach can find ways to stagger minutes so that 1-2 of them can be on the court at all times to provide offense.

And then, there's our boy Capela. Yes, he seems off and I'm really hoping he's not pulling a Kelvin Cato on us, but as a hopeless optimist, I'll say that it's pretty damn hard to be the full-time rim protecting, rebounding and shot-blocking defensive juggernaut that he was last year when he's constantly being sucked onto the perimeter b/c of all the defensive switching and having to cover for our current perimeter defenders who probably couldn't even keep me in front of them. However, I won't argue with anyone about his rebounding woes, as his rebounding has been A$$. I haven't watched enough of the games to delve into this issue, but let's just hope that we are all guilty of committing the Fundamental Attribution Error and that it has more to do with him being often out of position on defense from all the switching we do rather than him becoming complacent...

WHEN we get Butler (optimism, people!), he won't single-handedly save our team. However, he can guard every team's best wing player and make them work for every bucket, then turn around and make that player work on the defensive end. Jimmy Butler is an absolute DAWG on the court-having him and Tucker out there can only aid our defensive and overall intensity woes. Butler can stay in front of anyone so putting him out there with Tucker will definitely make Clint's job much easier as well.

Finally, I'll caveat everything I've just said with this: I went to high school with Jimmy Butler (Tomball High School class of 2010 baby!) so I may be a little biased with how much I feel like Butler can offer to our team and I know my ENTIRE argument is centered around us getting (a healthy) Butler, BUT, with the influx of all these negative "OMG the season is over!" threads and the overall depressingly pessimism that has overtaken the GARM, I felt like I had to bring some positive vibes to the GARM.

We have absolutely 0 control over where this season ends up for our beloved Rockets. Hell, maybe you Debbie Downers are right and we'll crash and burn this season, doomed to forever wonder "what if?" about Game 7. But please, for the love of all that is Holy, it's only been 5 games so let's keep staying positive!!!!!

 

brilliant indeed!
I.D.I.O.T.
D.O.I.T.

 

hahahahh!TOUCHE...

 

That was a mild post opposed to folks wanting to blow it up after a couple of games.

He gave them 1-2 seasons.

 

This is not football.

This is the NBA Western conference where your opponents are more or less known quantities.

You know this team, even with Jimmy Butler, isn't at par with our rivals.

I wouldn't get angry at the role players though. Where are the stars who are paid to perform? They have to lead.

I don't think MDA with his laid-back style can instil fear or urgency in them. They either have the motivation inside them or not.

 

hahah yes , perhaps its was uncalled for but still a nice comeback by the impossibles1

 

Gotta disagree with you there. Our most glaring issue this season has been our defense and although our offense may have also looked bad these last 2-3 games, we were without CP3 and/or Harden. Three point shooting will eventually level out and Melo appears to be slowly but surely finding his niche in the flow of our offense.

With Butler, we will still struggle against teams that have quality big men (Pelicans) simply because we don't have quality big men depth outside of Clint, but I believe he makes us much better defensively as a team through a ripple effect.

A huge reason why Capela looked great last year as our rim-protecting, defensive rebounding juggernaut down low was us having high-IQ quality defenders like Ariza, Tucker, and Luc (although Luc eventually really fell off) who not only stayed in front of their man, but were also very smart and efficient in how they played/switched on defense. Clint is the last line of defense, and when he doesn't have to be constantly leaving his man to stop paint penetration as he is having to do this season with our plethora of sub-par perimeter defenders, he gets to roam the paint swatting shots and grabbing defensive boards like a beast. Additionally, although our switch-everything defense worked really well in small-ball scenarios against the Warriors (Tucker at the 5), it is not conducive to winning games in the regular season when Clint is on the court more; Clint switching onto a guard at the 3-point line neutralizes not only his ability to block/alter shots but his positioning for defensive rebounds as well.

With Butler on our team, we will have 2 high quality, high IQ defenders on the perimeter with him and Tucker. Additionally, because we're going back to the drawing board for our team defensive strategy, I expect to see much less switching. Thus, this puts Capela back in the paint, where he feasts defensively. The only player who Capela will have to routinely bail out is Harden when his man inevitably blows by him several times a game.

Now, this is all contingent on us getting Butler first, but I do believe Butler's defensive prowess will have far-reaching positive effects on our team defense as a whole.

 

It is settled that these It's settled threads are unsettling.

Food for a tongue twister.

 

Ima give them 20 games.

 

Like most of what he posts, its ****ing stupid.