Maybe we'll be good...

hope for the best, prepare for the lottery

 

According to most, GS is pretty much a lock to the finals at least. So what does it matter if we are contenders or not? Just enjoy the new season/seasons as much as you can, any way you can.

 

Some fans here (not you) actually believe OKC is a worse team than the Rockets and its so funny,

Even without Durant, Westbrook alone is not a player most people will rank below Harden, even from a homer standpoint, at worse they are a push.

And so, take a look at the rest of the roster, where can the Rockets find a quality player like Adams or even Oladipo in our roster? Even a defensive specialist like Roberson at this stage, is a better choice than our best option of Ariza.

Same can be said for Portland, they have a dynamic duo plus an overall better supporting class and a much better coach, if they were a better team already last season than the Rockets, what is the logic for a young team like them will be worse than the Rockets this coming season?

 

Somewhat true. Most of the shots Durant will get will be the ones from Harrison Barnes, with a few more from Curry/Thompson thrown in as well. I imagine he'll get something like 15-17 shots a night.

Realistically...Durant doesn't make them that much better in terms of overall win totals, as they obviously can't go up from 73 that much more. But the notion that replacing Barnes with Durant doesn't make them "any better" is silly. They are much more difficult to defend, even more so than they already were.

 

I don't see this team getting homecourt advantage. Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon & NeNe haven't played anywhere close to a full season for years now, so I have no confidence in their ability to stay healthy for a full season.

 

Portland sucks dude and there fore is not young.... Lillard is only 10 months younger than harden and McCollum is like 25. Not staying there old but there not youngsters either.

And when you fact in that Portland only won 3 more games than us and it took them going 19-3 during the middle of the season to achieve that. So for about 70% of the season they were playing at a sub .500 level.

All there key guys have been in the league 5-6+ years besides CJ outside of him and the young pf they have who's not very good anyways they don't have many guys that you can expect to make improvements.

No OKC is interesting I still think the rockets are better than them but I understand the reasoning your putting out. Although you bring up Olidipo who I actually like a lot but Gordon is better offensively in every aspect the only thing he does for sure better is defense and rebounding.

Adams is getting super overrated, you guys will all see that this year. He had a nice series against a small ball team in GS. He's a big body goon and can clog the paint but he's nothing special. Capela has a chance to be just as good if not better this year.

And Anderson is better for us and prob would be better for OKC also than Kanter.

I'm also not a big fan of Westbrook, he can't shoot and he's going to forced to make a lot of outside shots this year since Kd is gone and he won't get it done.

Roberson sucks he is not better than Ariza and I don't even like Ariza but he at least is a 35% three point shooter who's going to make 150+ a year.

OKC is going to struggle this year won't win more than 45 games and I have my doubts they get that many.

Utah is getting hella overrated right now also, they still don't have that go to guy and that's still going to be there down fall as it is every year.

Pelicans won't sniff 40 wins they got worse Dallas will be Dallas and will prob sneak in as an 8th seed.

The top 4 teams will be GS/SA/LAC/HOU I'll put a bet on the tip jar on it.

 

How much?

 

We're going back to the 5th-8th seed, just like always. Enjoy your first (or maybe second) round exit and #14 draft pick that Morey will package to get rid of one of this year's injury-prone signings for cap space to "sign" a free agent superstar who it will later be revealed had no legitimate interest in coming here.

 

I think over 45 but under 55.

 

50 games and a lot of people will be Harden believers again.

 

Lol I know you always have something negative to say regarding the Rockets but this is getting out of hand. OKC's current roster is downright AWFUL right now outside of Westbrook. Spacing will be nonexistent with Westbrook - Oladipo - Roberson. Then you have Kanter and Adams packing the paint. They might be a solid defensive team that can get out and run but their offense will be ugly. Westbrook chucking will be at an all time high.

Portland on the other hand I'm not sure about. They brought back their key guys and also made some nice additions but it's not completely out of question to see a team have a promising season one year and completely **** the bed the next. Rockets fans should know that

 

I think it's fair to say that Rockets can sneak into the second round.

1. Warriors
2. Spurs
3. Clippers (tentative on Griffin)
4. Portland
5. Houston
6. Utah
7. Memphis (will be higher if they stay healthy, but that's a big if)
8. OKC/Minnesota

I think Houston, Utah, and Memphis will fight for the 5th seed and if Houston can take the 5th and play Portland in the first round, I believe we can take that series. Playing the Clippers in the first round is a much taller task, but we've made magic happen against them before, who's to say we can't one more time?

If Memphis stays healthy then they will probably take the 5th seed, with Conley, Parsons, Randolph, and Gasol, they have talent but they are aging in their frontcourt and injuries have been a concern for them the last couple of years.

If Houston stays healthy, and we get 60+ games out of Gordon and Anderson, then I think we will have a good chance at that 5th seed too.

I can see a 50 win season, but worst case scenario, I believe, is we repeat a 41-41 record and just make the playoffs in the 8th seed.

My prediction is 48-34 in the 5th seed and I would be satisfied with such a season. I'd only be disappointed with a record below 45 wins.

 

The problem is that the GARM's analysis of Dwight's impact is so polarized that I can't figure out how much that will cost us.

I know we've added 3 really good pieces. I know that if we hypothetically added those pieces to this team with Dwight, I'd be expecting a top 2 spot.

But right now all I know for sure is that we won't win less than last season. Not based on talent, but just based on motivation, chemistry and improved coaching.

Can a motivated Anderson make a bigger impact on our W/L than a demotivated Dwight?

 

If what we saw post-All Star break is the kind of production you can expect from a demotivated Dwight, then the answer is yes, Anderson will be more productive.

 

This is a very fair post. A younger healthy Dwight who is buying into a system is very tough to replace however the Dwight we had was aging, not very healthy and certainly didn't buy into the system in place. My person opinion is the team will be better off without Dwight. But I also have faith Clint will fill the role we wanted Dwight to play well.

 

I'm just glad we don't have Dwight anymore. A guy thats half assing every game and pouting while making 20m + is a disgusting site.

 

It's funny, we had huge expectations heading into last season and a lot of people had a sour taste in their mouth (rightfully so) after the pitiful performances last season.

A lot of people now expecting absolutely nothing from the Rockets this up coming season, are going to be pleasantly surprised at how good we actually are (granted if healthy)

I'm salivating at the thought of Harden getting shots for actual 3 point shooters. That alone (completely ignoring all the turnovers we'll cut out by the fact Dwight isn't here anymore) is going to make us absolutely better.

I'm excited actually. I know we're not winning a championship thanks to the Warriors. So I'm now happy with the D'antoni hiring since we'll at least be one heck of an entertaining team to watch unlike last season.

 

Don't forget Dwight played only 41 games during the 14/15 season and how many of them were on restricted minutes or just coming back from injury? Then last season (well we all know what happened).
So I've got to say the loss of Dwight won't make us go backwards (other than maybe not having 'playoff Dwight' come finals).
We've strengthened in the areas we've been weak at for the past few seasons, so barring those players and injuries, I'd expect a 50 win season.

 

Everybody knows that the Rockets will suck going into the 2016-2017 season. What this thread presupposes is...maybe we won't?

 

Honestly, assuming reasonable development from Capela, for as long as Nene is healthy I don't think we're going to miss Dwight on either end of the court.

Could get scary when Nene inevitably hits the DL though. Really interested to see what goes down with D-Mo.