here it is. updated yesterday. http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/ 1 L.A. Lakers (1) Swapping Jordan Farmar for Steve Blake should be an upgrade for the champs, but retaining Derek Fisher is obviously critical. They'll also need to keep Shannon Brown or find a suitable replacement if they want to keep Kobe Bryant's minutes down. 2 Miami (13) This is as high as we can put the Heat until we see them on the court. And while they look to put together a supporting cast, the Lakers and Celtics are trying to build a bench on the cheap as well. Derek Fisher might not be the only player they battle over. . . . 11 Houston (17) If Yao Ming were a free agent, he would rank right behind LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in terms of importance. The Rockets should get a huge boost from his return, especially on defense, as long as they keep Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola.
We are better than the Spurs... their old guys are just going to get older and worse this season. We are a much younger team on the rise, they are on the decline.
Well put, I completely agree. They can't play forever, and signs point to a decline coming this year in production and wins.
Hmm. Can't say I can agree with the Bulls being higher than the Rockets. We were 42-40 last season, they were 41-41. We just added Yao Ming, they added Boozer/Korver. I think our addition is better and will yield more improvement and since we had a better record to start, we'll have a better record to finish. Also... the Spurs? Really? Because of Tiago Splitter?
Honestly i'm tired to put too much hope on our team when other teams are getting stronger and stonger. What's the point between NO5 TO NO16?
Honestly, who cares about power rankings in mid July??? Yao's health is such a big deal that if he comes back strong, we will jump a bunch of those teams anyway.
They still have us 7th overall in the west (with Phoe right behind us) which isnt a far cry from where we ended u last year....i would have thought Yao's return would factor a bit more than moving just out of the lottery
There's no way we're behind San Antonio AND Portland...Also I feel like the Thunder are being way too overhyped. I understand they are a very young, talented team and they had a great run in the first round, but 3rd in the West is too high for them.
I disagree, you can't base success on just age. The spurs continue to win 50+ games a year and for a veteran team they still have enough in the tank to play spurs defense. The rockets had a defensive presence but it has slowly disappeared in the last 3 years and the young guys are not that great defensibly. So until the spurs fail to make the playoffs they will continue to rate higher than the rockets. Utah will also rate higher once the get the Al Jefferson deal done so the Rockets will drop even lower, and you simply cannot argue with any of the teams rated above Houston.
Do we still not get it? Houston will never be ranked in the top 5 at the beginning of the season. Even if we would have aquired Bosh, we still would have had a hard time breaking through. I dont expect us to be ranked high, but that has always worked out to our benefit in the past. The Rockets are a hard team to scout and often fly under the radar of the bigger teams. If you want national media attention in Houston you are never going to get it. Enjoy being the underdogs. It is way more rewarding when you do win and we will kick some A$& this year.
Chill dude no need for CAPS, It is a fan club and you and I are fans of the same team but you cannot let your fanaticism see things only one way. I agree we don't get enough media recognition but let's be real we've had a team with very good players but always injured. As long as Yao's health continue to be a big "If" you cannot expect nba.com, espn, yahoo or foxsports to rank the Rockets ahead of all those other teams. By the way it's not like the spurs get more media coverage than the rockets, whatever coverage they get is because they win.
