This GS is pretty good,I also watched a couple of games and man Jordan Crawford is balling,really a shame we missed on him. But my only concern with them is if Bogut can stay healthy,they really should have traded him and Barnes in the off-season for Asik.
Relatively generous. The Rockets could and should have a better record. I think we have more "bad" losses than most other teams. The bench has been surprisingly horrible, and Harden hasn't had a great year. He has been frequently injured and his shooting is in the toilet. The team just hasn't "jelled" yet as many pieces have been on the bench. I expect a better second half, but the team has to lose the frequently lazy, no intensity attitude. When they are clicking they can be scary good. Both TJones and DMo have been pleasant surprises. Howard has flashed some mad skills, but has frequently been passive. Parsons is the great white hope. Lin and Beverly run hot and cold. Asik is furniture. Any questions?
Of course he would reduce his value. With a backup role with the Bulls, we were lucky to ONLY pay him 8mil/year as a starter. With 10pts, 10rbs as a starting center, he would get 12-14mil/year in the open market. You think he would be okay with 8mil/again after the current contract? Howard got paid 20.5mil/year. No doubt Asik wants 14 mil/year. To get paid 8mil/year is insulting to Asik. You just insulted Asik and you don't even know.
This team is taking a lot longer than I thought to gel It seems like we are still just winning by talents alone, there's still a lot of hesitations on offense, and the things they do seem spontaneous and un-cordinated. Maybe it's injuries, maybe it's coaching, but we look so lost out there sometime. That said, it seems like everyone is cool with eachother off the court, so there's no personality clashes that can implode the team, I just hope they figure it out soon and reach the next level.
Harden was 39% against OKC during the playoff last year with Sefolosha on him. He had one good game after Westbrook went down. It is a terrible matchup for the Rox against OKC. Elite wing defenders would be nightmare for this Rox team. The only hope is Dwight, if he can dominate inside.
Considering this team has alot or room for growth a B grade isnt a slap in the face. I feel strongly that by playoff time this Rocket team will be a very hard matchup for anyone.
I agree with your observations. Sometimes gelling has as much to do with its parts as it does with time. We had to see how the parts we already had worked with the acquisition of Dwight. I would say we have completed that stage. Now I think we are in the next whereby we are honing in on what parts are not working and what new parts are needed.
Warriors have two great wing defenders in Klay and Iggy and a top paint protector. Curry is average and doesn't have the size to be a good defender. Lee is their only weakness. Contrary to what you believed, Warriors are a much better defensive team. Last year they were pretender. This year? Not anymore. They are more of a contender than Rockets. Despite missing Iggy for 12 games, they are tied for 3rd with Thunder in D efficiency with 0.986 point allowed/possession, a huge leap from 15th from last year. Simply put, they are 9 games better than Rockets defensively. Offensively, they remain about the same as last year--a mediocre offensive team. They are where they are because of their defense.
A B overall is fair I guess, but how can they prominently quote that stat that we're the 11th best defense (above average), and then grade our defense as a C- (below average)?
I don't think their being underestimated at all their 4-6 in their last 10. They won one more game then us last season people forget that because they had a favorable matchup in the playoffs against Denver and the spurs. They are better defensively then us this I agree, although I think we have better athletes so we could be better in time. Gsw is a pretender all the way and their sporadic play is worse then ours. I have no idea why anyone here or media would believe that they honestly have a better shot at a title this yr then the rockets. Gsw upgraded getting iggy but down graded losing jack and Landry so overall I think it's been neutral for them in terms of their team getting better. The rockets on the other hand got a superstar top 10 player and have to change the way they played last yr while incorporating Howard personality with the city of Houston. With iggy they didn't have to change the way they play one bit and also didn't peg him as an allstar gave of franchise guy. To me gsw is right were I thought they would be battling to stayin the last 3 playoff spots that out open to 5 teams. They could beat the spurs maybe if matched with them and also the blazers possible in a 7 game series but they cannot beat the rockets okc or the clippers not one chance. For all the flack the rockets get we're actually a really good team for the overhaul we had on offense and defense with Howard. We haven't played our best, yet sit 3 games back from the 3 seed. Gsw are not foreal they play entertaining basketball and have a fun player to watch in curry but that team is flawed and IMO if curry is your best player it's going to be hard to win. Now if he's your second best player hell yes. What separates harden from curry is one he hast been the man as long and two can play good defense when he wants curry can nvr be a good defender beause of his frame.
How exactly is GSW a pretender? They have all the makeup to succeed in the post season. They have shooters with quick releases, good post play, good half court defense. Rockets are more of a pretender then them. Our shooters aren't that great, Harden hasn't played as great this season as many of us expected him. Dwight's post play is sporadic, our 3 point shooting has been atrocious.
It's crazy how inconsistent harden is on offense and defense while shooting such a low percentage from 3pt range but yet he is still considered the best sg in the league by media guys. Are they watching rockets games at all or is the SG position in the nba that weak without broken Kobe and often injured dwade?
I hate to agree with you but that's the truth. I'm a die rocket fan. I only watch rockets, no Astros and no texans. Hopefully he gets it together man. He was my favorite player last year. This year I have none, maybe Dwight.
Way too many homers! "Defensive wins championship," and that's not just some myth generated by fans. You can go back to the last decade, no team outside of top 10 in defense had ever won any championship. A team can have a mediocre offense and still win chips (Pistons), but a team with top offense w/o good defense (Suns) will falter on their conquest. Bird and Jerry West are two of the greatest players ever. They understand what it takes to win; by building their team on solid defense. We have a perfect piece in Dwight to build a championship defense, but sadly speaking, we are just mediocre (14th in points allowed per possession). Until this team prove itself that they have a great defensive scheme AND play at elite level (at least top 10) defense, we are just a pretender, just like how Warriors were last season....and just like Blazers are this year. FIFY
