We'll definitely make the playoffs. We can win a first round series depending on matchups but I doubt we make it any further than a second round exit. Same story as last year after Yao went down.
I'm just glad the "T-mac cloud" has been lifted and this team can get back to focussing on winning basketball games without having to look over their shoulder or wondering when this guy is going to play. I'm a happy "Rockets fan" today.
well I will say this, our defense just got a lot better for the yr without Tmac. He was an absolute liabilty out there, cept for maybe two games the entire season. More importantly, our offense gets a lot better and more efficient. More movement, more cutters and more guys running for layups and not 30 ft 3pters. If Morey can find a way to add a piece or a slasher without giving up Artest, then this team can easily defeat anyone in the West not named SA or LA. With Artest, I think we can beat the Jazz
Not only has our defense gotten better, but so has our shot selection. The only person who knew when TMac was shooting was TMac. Now that we have more of an offensive flow (with the addition of Wafer into the role of Tmac), we have seen a lot more offensive rebounds which helps landry and hayes flourish more on offense, and it makes the opponents respect our inside game more with Yao and Scola. As a result of this, our inside-outside offense has become more successful, and as stated earlier, we are now 13-6 without tmac. Too much of a liability. I think the team we have now is for what we really have been looking.
i'm not terribly impressed with the west this year. for example, if bynum isn't back for the second round or even the first...and we played them. i think we could win that series. and those guys are the favorites right now. which is why its important we do a trade for a rotational player!
Yea T-mac do better than Ron,but just himself! The team do better without a bum leg Tmac ,you have to admit
This team is going to gel a lot quicker with a more stable lineup sans the black hole mcgrady made in our offense... and defense
Battier and Wafer are key to fill in for Tmacs missing scoring. Battier needs to stop deferring and score more than 4ppg and Wafer needs to show he's not a flash in the pan.
artest, landry, barry can all score too. i don't think we have a problem with points. just remember we were the big two last year, for the time being, we have effectively replaced tmac with artest. and we added barry and wafer to our team plus the improvement of guys like brooks, landry and scola. and the west has gotten weaker! there is hope.
