I can not see a scenerio where 5 of our current players are better than Bonzi. T-mac Yao battier and what? James? probably. Head....nope. Rafer....I dont think so. V-mac? Paggett...errr novak.
the west has gotten stronger. but, the best teams outside of Utah appear to be getting weaker or staying the same. i don't care about the teams that are at a tier below Houston. Phoenix, i have no idea what they're going to do with Marion, but the Rockets are so fortunate that Phoenix did not end up with Atlanta's number 3 pick. but Nash (never an iron man) is getting older, and his body (back, shoulder) seems to be gradually breaking down. let's hope he doesn't start going to Waco. San Antonio had to coast during the regular season to preserve their starters for the playoffs. that's going to be harder for them as they get older and the west overall will be stronger. Dallas can only improve through a 30th pick, the MLE and trades from their overrated roster. i don't know what they're going to do about their free agents, Stackhouse and Croshere. i only see Houston and maybe Utah getting 60+ wins next season provided they stay healthy. there i called it. Houston with the best record in the league next season. even with Durant, Seattle has only gone from sucky to mediocre. Portland will improve by at least 15 games, but that's still less than 50 wins. Golden State is at best a 50 win team, but wins are going to be much harder for the second tier teams to get next season. unless the Lakers pick up KG (which makes them instant contenders), they might not even make the playoffs this time around. Denver is the real mystery. if George Karl gets a full season to work with AI and Melo, and Kenyon Martin comes back this season healthy, they could be a force. but then again they could also underachieve like the Clippers always do with similar talent. Memphis, Sacramento and Minnesota might not even sniff 20 wins next season. the east might as well be a different league, the ABA or something. basically, Houston has to do what Dallas did last season. win almost every game against inferior opponents. if Bonzi can truly play as he has been capable in the past, then he might have an even bigger impact than Battier. that would give the Rockets four solid core players including two superstars. based on the roster on paper today, i would say Houston is superior to Dallas. they have enough offensive firepower from the post and the perimeter to outscore anyone in the league if that's the way they want to go. now it's up to the coach to get the team to play hard and effectively every game.
Van Gundy was king at this, one of the great things about JVG is that he never lost the team, there were very few games in which his team doesn't "bring it". The Rockets were great at beating teams they were supposed to beat. The Rockets had one of the top records against the East. I do think we overachieved when Yao went out last year, it was great for us, and we probably would've won 47-50 games instead of 52 had we not gotten hot during that crucial period. JVG I feel was integral to that stretch though, he didn't lose the team and he made no excuses. Can Adelman do this? I don't know.
last year everyone said we had a good bench,yet we managed to have a record low four players score in one playoff game....nice bench.
That's only because JVG never played the likes of Snyder or Novak, as a result these guys have no rhythm or confidence when they get into a playoff game. Other than Head none of the other guys coming off the bench were scorers, hence our bench sucked in the playoffs.
And you're basing your entire opinion on one season under Gundy. Selective perception makes it easy to forget a record setting playoff game...with FOUR players scoring.
Our bench is still very weak, even with the additions of Mike James and Bonzi Wells. I think it still needs more big men and athleticism. Snyder, VSpan, and Novak should all see more minutes, unless they are traded. There all young and they will improve given more PT.
If Wells and James work out like we envision, our bench just went from worst in the league to slightly above average.
