Rockets Hot Topic Question # 4: How Will The Rockets Do This Season?

Oh, so just because he's black, he can't be a good point guard?

j/k

 

I chose 50-54 as I think that Yao will have a quantum leap in performance, as will EG. Yao will be a 20/10/3 guy, EG will be a 15/8/3 player to compliment Mobley, and Steve ups his assists to 8+ to offset his ppg going down to around 20. We will have our bumps in the first half of the season, but (most importantly) will not lose the games that took us out of the playoffs last year (Miami, NY, Clips, Grizz, etc.).

Look for a monster spurt at the end of the year as everything starts to gel for the team in JVGs system. We end up in the 5/6 seed and at least take the series to 6 games with a chance to take the first round, depending on who we play.

 

Uh, hello. It's so obvious the liberal media is overrating Francis simply because they want a black point guard to succeed in the NBA.

Somebody gimme a couple of lil blue pills plz I need them bad.

 

50- 54

This was a dissappointing off-season, IMHO, because it could have been better, in terms of our rebuilding ...

But, I think we'll be another 7-10 wins better because:

- Coaching change: Actually, I believe we'd be better off to have Rudy, to make a championship run, because he knows what it means to be a champion, and is good at peaking a team at the right tiime. But, right now, we need more X's and O's, teaching and discipline on this team, so temporarily we're better off with Van Gundy. I really hated missing out on Larry Brown. What a huge blown opportunity. But, there were times the team was unprepared, had bad coaching decisions, and just weren't motivated. That alone should pick us up another 5 wins.
- Motivation: This team sometimes plays down to competition. I believe the combination of having the trade exception, which enables any player to be traded, the players realizing they cost Rudy his job, knowing they've run out of rookied excuses, and Van Gundy staying on them, will result in another few wins.
- Getting rid of Rice: Rice was too slow, and undependable. Because we were paying him so much, I think management felt they had to play him, even if it was to build some value. Probably his greatest value was motivating Cato, and providing veteran balance. Having his contract off the books also allows us to possibly pick up another player mid-season, if someone becomes available. If we get another player, we'll probably pick up another few wins ...
- Losing Posey, Getting Jackson: I think Jackson is an upgrade over Rice. But, unfortunately, we lost Posey, who won us a few games last year. (This was a step back in our rebuilding process, losing Thomas and Posey, without getting anything in return, but I wouldn't have paid either one the salary they got. Too bad we didn't get any draft choices. I'm glad we didn't pull a Shandon Anderson type S&T, though) This will actually be a net loss of a few games.
- Better bench: I think that Pike, Adrian Griffin, Ameachi and Wilks are a better supporting cast than TMo, Hawkins and Collier and Tito. This will probably win us another couple games.
- Yao, and Francis a year older: Both are young all-stars and incredible talents, and will be better this year hopefully than last, especially Yao. Yao could give us 4 or 5 more wins alone this year.
- Mobely: This is a wild card. Van Gundy said he wanted hustle and no mental mistakes. Well, I think he has one out of two. If he develops an attitude, then he'll cause us to lose some games. If he can "get it", then he'll win us games. If he gets traded, the new player might win us some games, too. Its hard to pick this one.
- Taylor: Its all up to injuries. He came to camp in great shape, but then had the shoulder separation, and will be out for the next few weeks. Hopefully, he'll stay healthy the rest of the year. If he does, and they let him start games with his offense, he'll win us a couple games.
- Griffin: Griffin will be the lightening rod of this year. I think Griffin will do well under VanGundy. He needs direction and motivation. If he breaks out, we win another 3 or 4 games. If he doesn't, and Taylor get's injured, we're in trouble, and could lose 5 or 6.
- Moochie:I DON'T like Moochie. Never have. He has always felt like a wannabe, cocky without the ability to back it up, and his dribbling drives me nuts. I SO wish we'd let him go, instead of signing him. I think at the time it had more to do with keeping Francis, than the actual value he brought to the table. But, I also think, that if anyone can get some value out of Moochie, Van Gundy can. He actually did give us some game winning shots last year, but he also cost us some. So, if he's brought under better control by the coach, we might win us another game or two, not being in there at crucial times.
- Nachbar: I'd LOVE it if he came into his own. I had high hopes for him, but he looks like a bust at the moment. If he comes into his own, he could win another couple games for us, but if we have him in there gaining experience, he could cost us a couple too ... this feels like a wash.
- Cato: Its good to see Cato coming back in better shape amd motivated. This is great. But, Rice was his cheerleader last year, and helped him get his head straight. I wonder how that will turn out this year. Hopefully the same as last year.
- Chemistry: I'm a bit worried about that this year. VanGundy's sandpaper style could really be a problem. Especially at the beginning of the year, this will cost us 5 to 10 games.
- Injuries: This is always the big factor. If we stay healthy, we'd probably pick up the games we lost due to Rudy's illness and Taylor coming back from injury, and gain another 5 to 10 games. But, if we have key injuries, we could lose 5 to 10 games.

So, in summary, I think there is a potential swing of losing ground by a few games to gaining ground by as much as 17 games. I don't have MacBeth's expertise, but based on these issues, I think there will be an increase of 7-10 games from last year.

 

This team won't have a problem being a good defensive team, JVG is the coach.

This team won't have a problem being a good offensive team, look at our scorers:

Yao
MoT
JJ
Mobley
Francis


Francis and Yao are 20ppg scorers, MoT and Mobley are 15ppg scorers, and JJ is a proven high scorer.


49 wins, playoffs.

 

Mid-season form for ZRB...

My guess: 45-49 with playoffs