You would have needed a certain level of familiarity. Shop Ego at the trade deadline would be my advice. Once that is gone out of the door, you can only hope they'll get it together quick because a 1-5 negative run could come at any time in the beginning. Not sure, Harden is that understanding and patient.
Well said. I hope our Rockets take to mixing the jab back in. I'd love to see more easy points. The pick and roll was abandoned once CP3 showed up. That's easy points! Bring it back in. We need to be dynamic to win big.
It really will come down to if these guys can stay healthy and play defense. If they do this team can be a contender.
Wall and Cousins are coming off the bench with limited mins, so your starting team is that 2nd option in the poll.. Harden thou has a new big man to work magic around, and Gordon says its time for him to step up, now he has a role again and will need to be the 2nd best option for scoring again. Wall will play limited mins to come back and help the 2nd unit with cousins, gaining the momentum to get back to form. You just don't start 2 guys out there that have not played in 2 years. They will have to slowly get back into form, its going to take months, and even if they look superb silas still doesn't give in with heavy load management until near the end of the year if they look like they (Wall and Cousins) can take it. Its just too risky. Wall & Boogie- 12-15 mins a night tops until you see them making a turn in health near the end of next year. You dont rush these guys into big mins. Maybe a max of 25 near the end of the season. If you can get them healthy at 25 mins a night and into the playoffs its a win win for the rockets. That bench will put the rockets into win mode every night if it goes well.
After those type of major injuries, I wouldn't actually fault Cous and Wall if their bodies couldn't play consistent D. Destiny is all.
Wall/Gordon Harden/McLemore/Brown House/Green PJ/Nwaba Wood/Cousins Get ready to go 11 deep. Both Green and McLemore get minutes in the first half to see if they can heat up. If neither of them get it going in the first half then Brown replaces them in the rotation for the 2nd half.
improved shooting and improved defense from last year .. rank 3 offense in the league at worst .. wood cousins nwaba and w00ten have size
I want Harden, McLemore, Tucker, Wood, Cousins or Wall, Harden, House, Tucker, Wood. As long as no Ego I’m good.
You put these lineups in positional order until you get to Cousins and Wood. You put Cousins in as if he was playing PF position over Wood, any particular reason?
Bet he does, He's the 3rd big. He wont be on the roster after the trade deadline. Unless you think there's going to be a guy cut at the cut down date that will be a better 3rd big.
I know PJ is old but he is a starter until Rockets trade for an upgrade at the 4. With good reason, he has earned his spot.
Aren’t there like 5 players on 2 way deals right now? Exhibit 8 , 9 and 10? Idk what the difference is but I think they’re all considered 2 way deals.
this is why I don’t trade PJ. If you’ve got Harden, Wall, House and Wood floating around above the break, you want someone like Tucker out on the perimeter pulling defenders away from all of that action.
There is zero chance Gordon boosts lineups better than Tucker, OR Nwaba. Gordon is by far the worst player in the rotations.
Harden, Gordon, House, and Tucker have alot of continuity, they've been able to smash 28 teams in the league for years now. I say let them start off the year doing that again with Wood serving as a Capela/Covington hybrid. This could boost EG's value back where it should be, change Harden's mind when he's dropping 40 in wins and hunting down legends on the all time scoring list, and allow Wall and Boogie the freedom to go crazy with the bench units and work back in slowly. I think I would enjoy it more if all the talking heads predicting us to miss the playoffs were proven wrong not because of unforeseen play from Wall, Boogie, or Wood but instead because they still have the same guys that have been playing winning basketball for years.