Fine, new forum word for the team is "middling". The Rockets are a middling team. Ah crap, just used the thesaurus and "mediocre" is a synonym for "middling." I'll have to get back to you..
What durvasa and Old Man Rock just said. But here's another way to look at it. Go to the league standings and sort the standings by the whole league by win-lose records. Here are the links: 2009-2010:http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/sort/wins/year/2010/group/1 2010-2011: http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/sort/wins/year/2011/group/1 2011-2012: http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/sort/wins/group/1 We had the: 15th best record, 18th best record, and currently tied for 16th best record. In a league of 30 teams, if that's not average then I don't know what is. But I guess it's your opinion and you can believe what you want.
In the end results matter. If the Rockets had been in the east for the past decade, they would've continously have been a top 4 seed and likely multiple time conference championship appearance if not finals appearance. If the Astros had been in the AL East the past decade, they'd have maybe 1 or 2 playoff appearances and probably would still be 2nd round virgins in the playoffs. But circumstances dicated that the Rockets play in a tougher environment while the Astros played in a softer environment. And history and fans will judge both teams based on where they play. I think while that's biased, it is... and I hate this cliche... what it is. There's nothing one can do about it.
There are 30 teams. There is no simpler way than to just divide up the teams. The first 10 teams are the Good teams. The top 3 or 4 teams are contenders, the rest are just good teams. Based on last year the Rockets are not in that group. The next 10 teams are average teams. Playoff feed basically if they should make it. The Rockets fit here. The last 10 are lotto bound and researching mock drafts. Rockets are average. Not too good or not too bad. Saying otherwise seems like denial. To be More than average would mean you are good. To say you are 'slightly above average' is still average.
Wait until our schedule toughens up again. At the end of the day when all the dust has settled, 35-31 which would be good for 8 or 9 in the west again.
You are in denial OP. 14-11 and fluctating between the 7th and 10th spots in the playoff picture without dynamic go-to player and roster filled with ok guys, players who are often proposed in trades, and project players who have barely been on the court. In the NFL, an equivalent would be 8-5-1. While in MLB, it is 83-79. More times than not, that has a team on the playoff bubble or they are firmly out of the playoffs. There are exceptions to rule, but typically those come from bad divisions. The Rockets are not the Washington Wizards, yet they are nowhere near a team like the Lakers, Heat, Clippers, or Thunder. They are an average Western conference team who also hasn't made the playoffs in two seasons. The Rockets equal mediocre, like Deion Sanders is pretentiousness personified. Philadelphia
But, again, I would argue that our competition is mainly the West. Making the playoffs or being a legit contender depends almost entirely on how we stack up against other Western Conference teams. I suppose I could preface "we're mediocre" with "relative to other teams in the West". To me, it just seems unnecessary because how we rate relative to other teams in the West is basically what matters right now.
i don't think we're mediocre either(this year I mean). we're just not contenders. You need hall of fame talent to contend in the nba post season. If the post season was a one and done tournie, we'd have a shot to getting past the second round. We can play with most teams. In the east, chicago has the best record? well If not for Rose's spectacular Defense on Lowry's two missed free throws.. those games were pretty even. I mean even when we were "contenders" we made it out past the first round once! winning aint' easy. otherwise these "superstars" would not be tag teaming each other right now. Win or lose I'm a fan of this team.
Our ultimate goal is to win a championship though. Not the Western Conference. If we are above average wouldn't that suggest our chances at winning a championship, such as they are, are also above average?
The NBA, more than any other professional sport, is star driven by media attention as we all know. Teams with "stars" or what the general fanbase would consider an entertaining player that is marketable, are always going to be labeled as "contenders" even before the season starts. The truth is, a team is only as good as their record is. The post season is a different story, but regular season success should be a good indicator of what their post season success would be.... SHOULD BE. We all have seen acceptions to that, but it usually is the case. That being said, The Rockets, according to their record now, are as good as anyone else in the Western Conference. Will that record change??.. maybe, but right now they are trending towards being considered a "good team." The major difference with the Rockets is that the media, the players in some cases, and the fan's expectations are based on marketable players before the season starts. Quality of play is barely a factor in expectations. Its all about the names you have on your roster. The Rockets have no marketable players, but they have good players that could become better. Their quality of play, is good in comparison to other NBA teams. So what are the Rockets- The Rockets are a good team with High Quality Play, low expectations ,and no marketable star as of RIGHT NOW. As long as the quality of play stays the same, they should still be considered a good team. Not mediocre or average.
I buyoff on this... 'average' to 'slightly above average'....mediocre just sounds negative and below average...imo just to stir the pot.... If 5 teams have the follwing records: Team A 52-30 Team B 52-30 Team C 50-32 Team D 50-32 Charlotte 1-81 ....who's good and who's mediocre?
We can't even make it to the championship round without (1) beating out our competition in the West to make the playoffs, and (2) beating 3 other WC playoff teams. The West is our competition right now. We can worry about how we stack up against Eastern conference teams once we are actually capable of getting to the Finals.
Who cares what you all think ? Mediocre or not, I think what we all want is to make the playoffs. We have all seen what can happen when a team makes it into the tournament. Last year we saw the #1 seed S.A. Spurs lose to a "mediocre" Memphis team. All we need is that chance, I'm sure the same people saying we are mediocre were all jazzed up when we took LA to 7 games a couple of years ago. We just need a chance is all I'm saying. The unfortunate part of the whole thing as that we are in a very very tough Western conference, where it is hard to get that chance. If we were in the East as mentioned by some other peeps, we easily would have that "chance" year in year out, and who knows. It was in 94-95 when we won just 47 games, getting the 6th seed and yet won the NBA Championship with that chance. I'm done here, close this thread.
The Rockets have AVERAGE- MEDIOCRE TALENT LEVEL, but they are overachieving...... some could turn into allstars though.....inconsistency makes it very hard
