Beverley - 40% Harden - 36% Ariza - 37% Anderson - 38% Gordon - 38% We can expect those numbers to go up, given the spacing and offense. Only 5 teams shot better than 37% from deep last year. 4 of those teams were top 10 teams. If we shoot 38% from long range on the season, I'll be pleased.
I agree. The thing is to go into the season with out some crazy expectations, and just enjoy the season! If we have some kind of ball movement, and can get some solid 3 point shooting from Anderson, (a hopefully healthy Gordon), And respectable shooting from Ariza, Bev, D-Mo, etc, then our offense will be so much fun to watch. We may lose games in the process, but to be able to watch at least plays being ran and the ball moving around at a quicker pace would be a sight for sore eyes. As for defense.. Obviously we have holes. However, team defense can go further than others want to believe. They want to look at individuals and say "So and So can't play defense, and so and so can't, so we're going to give up 140!" Well, if the team as a whole can -buy- into a system, then it won't have to rely as much on individual defensive performances. Harden wouldn't be singled out as much, nor Anderson. However, and as corny as this sounds, I want to see team Chemistry again. Not just players jumping up and down after a big dunk, but players that actually enjoy playing together, that will have each other's backs, and I'll actually havens decent time watching this team gsme in and gsme and out.
There are rumors that there are supposed to be some big trades possibly happening next week...just sayin, keep a look out for the Rox
I bet the rockets win more games than you bucks. This team is going to be pretty good as long as they can get 65+ games out of the new guys. Good offense has always been shown to win a lot of games in the regular season. Yes you need top 10 D to be a real threat to win a chip but let's be honest nobody is dethroning the Warriors for the next 2 years atleast. This rockets team will be a lot better than many think, here and media. A lot of people are really underestimating what a James harden led team can do. Last year was a mess. Harden came in out of shape didn't get going for the first 6 weeks of the season. We dug ourselfs a big whole playing the softest part of the schedule. We won 41 games while blowing atleast 10 games were we had the lead down the stretch another 5 games were we atleast statistically should have won either 1 or 2 but couldn't get an inbound play, and that's on top of the terrible start to the season losing 4 games to the nuggets and 2 to the nets. Just winning those games puts us at 47 wins. This team underachived last season but that doesn't mean that's what our record should have been. We might not have been a 56-60 win team like a lot had Invisioned but we absolutely should have won 50-52 games and been playing the clippers first round. Hell even had we won 4 of 6 against the nuggest and nets we would have been the 5th seed. The west is weak after the top 2. Especially now that OKC has lost KD, the Blazers did not help there team at all and the fact is there not some young team or I guess I should say any younger than the rockets. They were a feel good story but now the heat is on and they won't inprove if anything they will be worse. It took them going 19-3 during the middle of the season just to win 44 games. So 3/4 of The year they were a .400 ballclub. Memphis will be worse they have a new coach and injured players as there core. They will win a few more games because they ended the season so bad but I wouldn't be shocked to see Gasol break his foot again. History shows bigs that have that injury at his age tend to not have a high success rate. Utah is Utah they get propped up every year only to be exposed as what they are a good team with no Allstar. Another .500 win season at best. Dallas will be dallas and win half there games because their coach is great, unless Barnes makes a leap no one sees coming. The rockets could flop but Out of all the teams I just named we have the best player and a roster that suits his game. Will win a lot of games. Not saying it will happen but I also won't be surprised is the team wins 55 games and is challenging for a top 2-3 seed with SA and clips.
So you're entire argument is predicated on ignoring the big elephant in the room? Big men that are willing to set countless picks are needed to run the triangle, what are they going to do without big men? Draymond does not count. When he plays center that's called going small by everyone in the league. Look at any championship roster that ran the triangle. You'll see what I'm talking about if you do. Bill Cartwright wasn't sexy, but he was necessary to win. Luc Longley, same thing. When the Lakers had the same "unbeatable roster" with Shaq and Malone not setting picks, the Pistons gave them a beat down. So I'll ask again, what is your "unbeatable roster" going to do when they need to set picks 85 times a game? Is Draymond going to set all 85? How many will Durant set? Curry? This is a legitimate problem that people all over the NBA world are ignoring. I still like Cleveland for next year. They're a complete team. The Warriors just ignored three bread and butter things: their top notch defense, depth and setting countless picks for 82 games before the playoffs start. Zaza is weak, David West is and looks 35. I see what you're saying, but the model for 60 wins seems like 39% as a team. Unfortunately we have DMo and Brewer shooting 28 and 27% to bring the overall numbers you mentioned down. Their best shooters (Phoenix Suns w/D'Antoni) were averaging well over 40% when they won most of their games. Anyway, I hope you're right and I'm wrong. I also hope our dependency on the 3 ball goes down because they shot 1963 long balls a year when they were winning. We shot 2680 last year. In other words, we shot 37% more threes than phoenix did under D'Antoni. Same basic stats for the Knicks. So, I hope the 2 pointer comes back with a vengeance and that scoreboard keeps moving without long lulls like last year.
don grahamleone, Just an opinion but I think with DMo's back hopefully much healthier, we will see his 3pt shot more in line with what he did in 14/15 which was 37%. Remember, he only suited up for 37 games last season and only averaged 14 minutes a game. Lets see what he can do coming into a season ready to play without all the limitations of trying to rehab his back during the season.
Very good point. Let's hope he heals and is pretty much what he was before he got injured two seasons ago. Unfortunately sCorey Brewer is still on the team and shoots about 29 percent for his career. He also shot over 200 of them last year so if that volume stays the same, he'll effect the effectiveness of the offense. Of course, MDA is not a nice guy and he'll tell Corey how it is (I hope!).
there is just no defense for Brewer, he's just awful. Always has been and always will be at this point. I'll admit i allowed myself to get swayed by his out of character streaky good games he had in 14/15.
If we can get anywhere close to D'Antoni's Phoenix style of play, Rockets games will be fun to watch. He didn't have the right pieces in NY.
