for those that are thinking that the rockets will vault from a 7 seed to the elite contender status (top 3), consider whether any recent championship teams have made such a remarkable leap. usually, teams need to stop just shy of elite contender for a year or two, then make the jump due to chemisty and players fullfilling their potential. the exception is wehre SA got duncan and ran with it in his first year.
i think we'll definitely be fighting for homecourt, but i wouldnt say we're one of the elite teams quite yet. if denver gets kmart, that can hae some serious ramifications for the rest of the west. they may be young, but they have a bunch of talent, and they did make the playoffs last year. utah in the top 3? no way. they've improved and sloan is a great coach, but i still think they have a serious lack of talent. but they should make the playoffs and cause some problems for opposing teams. dallas, memphis, and minnesota really havent done anything to improve, and in dallas' case, they may be worse than last year. all 3 are strong teams, but they aint championship teams. i think SA is the clear favorite right now IMO. solid all the way through, and the outside shooting of barry should help considerably. Sac and LA are done.
Ummmmmmmm.... How about the Wolves and their comlpletely revamped roster making the conference finals? I'm sure conference finals would be more than satisfactory.
Its all going to come down whether JVG can run a balanced offense/defense. But whatever it is, this will be a very interesting season.
Here are my comments in no particular order. San Antonio -- Obviously they are the favorites if Shaq head east. Duncan is a proven MVP and champion and the main guy that kept knocking them out is leaving the conference. Minnesota -- They'll be good, but I really question if Spree and Sam can hold out for another year and be able to play championship caliber basketball. Their window is right now, because in a year or two when those two can't play anymore, then Wally and Hudson taking up a third of the salary cap will really bite them on the butt. Sacramento -- It basically all comes down to C-Webb. If he's healthy then I think they can make another Finals run. If he's not healthy, then I think chemistry will definitely suffer because of all the questions about whether the Kings are better off without him. They aren't better off without him, but that won't change speculation. Memphis -- Yes they beat us three times last year, but they haven't really improved this year. And if they end up trading for Dampier then I think they'll end up hurting the team more because I'm not all that impressed with the Damp-man. Another thing to consider is that Memphis killed us on turnovers last year. If we bring in a decent PG that can hold onto the ball, then that could mean 6 less fastbreak points given up right there. Denver -- In terms of Denver, see above comments on Memphis. Less Rocket turnovers will really help. And to be honest, while K-Mart is a good player, I don't think he's that special. In the East he's top of the pack for PFs but in the west he's just another in a group featuring Duncan, KG, Randolph, Brand, Amare, Webber, and Dirk. I wouldn't stick K-Mart above any of those guys (I say he's even with Randolph and only above an unhealthy Webber). K-Mart was helped a lot by Kidd, and let me tell you, Andre Miller is no Jason Kidd. Andre Miller isn't even Andre Miller anymore. He is a shell of his cleveland days. The former "next great point guard" is playing more like a SG nowadays. In fact they often plug in Boykins at the pg and officially slide Dre to the 2. Seriously I don't know what the heck happened to the guy. Dallas -- Dallas really reminds me of the Portland Trailblazers from a few years ago. Obviously because of the talent hoarding but also because they were able to almost make it to the finals, and immediately started their slow decline down. They have so many pieces that just don't fit. Walker and Stackhouse. No center for the thirtieth straight year. Their pgs are a Rookie and a Sophmore. And let's be honest: Dirk just doesn't scare anyone anymore. Oh he's a great player, but honestly there isn't any terror of Dirk carrying the team to greatness. Even two years ago, it was more Van Exel that fired the team up. Phoenix -- I think phoenix will be good. Nash will benefit everyone on the team way better than Marbary. Johnson showed what he can do if the PG isn't dominating the ball, and I wouldn't be surprised if Phoenix become the best fastbreak team in the league with Nash pushing the tempo and Amare and Marion filling the lane. I think the Suns/Rockets rivalry will fire up once again with feeling. With only the following team surpassing it in fervor: Utah -- Make no mistake about it, Utah will be good. Maybe not top three good, but a definite contender for home court in the first round. They have a nice set of bigs, and probably the best coach in the league. My biggest criticism of them is, who's going to put the ball in the hole for them in crunch time. AK-47 might even be beyond Pippenesque in Sidekick skills, but is he a number 1 option for a contending team. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Clippers -- If they don't get Kobe then the Clips will be the Clips. If they do end up getting Kobe, then they would have the best young talent in the league. But then again don't they always have the best young talent. Who knows, the Clipper curse might just send Kobe to the slammer. And even if it doesn't do they have enough basketballs. I know that Maggette and Kobe are buddies, but you better believe that Maggette's numbers will take a nosedive with Kobe dominating the ball. Both of those guys need the ball in his hands, Maggette because that's how he's effective, and Kobe because his ego wouldn't have it any other way. Don't get me wrong, if the Clippers get Kobe they can be great, but haven't we said that about the Clippers before. Oh and they're not getting Kobe. Lakers -- If the Lakers keep Kobe, they would be pretty damn solid if they can pick up a starting caliber center, but considering their assets and the dearth of starting caliber centers in the league that doesn't figure to happen. Grant at center and Odom at the 4 will at most be adequate. Remember this is the conference of star pfs and stiff centers. Grant isn't a stiff center, but he isn't a difference making one either. And I'll love seeing Kobe without the big fella sucking in all the double teams. Then we'll see what mettle he's made of.
i m not sure which spot we r gonna to land next year but one thing i know Rockets will be the best defensive team next year. They have great defencers in at least 3 positions: C-Yao (his size) SG-McGrady (JVG said he's a good defender, and i trust JVG about his comments of anything regard to defense) SF-Jackson (solid defender last year) if somehow JVG can coach this Howard guy how to play a strick D and we can bring in a good PG like (snow or fisher) then we will be having league best defensive team. And we will probaly have more scoring option this year, since 2 of players will draw double teams. Great outlook, Man a PG who can play some D will fix this team good. We can match anybody as far as defense concern.
Nah, i won't start Nachbar if i m JVG he's the ideal player off the bench in a play off series against a team with malone... plz download the video below
I think our role players are all solid. That being said the X-factor's are Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming as odd as that may sound. This team will go as far as they take us. If Yao plays anywhere near his maximum potential and Tracy dominates by being the bona fide scoring machine he is and takes over games, I see no reason why we would have trouble beating the Spurs, Wolves or Kings on a consistent basis. My prediction is that we will win or split against the top teams but my worry is the concentration factor that comes into play when we play the lesser teams.
Steve and Cat are gone. Other than that, I don't see anyone else on our roster who suffered from a lack of focus or is known for lacking focus. Yao sometimes "relaxes" when he plays against centers he underestimates or just doesn't consider enough to study and figure out. But, seeing the unstopping, steady momentum of improving year by year. I really don't think that'll be much of a factor on his 3rd year, aka his very expected and much anticipated 20/10 year. Juwan is consistent T-mac is consistent and effecient JJ will be JJ and give his all, smartly,throughout the entire regular season Pike never suffered from inconsistency until his injury, should be up to par this year. Mo is consistent offensively Padjett should be resigned soon, and he's consistent Lue is steady as a backup PG Boki, it all depends on his playing time Gaines is the only question mark, really untested Weatherspoon, well, he's not gonna give us much, but atleast he's consistent at what he does. Anyway, no question T-mac and Yao will get up for the tougher teams, but collectively our starters and role players shouldn't suffer from any lack of concentration. There's nothing in their careers or persona to give a reason for worry over focus or lack there of. Our team should be very formidable against lesser teams and more so against tougher ones, sparing injuries and of course waiting to see who our starting PG will be
As the rosters stand and assuming the Rockets get a PG and a backup C - I see the standings as such: San Antonio - Barry will help them more than the departure of Hedo Turkoglu hurt them. Minnesota - One year older and a little bit smarter. Sacramento - Still good but CWebb adds a ? Dallas - Nash's departure hurt them but still enough pieces to play the game. Denver - Very dangerous. Utah - If we could only trade for Jerry Sloan. Rockets - New pieces still trying to mesh. Memphis - No movement - yet, but strong enough with Hube to take the last spot. Hornets - Welcome to the West and the Lottery. Phoenix - Nash will help them but they West is too tough for them to make the playoffs. Lakers - Even with Kobe, they are going to make a rare appearance in the Lottery. Portland - Back in the Lottery again. Sonics - Too many do-nothing players with big contracts. Clippers - Even if the get Kobe, that's not enough to turn this franchise around. Warriors - Man - you gotta feel for the fans.
Man this conference is so much better, from top to bottom, than the East it's ridiculous...why don't we just take Detroit, Indiana, and Miami and start a new league?
One thing the Astros taught me this year is that you can't project performance, even from seasoned vets. The other is if you let your hopes get too high, you set yourself up for disappointment. Getting T-Mac to add with Yao does provide a core to build a team around but it takes the interaction of 6-8 players to yield success in the NBA. Anybody who says they even know who will be the 6-8 players the Rockets will put on the floor is premature much less predictiing their chemistry. I'm not trying to throw water on the party but we fans need to extend our focus a little. Yao and T-mac are still young and they should have several seasons to play together. The Rockets will need to see the dynamic between them to understand how best to add complimentary players around them. Next year will be fun but it should just be a learning period. If we understand that, we won't get too crazy and start dissing the kids if they only win 42 games.
Keep in mind that 3 of the top 4 teams in the NBA were also revamped right before, or during, the season: Lakers (Malone/Payton) Minnesota (Spree/Cassell/Kandi/Hassell) Detroit (Rasheed) I'm not worried about being revamped. Only 2 players need to be filled in, and we have all of training camp and the preseason to do it. After that, we'll have a small adjustment period, people learning each other's tendencies, after which we will hopefully begin to click. If nothing goes horribly wrong, we should be peaking as a team right around the end of the season, which is perfect. I'd give it 30 games of adjustment, where we really won't be that bad. We'll still be winning, we'd just be a bit sloppy and drop a couple that we'll regret but make up for.
42 wins is unaccepteable. I realize you're throwing a safety net out there, but 42 is proposterous. My safe prediction? 45-47 wins similar to last year. My "I believe it will happen" prediction is 52 wins and homecourt.
45 wins AT LEAST. The West has really become way more competitive (sp?). JVG is probably planning everything right now...and he shall manage our team and lead them to success.
