Well Looking at our team composition and learning curve I don't think that we had any shot to be in the upper echelon of: Spurs Lakers Kings Mavs But the next four spots were filled with the: Blazers Minnesota Phoenix Utah Next Few: Houston Golden State Memphis Seattle LA Clips Denver Next Year Utah is out. There is little doubt in my mind about that. Ostertag-Kirilenko-Harpring-Maggette(maybe)-Lopez-Stevenson is not taking them anywhere. Though Malone and Payton signed with the Lakers, the Lakeshow was beyond our grasp anyway. Teams that have gotten worse or not gotten better: Minnesota: They didn't get Juwon Howard and will probably lose Nesterovic to the Spurs. Though they got Cassell, he is not THAT much better than the Troy Hudson-Szcerbiak backcourt. Without Nesterovic-Howard-Smith, their frontcourt will be pitiful. LA Clips: Losing Miller/Maggette/Olowokandi and probably Piatdowski while gettins some more rooks, Net Negative! GS Warriors: Probably losing Arenas to Miami and are dangling Jason Richardson all over the league. Net Negative Denver: Hopefully Maggette signs with Utah, b/c Denver would be more dangerous with Maggette and Miller. Memphis: Bad record, lost draft pick of Milicic - Trying to get size. Seattle: Not much of a change/ but still have Ray Allen/Radmanovic/Barry/Lewis all playing the 2-3 slots. Phoenix: Didn't do much in terms of changes but Amare a year older is scary.
All in all. I think the FA market has been good for the Rockets, because many teams close to the Rockets (Utah, GState) have lost talent. Also not having Kidd in SA is a good thing.
1. Los Angeles Lakers 2. San Antonio Spurs 3. Dallas Mavericks 4. Sacramento Kings because of injuries and aging 5. Portland Trailblazers 6. Minnesota Timberwolves 7. Phoenix Suns 8. Houston Rockets or Seattle SuperSonics Brent Barry, Ray Allen, and Rashard Lewis is a pretty good trio and they are surrounded by a bunch of shooters. The Rockest will have to play hard and try to win every single game!
The only thing that I disagree with is the assertion that Cassell is not a big upgrade over Hudson. Hudson is not in the same school, let alone same class, as Cassell.
My choice: 1. Los Angeles Lakers 2. San Antonio Spurs 3. Dallas Mavericks 4. Sacramento Kings because of injuries and aging 5. Portland Trailblazers 6. Minnesota Timberwolves 7. Houston Rockets 8. Phoenix Suns or Seattle SuperSonics We beat them (Phoenix Suns) last year
I think it is still way too early to make predictions. Cassell is definitely an upgrade but how will his lack of sharing the ball effect a team with a superstar who doesn't demand it in crunch time? The Spurs and Mavs both lost out on Kidd and PJ Brown. Spurs will probably land Nesterovic but he is no replacement for Robinson. Still, they will both be tough again next year. IMO, Seattle hasn't improved and neither has Golden State. Denver still is a ways off. Utah will sink probably out of the playoffs this year. If things were to remain as is (which of course they won't), the Rockets are in good shape for a playoff birth assuming they stay healthy.
1. San Antonio Spurs (add Rasho, maybe another 2ndtier f.a.) 2. Los Angeles Lakers (add GP and Karla, hopefully no legal probs for Showbie) 3. Dallas Mavericks (unless they can trade for Brian Grant, then move em up) 4. Sacramento Kings (damned injury prone, aren't they?) 5. Minnesota (not a given, but is everyone really gonna turn em down? I hope so!) 6. Houston (JVG will knock some sense into the boys; and I can see some sort of trade looming) 7. Phoenix (Not much better than us, in fact, with a little discipline, we would have easily been in the playoffs instead) 8. Portland (Team Bong) But as Jeff points out, still too early. I do think Sac's window is closing fast, Duncan is the new Hakeem (one-man team with decent role players), the Lake Show will be tough to beat, Portland needs to re-tool a bit, and, finally, no more jazzholes.
Barring any big surprises, it lookes like we were fortunate this offseason. I mean....Utah falling off the radar is a sweet feeling. We get into the playoffs and we get to see Utah hit the lottery. I kept thinking it would be harder to make the playoffs but the breakdown actually works in our favor. Although it pushes back realistic expectations of cracking the elite status. One thing to think of is how long will Portland and Sacramento be up there? Sac: Vlade is getting up there and Webber is injury prone. of course they will be in the playoffs for a long time, just not as strong as 01-02, 02-03 Portland: With their situation, I bet they are a hair trigger away from blowing up the team, plus with money issues, it could happen. Plus, the Lakers might only have this squad for one year. Their situation reminds me of us getting Barkley, stacking the deck. The only difference is that one of their superstars is only 25. on the rise: Nuggets: really though.... They are much farther away than us. Seattle: This is the team I worry about. I guess I just have flashbacks of them killing us off in the playoffs. Memphis: seems like they got talent for miles but no momentum.... who knows what this year will bring. no one sees them coming. they have the suprise factor Clippers? GS? We better get a lot better this year cos then New Orleans comes in.
ok realism..... Lakes, Mavs, Kings, Spurs, &wolves have 1-5 locked baring injury. Rox, Suns, Sonics, Blazers & nuggets are in a fight for the the rest Rox & suns are a year older and ready to fight. Blazers are a big ?????..are they focused or are they Blazin? Please do not count Ray Allen, Barry and lewis out. they can cause problems And If you are saying same old Nuggets remmeber these words BIG MELLO & Meggette. They are Fools gold Nuggets no more
I think the wolves will make some noise with Sam on the team. Rasho wouldn't be that big of a loss, and it's not etched in stone that he is lost for them yet. Maybe Sam could have the same role marbury had when him and kg were together. Seattle has improved with their draft picks imo. They were on a role and now they add at the very least some quality depth, and best case, a couple of good starters, including a real pf, something they haven't had for a while. GS has fallen off with the loss of Arenas, unless their draft pick from a year ago can make it as a pg. Unless the rockets have a major turnaround, they could very well be battling for the 7-8 seed or even miss the show yet AGAIN.
Seems like a lot of you feel Rasho is as good as gone to San Antonio. I don't necessarily see him going. The Wolves lost out on Juwon Howard. They can't afford to lose out on Rasho. He is very important to that team. I think Rasho will end up staying with the Wolves. I think the Spurs will be left with looking at Kandi to fill their center position because I feel Rasho and Miller will resign with their own teams. With Utah losing Stockton and Malone that pretty much gives a great chance at a playoff spot this year if we play to our potential. I see us landing somewhere between 6 and 8. The way I see it: 1) Lakers 2) Spurs 3) Mavs 4) Kings 5) Wolves 6) Blazers 7) Rockets 8) Suns The top 4 teams look like locks. But 5-8 are teams that go anywhere in those seedings. Not sure Clippers, Sonics, Warriors, Grizzlies, Jazz have what it takes to make it to the playoffs this season.
I see the Lakers tanking next year. I know it sounds funny after their pick ups but the less the ball is in Shaq's hands, and Kobe's hands, the better. You can't have four players averaging 20 points a game. Malone will be slower next year no matter how much conditioning he does, Shaq is on the down side of the bell curve, Gary is a fighter and will be a good pickup but like Malone and Shaq is on the down side of the bell and then there is Kobe who is the best player in the league but now he has the stress of dealing with a law suit. Look at the Rocks. All of their players except Glen Rice are on the upside of the bell curve of their careers. Every given year we will get better. We will learn how to play together, our players bodies will get more mature, and our guards will learn to make better decisions. If you were an investor the Rockets would look like a very attractive stock. I am going to at least 10 games next year now that I actually am out of debt with my student loan paid off. It is going to be great.
