You guys jibber jabber all damn day all damn week it seems for the last few seasons. We are on pace to win 52 games. do you know how many teams would love to win 52 games? Do you know that the rockets are one of the teams that would be thrilled with 52 games ? I wish I was Cuttino because for all the blame he gets for our record it is actually a compliment. and Van Gundy, it is his fault we lost all those games. Fire the whole team untill we can win at least 80. Maybe all you guys that complain are used to the sucess that Shanghi sharks had. Maybe it was the Maryland team of SF younger. Maybe you just dont know a good thing when you see it. It may be a day late but I give thanks to a playoff paced Rockets team. to a team that actually has a chance to win games, and a team that works harder than any of our recent teams. PEACE
/stands up and applauds Clap clap clap clap... Just wanted to get that in before the pessimists showed up and ruined it. The season is indeed a long one, and anyone that thinks VG will put up with the sloppy play of the last two games is delusional. We still have plenty of time to get the ship shaped up. I still believe.
Then Im delusional. Vg has no clue how to fix it because he is outdated,and the new zone rules on offense and defense have him totally flustered. Its over. Sad really. I predict the rockets will makes a couple of trades,only to end up an even worse team then realize when its too late that it wasnt the players let go,(ie Cat or steve in trades) but the old fashioned coaches fault.
i think the reason people are being so pessimistic is mainly due to the rockets inconsistent play. one game they play terrific and the next game they play like sh*t. most people are happy that the rockets win total is what it is but they see that it will not last if the rox continue to play this way. overall, i think if the rockets begin to play consistently good basketball, win or lose, the pessimistic people on this board will stop bashing and stop demanding trades.
Not to play devil's advocate but there's one big problem with this sort of complaceny.... 52 Wins in the West might NOT BE ENOUGH to get us into the playoffs. The current standings say it all. The East is weak. The West is strong. Our division is very strong as is the Pacific. For us to have a safe shot at the playoffs, we will have to play 650 ball, IMHO. There are just too many teams that are as good if not better than us right now. Our defense will be the key to how well we can corral these other West coast teams. If we fail in our ability to bring a league leading defense night in night out, then we will fail in our attempts to become a legitimate playoff contender. 52 Wins would be great for an Eastern conference team. But here in the West, we must prepare ourselves each night for another potential playoff bound team. theSAGE
Winning is overrated. It's easy to be a fan then. It's how you lose (and handle it) that makes you strong. I never expected a playoff team this year. If it is GRRRREAT!!! And I think for anyone to shoot that high in expectations this season isn't listening to a voice of reality. When it happens.. we at one time labeled "homer, cheerleading fools" will be de-skepticized. When it happens. Give it till a couple weeks before the All-Star break and we'll see if you've heard correctly. And then if you didn't give it another year. Again... changing the coach is about like birthing a franchise (see the Texans for reference), just because the team is ours doesn't automatically make them better than the oponent. Sure we want them to be. Sure we hope they are. And sure we believe the potential is there for great things. But even a mighty rhinocerous start as a microscopic meiosis between a sperm and egg. Give it time... and maybe, JUST maybe this thing will be a microwave experience. Otherwise let it incubate before you count it as a chicken.
We won against sub-par teams, whom we can't win against last season. But we win ugly and we lose uglier. That's what sucks.
There's nothing wrong with winning, but just as it's how you lose, it's how you win. The Rockets have not won games in a fashion that gets you to say, "Hell yeah!! That's SMART TEAM basketball!" Until we can say that from the start to finish of a game, getting into the playoffs would be a huge waste. If Steve and Cuttino jack up ill-advised shots off of iso and garner a high FG% resulting in a W, it's really a loss in the long run. Our offense relies too heavily on shooters being on target. As anyone who has watched the NBA in the past 5-6 years, shooting has become a lost art. We need to simplify the game. That's where it starts. Perhaps in a few years, when Steve starts to lose his athleticism, he'll begin to figure out how to play a mental game. It frustrates me to the point of tears, and loss of sleep that we can't simplify the game. Basketball is not a hard game to PLAY. I do have faith that the guys will figure it soon enough.
The team record is very misleading. The wins have all come against teams like the Heat, Magic, Bulls, Warriors, and Clippers. The Rockets have not beaten a single team with a record above .500 since opening night. They've had, by far, the easiest schedule of any team in the NBA.
I am not a pessimist. But to say that we are 9-6 and therefore on pace to a 52 win season is just too simplistic. I am not even talking about the players' performance. Let's just factor in the strength of schedule and do a more realistic projection. The combined records of teams we have played so far are 103-122. That is a .458 winning percentage, or a .542 losing percentage. The Rockets are 9-6, a .600 winning percentage. So we beat the odds by (.600-.542)/.542 = 10.7%. The combined records for the whole league will be .500. Beating that by 10.7% will be .555. That projects to a 45-win season. Not too horrible compared to last season. But the future of this season is certainly not as bright as a 52-win season. 45 wins will probably land us an 8th seed in the West.
The last 2 games were terribly reminiscent of last's year team. And we're still getting blown into bits by the top teams in the West, passing poorly and forcing shots. If we don't improve in a hurry, I'm afraid it's going to be a tough road to the playoffs. And then even if we make it, it's gonna be 1st round and out to the Mavs, Kings, or Lakers. There are some fundamental flaws in the playing style that are rearing their ugly heads again, and I sure hope this style of basketball is not here to stay.
