Who here was impressed with the Rockets starting 5? And who wasn't?

I hope asik can fit into the starting five if not then TJ deserve a shot. Either way with Asik as starter or back up , we should be solid .

 

I'm impressed with team's chemistry. Not many teams have their best players getting along so well, hanging around after the games all the time. It was easy to maintain this friendship last season, when no one expected too much from the Rockets, lets see what happens when playoffs come and when/if bad period happens.

 

That something that struck me. I didn't expect chemistry to develop this quickly, but you could definitely see it. Howard really seemed to be an easy fit.

 

I'm impressed the starting 5 with a bonified center.

 

Aldridge would be the 3rd option.

 

Looked great, but I think we would be better off with Bev/Jones starting.

 

The starting unit looked good, but who really expected them to look otherwise?

We got 4 guys out of the 5 who have proven that they can play, and two of them being among the 10 best in the NBA. Hard to imagine how any questions that the unit may have at the PF spot would make them look that bad vs. the Pelicans. These 4 guys plus a replacement level guy would probably do just fine.

It's good that there are no bad surprises, though.

 

Very impressed with Harden, Dwight, Parsons, Bev & Casspi

Hey thats not a bad future starting 5

Bev
Harden
Parsons/Casspi
Dwight

Lin was ok. Dmo looked horrible. Was disappointed we couldnt get a look at Asik with thee 2nd unit but we will soon.

 

They are indeed one of the best superteams in the league, its literally pick your poison with Dwight on the floor, that changes EVERYTHING, its scary to think how good they can become, its been a while since we've seen a stacked team have the best bball center in the world to play with, and vice versa.

 

Both Harden and Lin will need to re adjust their passing habits to bigs after a year of having only Asik. Need time to calibrate the alley oops and passes that actually require the big man to jump.

 

I'm ready for TheSeason. I'm ready for DM the GM's mid-season pick-up.

I'm just not sure I'm ready for more than 20 mpg from PatBev. I still believe he's better in bursts.

I suspect TJ as the b/u 4 will steady the 2nd unit while DMo gets his feet wet with the best guys there to hide him.

Will Omri be a contributor? Does Covington have game? How good might Canaan actually become? What might Brewer's role be? Who survives?

The latter are less all less significant, but still interesting to me.

 

I was disappointed in DMo. Expected him to improve his defensive awareness, shooting, and rebounding but seemingly nothing improved from last season.

Harden looks like the best guard in the league right, bar none. Great vision in the PNR, godly efficiency, very solid defense. If he keeps this up, he's going to the league MVP this season.

I was pleasantly surprised by Lin. He made some fantastic plays and the offense seemed to run extremely smoothly with him at the point. Blew past his man at will 1 on 1, without needing picks (he couldn't really do that last season). 3 point release looked good too. Only caveat is that he passed up way too many open 3's. Shoot that thing, goddamnit.

Dwight looked like the Orlando Dwight the way he was protecting the rim and dominating at the other end. He's going to transform this team on both ends of the floor.

Parsons was Parsons.

Championship here we come.

 

Based off of my observations from last night's game, I am quite content on a 8-9 man rotation of:

Dwight- 35/Omer-13
TJones-20/Omer-10/Casspi-18
Parsons-34/Casspi-8/Brewer-6
Harden-38/Lin-6/Brewer-4
Lin-26/Bev-22

 

I wasnt impressed.
I'm joking. actually I feel really good about this team. I mean really really really good. I dont want to point out the 900 pound gorilla named injuries but thats the only thing that will stop us this year. I know it's one game but at one point we were almost toying with them. It's like we put our best violinist, cello, and bass player and we raged for a few minutes almost effortlessly. Guys were smiling like 'ohh yeah we are going to be good' I could just see their faces it was almost like when you know you are going to bang a hot chick because she tells you to pick up rubbers. Its like yeah ' I got this' we are very confident already. me likey.

I don't think you will find one person who wasnt impressed although reality check it was one preseason game.

I really like the spacing and movement of ball. I liked the open ness concept mchale is putting out.

People like to crack on mchale but jvg,adelman and even dantoni don't run that kind of open offense like that. With this we will get howard his touches and by the looks of it there may be some dumping down but it's not going to be dump down all day. Mchale seems to want it to come in the flow of game and I think it really plays to the strengths of our players including dwight. Even announcers were talking about the passing and movement of ball concept. mchale is continuing to impress me while everyone here has wanted so bad for him to fail for some reason.

So yeah based on what I saw last night we are going to be really nasty.

Its clear dmo is ahead of jones still and mchale acknowledged that last night by starting dmo. That said I think it will be PF by committee with howard and asik playing together as well. You cant deny that especially when we all know deep inside unfortunately dmo and jones just arent there yet. Dont be surprised to see even camby in lieu of jones and dmo.

We dont have to have asik and howard in at same time all the time.. same way we dont have to have harden and howard in at same time all the time either. One of the things I like about our teams is all the parts and weapons. We can interchange parts as needed. Not many teams are built like that and morey has done an impressive job in giving mchale options.

People are very hung up on beverly vs. lin where again I think we can even play lin and bev together in spots. I would like to see some small ball 3 guard harden lin bev with parsons and howard. Im talking spot situations but would like to see that too.

Also beverly is an awesome 6th man candidate off bench pace changer. You have guys that are spark plugs pace changers off the bench and it doesnt have to be offense. If beverly plays double minutes and is the shut down defender some nights vs. lin with less minutes .. big whoop.

Lin starts and lin plays with the offense better than beverly. That much was clear last night. Again we play to strengths and weaknesses. Mchale ran beverly with 1st team last night too and thats fine. Lin is a passer and with this team it could be nasty! And beverly is a shut down badass. Nothing wrong with using and interchanging that all game long. That's called 'weapons' people.

Also whats up with williams? is he hurt or not even making the team?

 

In order to keep everyone fresh for a deep playoff run, we need to limit Dwight and Harden's minutes they both so be around 30-35. Lin around 30, Bev 25+, Omer 20-25, Parsons around 30. I see DMo and Greg Smith getting a lot of PF n some C minutes. Hope this team can cruise in to the playoffs with strong bench play.

-Jin

 

9 man rotation

Howard/Asik
Motie/Jones
Parsons/Casspi
Harden/Lin
Lin Beverly

Obviously Parsons and Casspi both get minutes at the 4 while Harden gets some time at the three. I do think that lineup has championship potential. Especially if you commit to leaving them together for at least the whole year. You still have depth at the 10-12 spots as well.

Really liked what I saw last night from the starters. Something tells me Motiejunas and Jones can both be solid starting PFs in this league. While one will McHale commit to?

 

Not happening. Rest for playoffs= worse seed in regular season.

You're joking iof you think Harden will be in the 30mpg range, 35 is closer so I agree there. I think Harden and Dwight will be in the 35-38 range. They are still young and are our best players. You win with the best players on the court for a majority of the game, 30mpg isn't enough.

 

ok i am rewatching the game again and noticed this lin initiates the offense goes to parson/dmo who kicks it to parson/dmo ------ > Harden
Saw alot of that . yea it's spurs like passing.

 

What made you think this?

 

I believe in our first five.