This seems dead on & I'm cool w/not making the playoffs. Since Yao went down, it's all about the GM game & 2010. So I am still plenty excited & can't wait to see our talent develope this year.
Regular season: 1. Lakers 2. Portland 3. Spurs 4. Oklahoma City (Yes, the old Sonics) 5. Denver 6. Utah 7. Houston 8. Dallas
I can't make my decision until we know McGrady's status for sure, I'm fairly sure our team was pretty strong even without Yao, and our role players have only gotten better since the last season he missed. I think we could get #6 seed if we beat all the bottom dweller teams (something we've failed at pretty horribly the past season.)
The rockets are still a playoff caliber team even without yao and tracy. Mark my words, scola will average 20 ppg and 10 rpg. AB will average 17ppg and 6asst per also. We have good players that will step up their game. And look for a lot of running this year as there isnt much of a low post game outside of carluis scolandry. GO ROCKETS!!! And Screw Utah, SA and Dallas!!
Things could still obviously change quite a bit, but here's my take on it right now. 1) Lakers 59-23 2) Spurs 57-25 3) Mavs 53-29 4) Nuggets 51-31 5) Blazers 50-32 6) Rockets 44-38 7) Jazz 43-39 8) Suns 42-40 9) Hornets 41-41 10) Thieves 36-46 11) Warriors 27-55 12) Clippers 24-58 13) Grizz 19-63 14) Wolves 18-64 15) Kings 14-68
1-spur- if manu is healthy 2-laker-if ron fit and odom leave 3-rocket- yes im a homer 4-blazer 5-nugget 6-mavs 7-suns 8-hornet-if they trade tyson.
please bump this thread so you can see all the people that were talking about the rockets in playoffs. all the way to the middle of the season when everyone will be speculating what lottery pick we will get.
while we are at it lets bump your thunder prediction and see which is more acurate... I guarnatee the odds are in the rockets favor, because they have a team of players who know their role and play the game with consistency. if the rockets are anywhere within striking distance of the playoffs at the trade deadline they will be a very dangerous team...
If the Hornets get Okafor then: 1) Lakers- assuming they sign Odom 2) Spurs 3) Nuggets -Division winner 4) Blazers 5) Mavs 6) Rockets 7) Jazz 8) Hornets Position 6 to 8 could come down to 1 to 2 games.
Spurs - Healthy Duncan, Manu, and Parker plus supporting cast cause them to grind it out to the top seed Lakers- Kobe factor is still tough with Gasol playing improved in the paint- Artest turns out to be a negative and this more than anything knocks them down to #2 Portland- Interesting team, dangerous, but is this the year Oden stays healthy? they are tied with Dallas Dallas- I hate to put them this high but something tells me they will win games in the regular season and fizzle in the playoffs Denver- Why are they falling? Still lack defensive intensity and Melo just doesn't lead them any higher Utah- Jazz stink except they have a great coach, chemistry and super point guard and they are still physical on defense Hornets, Rockets, Suns- who will be left out? I actually think the Rockets could win anywhere from 40-45 games, 40 games will leave them on the outside looking in with a low lottery pick in the draft. 45 wins will secure the 7 or 8 seed in a very tight west Could the Rockets flare out? yes- if they do not score enough points they could end up under 40 wins, assuming that the roster is almost set they will need very balance scoring and players like Brooks, Scola and Ariza to really step up and be go to scorers. Can those players handle the load? That will decide the season for the Rockets. Face it Battier is not your go to guy with the ball in his hands and neither will be the center (Anderson or whoever) Brooks can be neutralized by a good defensive scheme, Scola is not going to have many 30 pt + nights and Ariza is a wild card- doubtful he is a ball in his hands go to scorer either. If the Rockets gut out wins with great defense and have very balanced scoring they could slip into the playoffs. Don't be deceived by how they played a lazy uninspired Laker team at home. That was sheer raw defense guts and determination that is unlikely to carry over across 82 games. The Lakers came out unprepared and over-confident Kobe could have taken over those games early if he had stepped up his game early on. Reality sets in, we are rebuilding and I prefer a 7-8 seed to finishing 9 or 10th in the west.
