I guess they'll have about 52 wins if they maintain the course of the 1st half of the season. But yes, just playing a little better than they have recently will do the trick. And probably a 1st, maybe 2nd, round exit. If Harden hits a more substantial sulk of some kind though, the wheels could really come off. This team without him on god mode is just pretty wretched.
E none of the above We aren’t fine if we want to win a title. Our coach isn’t holding this roster back from a title. A small trade isn’t going to put us in title contention. Need something more substantial but lack the ability to do so. We are probably a couple more years away from the blow it up option being a realistic option. This roster fits somewhere in the 2nd tier of teams this season. It has fluctuated from high end 2nd tier to low end 2nd tier.
Morey needs to take a lot of the blame. He has never emphasized defense regardless of how the previous season went.
If our goal is to be in the Jazz, Pacers, Mavericks tier of teams a simple trade will do. If we have real championship aspirations we have to blow it up and rebuild. Harden is the only player I would not take calls on.
I would look at it a couple of different ways. 1) MDA is ok. But there needs to be roster additions. Players that would augment his system. Tilman not authorizing LT spending kills this. 2) A coaching change at the end of the season. I would be fine with this too. And of course roster adjustments. I am not in the "blow it up" boat.
20 votes for blowing it up....20 fools How exactly do u think a rebuild will go under Tilman? U think he’s gonna sit through multiple trash seasons? Hell no, he won’t. U don’t trade Harden, period. I guess y’all loved winning 1 playoff series in 17 years huh.
I don't see how the bar could be set much lower for MDA. He basically doesn't even have to show up to games. Harden does everything already. Blaming everything on acquisition decisions absolves the coaching staff of any responsibility for individual improvement of players, which I think is insane. Brent Strom has been improving pitchers of all calibers over on the Astros side of town for years. Strom's individual contribution to the total value of pitchers he's coached just in recent years has got to be well over $100 million. Meanwhile, players on the Rockets come here and degrade or at least depreciate.
I voted trade deadline but we all know that’s highly unlikely to pan out so ultimately it feels like a coaching change will happen which will lead to a purging of Morey and massive changes next year. Face it this team is NOT good enough to seriously challenge for a championship, no way we are beating any one of 6/8 teams that are more complete above us in the W and E in a 7 game series. It just isn’t happening without Harden going intergalactically insane and teams have figured out that you double him and the rest of the team is weak sauce ... I’m seriously thinking we may not even get into the playoffs as a 7/8 seed at this point.
Yeah, trade the generational talent. Blow it up, so we can (hopefully/be lucky) find a generational talent. Yeah, nope.
I believe...the backcourt’s unique make-up is gonna kill at p/o time. With support from where support should come I feel positive.
Spoiler So as the roster gets worse each year & James (and/or Russell) gets older, #runitback! Rockets can be the OKC Thunder post-KD. Fake contenders, 47-50 wins, go home in the first round but who cares, Russ got his #tripdub and James got 2nd/3rd in the MVP race! Successful season! You have no assets. You have no draft picks. "We don't need a ton of help. Just some depth or help around the edges." ... Yeah, because the owner has shown he cares about paying for depth. They have 8 players (+2 two-way players) making the minimum. Great, trade Capela and/or Tucker for SF help or whatever. Plug one hole while creating another! Rearrange those deck chairs! Great, trade Capela for Covington. Are you really better? Like are you picking them to go to the WCF/Finals now? Great, throw away another first round pick for some marginal-at-best upgrade. Marcus/Markieff Morris is really moving the needle! IF they flame out in the playoffs again, sorry, they absolutely have to look at blowing it up, see if there's an AD/PG trade package out there. Maybe they were headed this way anyway, I don't know, (Leslie got out & wouldn't have paid the tax either) but Tilman has wrecked this thing 2 years in. Turned the Rockets into the Texans, a joke. I'm fine with Westbrook, no gripes but they got trade raped. 4 picks - 2 firsts, 2 swaps - and their ceiling is still the same. 2nd round at best.
It's a roster issue. There needs to be an option between 3 and 4. We need more than a little help at the trade deadline. We need to blow up our front court rotation.
I voted for blowing it up only because the poll doesn’t contain the “make a significant trade” option. I’m in favor of trading Capela for an elite 3&D small forward/power forward and a competent rim-running, rim-protecting center. Trading Harden and Westbrook is not something I would remotely consider. Harden because he’s a true superstar, and Westbrook because of his friendship with Harden. However, the Rockets need more than a coaching change or minor deals at the trade deadline.
So many freaking chicken littles. What we're witnessing are the ups and downs of an NBA season. Basically any season starts with a certain expectation level, and then essentially gets judged by how many games you're "supposed to NOT win" that you actually win (I'd say we're above average in this category) and also how many games that you're "supposed to NOT lose" that you actually lose (also above average in this category). Add it all up, we're maybe....maybe....a little bit below where we should be at this point in the season, and that's after a 3-game losing streak. Yet, we're still in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race with a good shot to catch the 2 seed if we get it together and start taking care of business, which I believe we will. I'm as disappointed as anybody else with the recent stretch...but right before that we had back to back impressive wins over Denver and Philly. Relax folks. Or at least be encouraged that even though we can lose to anybody, we can also beat anybody.
Harden will get out of his slump and they'll play better. I expect them to get to the second round. Unless they get another star or play radically different that's the ceiling I think. Is that worth blowing up? Probably not
If you're telling me to get into a boat there better be some beer and fishing poles. I'll leave all of the basketball stuff to the millionaires being paid for it.
