This kind of thread is a litmus test for seeing who's a snarky pessimist, a blind optimist, or a chicken-**** fence-sitter.
Truth. And much like last season I expect this team to be an evolving process, particularly regarding defensive chemistry and the integration of Westbrook.
It's not complicated. Analytic and scientific people recognize that the Rockets will do well (barring injury). People who go off gut instinct, fuzzy "logic" or emotion think the Rockets will suffer from poor "fit" (their catch-all for things they can't explain). It's the same debate every year, and every year the former are right while the latter are wrong. Why does anyone either get worked up about it or expect anything different?
I mean even though we were top 5, rebounding was awwwwwful tho whole season and reboumding did us in against the Warriors.
If you put a gun to my head and asked if I would take the over or under on Vegas’ 54 wins.... I would take the under. Last year everyone on these boards were upset when the Rockets were at 57.5 wins. It is a cliche, but the West IS better. Utah added a major piece, the Lakers added a star, the Clippers added two stars. The Mavericks and Suns and Kings I think are better as well. Even the Pelicans are capable of winning.
If the Rockets win 60 games, they will win the NBA title. For a team to win 60 games in this deep and top heavy a conference is a major accomplishment. It would be like winning 65+ in the East.
The defense was good when Paul played. It wasn’t great though, it lacked the length that Ariza and Moute provided. I will say this. IF the Rockets front office convinces Tilman to add salary AND the Rockets manage to add a player similar to Ariza or a healthy Moute; then I think the defense can be better than last year.... but I am very skeptical of that happening.
I completely agree. I would even gladly give up Gordon for him. After the unnecessary Anderson trade, I am afraid we may not have the assets. Losing Gordon would hurt, while I am not as high on him as others, he is still very good. If Gordon was dealt, Rivers and a couple others would need to step up. Covington is an excellent fit, especially defensively as he can play 3-5 for the Rockets.
I'm really nervous about this season. I think the rockets are gonna suck this year and MDA will be fired in January. I think they make the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed and lose in the second round. I hope I'm wrong but this team has major issues that were not addressed in the off-season and were on full display in the preseason. Like I said, I hope I'm wrong.
they've never replaced that player type. we've mentioned this on numerous occasions since both buys left. It doesn't look like they're capable bc all we've seen the rockets offer are min contracts for LTS. you're not getting that type of player with that. I'm sure they're hoping iggy's situation works out in their favor but we'll see about that
They had a bad start last year and got rid of Melo, MCW and Co, and they turned the whole thing around when they got Austin, Faried.......and Harden went into God mode. Just when they could have avoided GSW in the 2nd round they lost to the OKC in the last RS game.
