Predict the record 2023-24 style

I'm actually going to be optimistic and take the over. I think between the new vets and Green and Jabari emerging more we should be a pretty decent team.

 

I'd guess somewhere in the 31-35 range barring injuries. Especially if we keep up the dog on the defensive end. FVV passes both the eye and stat test for me as the right person to run the ship whilst our draftees start to break out.

 

I'll be generous and say 28 wins. The West is really freaking good. Almost every team is trying to win this year. So even if we got 50% better (hypothetically) it doesn't mean we'll improve our record by 50%.

I expect us to be in the running for keeping our top 4 protected pick this year.

 

I love how this team is constructed. Would prefer to start Tari over Brooks. Still think Brooks will add some value though. Im too scarred from the last few years to predict a bunch of wins though. I’m going to guess 28 and 54.

 

With how everyone's looking right now I'd rather start Tari over Sengun and slide Bari to the 5 tbh. We need Brooks' intensity on D.

 

I thought we already had one of these threads, but these are fun so whatever.

We are so obviously going to be over, with the caveat of Fvv playing more than 65 games. With decent overall health we will push 40 wins. I don’t know who came up with the idea that the entire west got so much better because that just isn’t the case.

-Denver lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and unequivocally got worse, if only slightly. Plus championship slump the year after.

-Memphis lost Brooks and Jones to gain Smart. This is a lateral move at best but more likely a downgrade, Jones was a huge part to why Memphis has performed well without Morant in the past, best backup pg in the league. When you also account for Morant suspension, Memphis unequivocally got worse.

-Sacromento added no one of significance while having historically good health last season. That is unlikely to repeat which is why they are a popular pick to underperform this year. Unless perfect health Lightning can strike twice, Sacromento unequivocally got worse given normal injury probability.

-LA Clippers added no one of significance, the only way they improve is if Kawhi and Paul George are healthy enough to play more games than last year. Why is it that we expect better health from historically injured prone players that are now a year older? Clippers have not gotten better and are equivalent to last year.

-LA Lakers added no one of significance unless you think Christian Wood is going to make a dent or if anyone is going to care about replacing Schroeder with Vincent. Reeves will take on a bigger role which will be a boost, this countered by Lebron being another year older and further decline. Lakers are in no way shape or form better, they are at best equivalent to last year with the chance of imploding if either Lebron or AD gets hurt.

-Dallas gets a full year, or however many games he decides to play, of Kyrie so that should make them better. Except…are we forgetting that they were below 0.500 with both Luka and Kyrie in the lineup last year? Now trying to incorporate two rookies who are no where near ready into the rotation, Dallas is a dumpster fire. At best equivalent with last year with major implosion vibes.

-Utah is significantly worse than last season. They were only competitive with Conley in the lineup, once he was traded that team fell apart. Their current guard rotation is so much a mirror image of the Houston rockets the last 3 years that it gives me ptsd.

-Portland got way worse, duh.

Phoenix got better. GSW got better swapping Poole with Cp3. Minnesota got better assuming better health for KAT. New Orleans got better assuming better health for Zion. Okc and San Antonio got better by adding Wemby and Chet.

Over half of the west either got worse or at best stood pat. Many of the teams that got better is predicated on their star players having better health, which may happen, but every year stars get hurt.

People get stuck with the idea of “who are we unequivocally better than?” And since you can’t come up with 7 teams then we must only be winning 20 something games. In reality, I’m looking at the entire west and there isn’t a single team I see where I think we have zero chance against on any given night. That means we could be technically worse than 9 or 10 of them, but still remain competitive in all our games and push 40 wins. These are not mutually exclusive.

 

31 wins easy. Not sure if we can break 35 given how tough the West is but I think the bottom teams are gonna be close record wise. Portland is the only team I'm sure will be bad the rest are gonna be in a slug fest all season long including Rockets.

 

We were so trash before that we could come under 31.5 and still be much improved. League is strong and our guys are still inconsistent.

 

Gonna take the over.

Defense will get them above 31.5.

The only thing that concerns me is the shooting.

 

Pro Basketball is very unpredictable to me.......

Denver is the only team whose record I am confident predicting......they are consistent.

I will go Over this time in light of being a fan but I am not really confident. Probably 1$.

 

I think that's a fair concern. One would hope that FVV, Jalen and Jabari can hold up that end for the most part with spot assistance from the rest.

 

Easily this team goes over. But I don't believe everyone saying they'd be happy if the Rockets just barely meet that and win around 32 - 34 games. That's a lot of losing basketball to sit through again and someone will have to pay (ahem...Rafael Stone). Also, it would probably mean that Sengun, Green, and Smith didn't grow as much as we hoped they would. With the vets added 31.5 games should be viewed as the floor. The growth of the young core determines the ceiling.

 

I'll take the under, I just don't think the rockets have enough good players. We'd have to see some really major improvements in a lot of areas for the over to hit, I think. We just have so many young guys that are unproven. I looked back over the last 3 years at teams that won 32-35ish games and their rosters are better than this one, and they typically have a player that's better than anyone on the rockets. Halliburton, for example, on the pacers last year, is better than anyone on our team right now, and they won 35 games. They also had Hield, Myles Turner, and TJ Mcconnell. That's the kind of roster to get 35 wins so I'm just not seeing that from the rockets this year.

 

I put money on the over, but I'm having some buyers remorse at the moment. I'm very concerned about the interior defense and the center position as a whole. Sengun looks terrible, which I'm not really worried about because I think he will be fine, but if he were to go down we would be in some serious trouble. Hoping for the best. If they can avoid injuries, I think they will go slightly over 30 wins. I'd say 30-34 wins is probable as things stand right now, but injuries could be devastating.

 

If folks voted in the earlier other poll thread, did they waiver on their predictions after the recent Spurs games? No judgement.. just wondering.

Personally speaking, I can bet on this team improving. But I went in with the premise that most people improve gradually. There's much to learn and new habits to form.