Over 52 There will be some hiccups early with Westbrook joining Harden; but they grew up playing ball together as youths, while with OKC and national teams with some success.....so it’s up to the role players to do their jobs of basically the same. Play off the ball and knock down some shots from the perimeter (create space). Trick will be role players finding Westbrook free-lancing (Harden use to it), because I doubt he will be just a spot up shooter when Harden has the ball. Much like Iggy (GSW) during PO’s against us this past season, Westbrook can creep along the baseline or from the perimeter and do some damage. Westbrook may have lost a step, but teams still need to set up their defenses quickly or Westbrook will kill them in the fast break. Teams often defend Westbrook like Antetokounmpo and Ben Simmons, by forming a wall near the free throw line. Hard for teams to run the “Wall Concept” if Harden just broke down the defense and hits Westbrook diving in from the perimeter towards the rim with force. With OKC, the Paul George to Westbrook charging in was defended by stacking/clogging the paint.......not worried about the perimeter shooters. Different story in Houston. Gary Clark, House, Rivers, Tucker, Bennett, McLemore, GG, Gordon, Clemons should have a field day. Rockets defense sets up as the offense keeps the scoreboard moving and the opposing team constantly has to inbound. 57 wins
yeah I have us at 58-60. first of all, russ plays 15 more games per season. people talk about him being a worse fit because he has less shooting ability than Paul. but the best ability is availability. just by having him out there 15 more times we win more games. then we get a full season of rivers and house. we get a full season of a defensive coach. we have no drama to start the season with Melo, no drama to end the season with Paul. russ and harden have been bffs since age 10. no drama this year. we won 53 games last year through all of the injuries, chemistry issues, and coaching vacancies. I have to believe we are 5 or more games better this year.
Easily over. Durable stars + 48 minutes of elite PG play gets you a ton of regular season wins. Westbrook pushes the pace when he leads the team, while Harden is slower and more methodical when he’s running the show. Will be fun to see how they play together. The fit isn’t obvious, but think about how differently Harden and Russ attack defenses. It’ll be very tough for defenses to keep up with Russ’s energy, while also staying disciplined against Harden’s tricks. Harden and Russ was the best two man combo for OKC in their last playoff run together: https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/OKC/2012/lineups/#lineups_2-man__p::3
I’d bet you 1000$ the clippers don’t win 67 games. That’s hard to do period. But the clippers will give Kawhi 15 games off this year as they should and PG13 I’d imagine will do the same thing also, prob not 15 but I could see 8-10 games. Rockets or Denver will have the 1 seed this year. Not only are they both good but they will actually play and try to get it. 1 seed isn’t going to be important to the lakers at all and the clippers will be load management all year. Not saying the rockets or Denver are better than those teams but they both should win more games imo.
52 seems low to me …. good bet on the over , assuming health. Harden , Tucker and 3 dudes from the YMCA is good enough to win 45. I'd be disappointed if they didn't win 58+
I would say under, not because I don’t like our line up but because the west is too even this year. Really no one favorite to take the west. Personally I feel that it’s gonna be pretty even in the west. Hopefully I am wrong and harden takes mvp, wb0 take scoring title and we win the chip this year
Worriers will be 49-50. Looney develops long range shots. Either NO or Dallas would come close to the 8th.
Terrible Free Agent Signings Carmelo Anthony, James Ennis, Michael Carter Williams Terrible trade of Marquesse Chriss, Brandon Knight for DeAnthony Melton, Ryan Anderson 5 roster spots of bad players. The games Chris Paul, Eric Gordon, Clint Capela missed. No Jeff Bzdelik, were 10-13 to start the season. Won 53 games Harden carried the team for 35 games with Kenneth Faried, Austin Rivers No Danuel House, contract dispute. Chris Paul injury and blame others turmoil. So much inconsistency by bad defensive coaching by Roy Rogers. Late game meltdowns. Fitting that Curry, Thompson shot lights out. Rockets meltdown to end their drama season.
I really believe it is a 65 win team. Especially Russell Westbrook Full season of Danuel House, Austin Rivers Anthony Bennett could be a huge surprise, Chris Clemons too The roster pieces fit well together with Harden, health for all players toward the end season is needed
