Rockets: will be a top 4 team in the West this season, tbh...

[ElNono]

First, there's addition by subtraction by getting rid of that clown Dwight. That's pretty big.

D'Antoni gets a lot of flak, but looking at the NBA landscape, he's not that terrible of a coach, despite his oddities, tbh...

He has a roster pretty well suited to run his high pace, 3 pointer game... Brewer is especially good leaking out and getting easy points, and the Gordon and Anderson additions give him good outside shooting.

Nene is probably the weak point, but they can play small a lot and the rules nowadays favor that. They're not super deep, but unless the injury bug hits, D'Antoni likes to play top heavy a lot of minutes.

I know it's difficult to compete with a team like the Warriors, but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up being the #1 offensive team statistically this season.

[SAGirl]

^^ That is what they were going on ... all offense.
I thought that is the way Pop was going in the bench as well... with Bertans (and J.Simms whose best skill is transition scoring, I know they don't want him to be Corey Brewer and he has shown flashes of possibly being more, but it is what it is currently)... Pop went the other way which has me scratching my head...
but anyways, they have some guys prone to injury in Gordon and Anderson himself. It's counterproductive to overplay those two, but they went into this season wanting to score a lot of points.

That style doesn't survive the playoffs though.

[ElNono]

^^ That is what they were going on ... all offense.
I thought that is the way Pop was going in the bench as well... with Bertans (and J.Simms whose best skill is transition scoring, I know they don't want him to be Corey Brewer and he has shown flashes of possibly being more, but it is what it is currently)... Pop went the other way which has me scratching my head...
but anyways, they have some guys prone to injury in Gordon and Anderson himself. It's counterproductive to overplay those two, but they went into this season wanting to score a lot of points.

That style doesn't survive the playoffs though.

He was once a Horry hipcheck away from the NBA Finals, tbh...

[Sean Cagney]

He was once a Horry hipcheck away from the NBA Finals, tbh...

Debatable and his talent on the Suns team was insane, they never played a lick of D though and I think Spurs still edge them that year because before blowing that lead in game 4 at home late they were in control of the whole series and should have went up 3-1 before that awful 4th Q. Spurs whip them 4-1 the next year round one to shut their fans up pretty much with that robbed crap.


D anphoni's teams were good but their lack of D never made me take them really serious because they could never get a stop when they needed to it seemed. His style of play does not translate to the playoffs, just high flying fun to watch. He is an okay coach I guess, at best.

[SAGirl]

But I guess the point does stand that they can be a RS marvel if healthy...

[apalisoc_9]

Hard to imagine a team 20th and below in defense to finish 4th..specially since half of the eastern confrence is built around beating a team like Houston..

Offensively, they're probably going to be 5th best at worst...most likely second best. Should be enough to get them a top 6 finish....but 4th..hard to tell.

[tbdog]

I got Rockets wrong twice. 2 years ago when they were 2nd seed and got to the WCF, I pegged them to miss out of the playoffs. They had no depth, and once the injuries rolled in, they were gonners. The funny thing is, they had a few injuries and had a great year. The next year I felt that fixed their depth and yet they were terrible.

So this year their depth is bad again. They don't have a legit backup PF, SF, and their PG rotation is ordinary, even if Harden does play pg, then after Gordon they have no depth.

[LkrFan]

[djohn2oo8]

Can't believe Capela is starting at Center...

[DMC]

Maybe, but the Rockets aren't the Suns. Not even close. If you think the problem in Houston was Howard, you're missing something. Some guys won't be coached into changing how they play the game. Get enough of those guys on the same team and you're locked in to early exits every year because guys are looking for the summer vacation already. Harden is a loser. He always gives up when the pressure is on.

Anyhow what does 4th get them? They have made the playoffs pretty regularly it seems, so if that's all Houston wants they didn't need to do anything in the off season.

[djohn2oo8]

Maybe, but the Rockets aren't the Suns. Not even close. If you think the problem in Houston was Howard, you're missing something. Some guys won't be coached into changing how they play the game. Get enough of those guys on the same team and you're locked in to early exits every year because guys are looking for the summer vacation already. Harden is a loser. He always gives up when the pressure is on.

Anyhow what does 4th get them? They have made the playoffs pretty regularly it seems, so if that's all Houston wants they didn't need to do anything in the off season.

You don't go on national tv and rip your current employer. Goddamn right Dwight was a problem. He has been one everywhere he has been. Dwight had 2 good years in Houston, but yes he was absolutely a cancer last year. Ask Al Horford why he left Atlanta...

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/20...ed-role-video/

[djohn2oo8]

Lakerfans were right. If you know anything about basketball, players who don't want to play pick and roll are a negative to the team.

[DMC]

We'll just because you have chemistry issues doesn't mean when you get rid of that you're going to have a better postseason. You still have James Harden as your best ing player. You have Mike D as a coach. He's playing your starters playoff level minutes in the ing preseason. Let's see how this looks After Harden tears his ACL or some other bull happens like that.

[djohn2oo8]

We'll just because you have chemistry issues doesn't mean when you get rid of that you're going to have a better postseason You still have James Harden as your best ing player. You have Mike D as a coach. He's playing your starters playoff level minutes in the ing preseason. Let's see how this looks After Harden tears his ACL or some other bull happens like that.

Regardless of chemistry issues, there is just no way you can justify paying Dwight that much money when his body has started to break down and his athleticism declining. And I'm no fan of D'antoni either.

[Spurs9]

Good bump material in a few months

[Raven]

will probably be 13th team in the west.

[Raven]

Can't believe Capela is starting at Center...

don't worry, he won't average more than 20 minutes per game. Frankly, I will be shocked if he consistently manages not to foul out with those minutes.

[Darth_Pelican]

Just don't expect Eric Gordon or Ryan Anderson to win games for you down the stretch. They are both mentally weak and disappear when clutch time comes.

[ambchang]

Don't expect harden to go supernova again. He already got paid.

[LittleCriminal]

With Pringles as the head coach, i bet the team loses gas and burnes out sometime after that All Star Break..

[lefty]

today's NBA

[apalisoc_9]

Just don't expect Eric Gordon or Ryan Anderson to win games for you down the stretch. They are both mentally weak and disappear when clutch time comes.

Anderson never dissapears against the spurs.

[Chris]

tbh

[ElNono]

Maybe, but the Rockets aren't the Suns. Not even close. If you think the problem in Houston was Howard, you're missing something. Some guys won't be coached into changing how they play the game. Get enough of those guys on the same team and you're locked in to early exits every year because guys are looking for the summer vacation already. Harden is a loser. He always gives up when the pressure is on.

Anyhow what does 4th get them? They have made the playoffs pretty regularly it seems, so if that's all Houston wants they didn't need to do anything in the off season.

There's players that play to have fun and don't care about winning (Nash, Harden), then there's Dwight Howard, who simply doesn't care about anything at all. At least the former will give the fans some enjoyable moments, possibly an enjoyable season, but the latter has near zero redeemable value.

I think for the flak Pringles received as a Lakers coach, and even a Suns coach, his teams did generally 'well' (IIRC, last coach to get the Lakers in the playoffs). I do think this team is pretty well suited to run what Pringles likes to run, and despite the well known disinterest with defense, he's a guy that knows how to create explosive offense when he has the right tools at his disposal.

Being top 4 doesn't get them anything, tbh, I'm just throwing this prediction out there now before the season starts. If healthy, I can see this team being one of those 'fun to watch' Pringles teams that overachieve. Could be an epic fail at the end of the day, I'm sure somebody will remind me if it is...

[Thread]

There's players that play to have fun and don't care about winning (Nash, Harden), then there's Dwight Howard, who simply doesn't care about anything at all. At least the former will give the fans some enjoyable moments, possibly an enjoyable season, but the latter has near zero redeemable value.

I think for the flak Pringles received as a Lakers coach, and even a Suns coach, his teams did generally 'well' (IIRC, last coach to get the Lakers in the playoffs). I do think this team is pretty well suited to run what Pringles likes to run, and despite the well known disinterest with defense, he's a guy that knows how to create explosive offense when he has the right tools at his disposal.

Being top 4 doesn't get them anything, tbh, I'm just throwing this prediction out there now before the season starts. If healthy, I can see this team being one of those 'fun to watch' Pringles teams that overachieve. Could be an epic fail at the end of the day, I'm sure somebody will remind me if it is...

Hey, El, are you still watching your children masturbate?