If Harden stays, the Rockets team is a championship contender

Its the 4th game of the season against the kings. Lol @ this means rockets can now beat the lakers in a 7 game series. Its just ridiculous

 

As good a chance as anyone else. No one is saying it will be easy.

 

I'm hoping Lebron falls off hard this year. It's gotta happen eventually

 

Again, poor defensive scout.

Mentioned John Wall as being a poor defender. Anyone that has watched John Wall over the years knows this is false.

Also, Gordon/Tucker/Nwaba/Tate/Sterling/Harden, along with a quickly learning Christian Wood, this can absolutely be a top 10 defense.

It might take a little while to implement Silas’s desired variance, but by the time the playoffs roll around I expect us to have an excellent defensive toolbox.

 

If a Harden trade pops off and its meh I'm gonna be more disappointed now than I was in the off season

 

No it doesnt mean that at all. We dont know what this team is right now. It takes a lot more than 4 games to figure that out. We literally have not beaten anyone but the Sacramento kings. Maybe we are just a bad matchup for them.

 

We were a top 4 team last year.
We're better than the Nuggets at fill strength.
We replaced Westbrook with Wall and Covington & Green with Wood & Tate & Nwaba.

I'd say this team is better than last years.

I hope Tucker gets some rest through the season.
35+mins a game might be too much for his 35+ year old legs

 

I also think Sterling Brown is better than Austin Rivers.

 

Agreed.

DD

 

Agreed
Though I do want another PG on this roster.

 

Let me rephrase this post into my own feelings

“if they play defense like they did in that 4th quarter..... they look like a serious threat to both LA teams and could easily be in that 2-3 spot

 

Some of y'all love making bold predictions. I take it game by game. It's a damn small sample size. There are glimpses of good D, but ****, the D we been playing for most games has been absolutely abysmal.

Assuming James sticks around, the defense has to be top 10 to be even consider us legitimate contenders. Right now, it's lower tier besides a quarter in two games where we saw some potential. The offense still needs work as well, because some guys are trying to do way too much. I don't mind kick and drive, but if you are ****ing open, please take the damn shot.

 

Just falling off softly would do!

 

Calm down my friend, calm down. Two wins against Sacramento are not a measure of anything. This team desperately needs a PG to rest Wall and a true 3 and D forward. With House as a starter this team is not going anywhere.

 

If someone said after last year that this year Westbrook started playing defense AND we added a young 20/10 stretch big AND a few young pesky defensive minded bench guys - pretty much anyone would say we were a title contender- maybe not necessarily a team that beats the LA teams but certainly a top tier team.

The narrative is what it is but I think Houston is better than last year. They added a unicorn big who is producing at an all star level and this clearly isn’t a fluke - he was doing this in his last 19 games with the Pistons. Obviously with a new coach, GM, and 6 new rotational players I am expecting an up and down start to the season - especially defensively but Wood’s sample size of playing at an all star level is no fluke and perhaps the biggest unknown with trading for Wall about losing his athleticism seems to have been answered - because it’s not a fluke to be able to explode past NBA level athletes. Those are huge additions. When you add that we seem to have a little more versatility of the bench this year with Boogie, Brown, Tate, and Nwaba(Tate in particular has a Marcus Smart vibe to his game) AND we have a coach open to developing young players who also happens to have had huge success leading an all time great offense last year in Dallas - I’m finding it hard to find the downside.

...maybe our bench guys are not good shooters after all, maybe Gordon has another down year, maybe Silas is a terrible defensive coach, maybe Boogie is done and never contributes meaningful minutes- if ALL of those things happen we are in about the same place as last year. Houston undoubtedly raised their ceiling with Wood and if at least a couple of those things above actually pan out we are significantly better than last year.

Better than LA? Maybe not but aside from playing for LA or Milwaukee - I don’t think another team would be better after $40/mil of contracts is traded for him.

 

boy do things change pretty quickly

all of y’all should keep that same championship energy y’all had barely even a week ago...don’t lose it now

Kings are currently .500, but people were acting like they’re so good because of some early season play...as if they’re some definite playoff team that’s making noise this season

 

I will see the Lakers match first before comments especially our pf and center matchup with Lakers.

 

I want him to flip House next for more picks, a better player, or both.