2018-19 Houston Rockets Thread of running it back (mainly)

[SEC 1174]

Tonight's the first game of the pre-season, currently up on the Grizzlies. I assume not many people are watching? Waiting for Melo to check in off the bench tonight.

I am so completely hyped for this season after the way last season ended. I feel like if there is any player in the league who can somehow unlock Melo, it's gotta be Chris Paul.

[SEC 1174]

CP3 looks really good back early on.

[TonyTexas 10683]

Let’s make this the official pre-season thread so we only have to look at the shitty thread title for a couple of weeks.

 

[SEC 1174]

9 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Let’s make this the official pre-season thread so we only have to look at the shitty thread title for a couple of weeks.

 

sure whatever, just wanted to talk rockets unlike some bitches here

[SEC 1174]

Man, Chris Paul looks exactly like he looked before he went down in the playoffs. He's off to a great start.

[YChang 3531]

Please basketball gods, keep this team healthy.

[Chapo 104]

Uh um..... this MCW is for real?  He played today like my dream version of Corey Brewer

[Dutchrudder 11228]

 

 

[Dutchrudder 11228]

It's hard to think we need to swap Gordon for Butler, but man would that be something. 

The starters looked pretty good, Melo wasn't bad, even played some D here and there. 

Gerald Green is going to be an excellent role player all season, god I hope we win a ring with this guy on the roster.

MCW looked pretty good in this game, playing both ways and staying active with rotations. 

Ennis looks like a great pickup to replace Ariza's defense. 

Chriss could be a poor man's Capela, which would be awesome, since depth behind CC was an issue last year. Great for regular season, and at a very cheap rate of 4m per year. 

[Slacks 7027]

Meh... I posted in the old thread.

Whatever... Point God wants to win. For real.

[Dutchrudder 11228]

The through the legs pass to Melo for the 3 was pretty awesome.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

PJ Tucker. So awesome

 

[ChickenSandwich 9918]

Do not want to trade. Butler won’t make it

to the playoffs healthy. He’s not worth Gordon and Tucker. 

[BigOrange1 6607]

PJ is such a badass.  

melo is 7 of 12 from 3 two "games" in.

[Slacks 7027]

James Ennis might be an upgrade over Ariza.

When he, PJ, and CP3 are on the floor together, defense will be tight.

[Mack Tripper 703]

It’s more likely than not Ariza is about to fall off the cliff. He’s got a lot of tread on the tires, which showed in the playoffs.

[SEC 1174]

On 10/4/2018 at 5:54 PM, Iconoclast Texan said:

PJ Tucker. So awesome

 

what a badass

[maninblack 7975]

I'm here. Still bitter about the screw job last year.

[satyanash 15358]

PJ Tucker celebrating the Longhorns' win in Houston

 

[IDIOTsavant 8673]

On 10/5/2018 at 9:42 PM, Mack Tripper said:

It’s more likely than not Ariza is about to fall off the cliff. He’s got a lot of tread on the tires, which showed in the playoffs.

FYI, he either has a lot of tread on the tires meaning several productive years left in his career, or he has a lot of wear on the tires which means he's "about to fall off a cliff." He cannot be both. I happen to think the miles/wear have added up which I think is the point you were trying to make.

[Dutchrudder 11228]

 

[Mack Tripper 703]

11 hours ago, IDIOTsavant said:

FYI, he either has a lot of tread on the tires meaning several productive years left in his career, or he has a lot of wear on the tires which means he's "about to fall off a cliff." He cannot be both. I happen to think the miles/wear have added up which I think is the point you were trying to make.

My bad. I meant he has a lot of wear on the tires - not tread. He was a one and done at UCLA and played in 80 games his first season as a 19 year old. He'll hit 1,000 regular season games played this year and he's played in over 100 playoff games. 

[IDIOTsavant 8673]

32 minutes ago, Mack Tripper said:

My bad. I meant he has a lot of wear on the tires - not tread. He was a one and done at UCLA and played in 80 games his first season as a 19 year old. He'll hit 1,000 regular season games played this year and he's played in over 100 playoff games. 

I assumed...and agree. 

[UTDD 362]

In the end, Ennis might be quite fine as a replacement for Ariza.  Moute wasn't counted on in the playoffs (although he could have helped) so in theory if healthy they could still have a nice wing defensive rotation to switch on Golden State.  I think Boston and Toronto also have potentially very strong defensive rotations to switch hard on Curry (the only way IMHO to beat Golden State in that 10-15% chance range versus 1-5% is to beat up Curry physically as much as possible and double him on traps/switches strategically, make Curry work on defense, switch everything you can to avoid easy three looks, and don't double Durant to leave Curry/Thompson open (ok to double Durant if it leaves Green open) and hope he doesn't go too crazy on iso and let Draymond shoot outside and hope he is at 25-30% or so versus higher 30s) and their outside shooters, but the Warriors are so talented that you just have to hope you are hitting your shots better than they are 4 times out of 7 and that's tough obviously.  If they have a healthy Cousins too, it's even tougher.  Five All-Stars is five All-Stars.

 

For Houston specifically, switch everything with a strong wing defensive rotation, shoot over 50 threes a game and hope you can hit near 38-40% and no worse than 33-35% and Golden State shoots a lower percentage.  Houston used a very overall good strategy last year, they just didn't execute well enough when it counted.

[Dutchrudder 11228]

 

[HtownHorn 15243]

I like Gray Clark's game. He's a better shooting Luc Mbah a Moute.

[BigOrange1 6607]

let's get the season started!

 

[perfectchaos007 6766]

CP3 looks 100%

[UDontKnow 10557]

What will the opening night roster be?

[HtownHorn 15243]

PG -> Paul, Knight, Carter-Williams

SG -> Harden, Gordon, Green

SF -> Ennis

PF -> Tucker, Melo, Chriss

C -> Capela, Nene, Hartenstein, Qi

Rotation will be 

Paul, Harden, Ennis, Tucker, Capela

Gordon, Green, Melo, Nene

Knight will join that rotation when he gets healthy. Chriss will get Nene's minutes in back to back's or when he needs rest.

[Dutchrudder 11228]

From what I saw in the preseason, MCW should be ahead of Knight until proven otherwise. 

[huge 3825]

Interested to see what Ennis and PJ can do playing heavy minutes.  Defense should be solid.

Better be in shape.

[Mack Tripper 703]

I'm quite optimistic that, given what we added (and likely deals to be made after December 15), there won't be a drop off from losing Ariza and Mbah a Moute.

[Dutchrudder 11228]

Morey is also great at tweaking the roster in February to bring in a vet or two to fill a hole. I'm not too concerned right now, as I think this team will be flirting with 60 wins in the regular season, but it's gonna be tough to beat a full strength Warriors team. Doubt it happens, but we'll see. Gonna be fun to watch these guys though, rooting for some big wins now that we have our big 3 locked up for the next 3 years. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Dutchrudder

[Tylerocks 2580]

Here come the ads

[Machinator 32102]

 

[CurlyDumps 4618]

Guess I need some beat reporter context cause I really don’t know what Scott Kushner us getting at.

I’m most curious about Ennis and Melo.  

Edited October 17, 2018 by CurlyDumps

[BigOrange1 6607]

ready for the season!

doubt they match last season's record, but i think they should win around 60 games.  will either be #1 or 2 in the western conference and just hope for health in the WCF.

[Rockethorn1978 6203]

Ready to watch some basketball and astro baseball tonight. It's like a double header of hopefully cheering and happiness.

[UTDD 362]

I've liked Ennis so far, I think he will be ok for the team and hopefully there is not a drop off defensively.  If healthy, this is still a great team.

[BigOrange1 6607]

let's get this party started!

[UDontKnow 10557]

Someone tell Capela that he doesn't need to do his hair like Dennis Schroeder.

[BigOrange1 6607]

melo!

[BigOrange1 6607]

shoot the 3 melo

[BigOrange1 6607]

mcw can't shoot, but i like everything else he's done thus far.

[Rockethorn1978 6203]

Defense looks horrible.

[UDontKnow 10557]

3 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Defense looks nonexistent.

fify.

[perfectchaos007 6766]

We’re going to have to trade for a defensive guy or two. Should have never let Ariza and Mbah Moute go

Edited October 18, 2018 by perfectchaos007

[hookem48 4808]

black unis on opening night? deserve an ass kicking, dumb fucks

[BigOrange1 6607]

uh, those black unis have pretty much become their default jersey of choice.