Sir Thursday Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 That Rockets roster looks incredibly thin. When you compare it to say Phoenix, Portland, Denver, Golden State, they clearly have a very shallow roster compared to them. Zero back-up for Dwight Howard. They lost Asik and Greg Smith and are without a backup center. Pat Beverly will be injured quite a lot and they have Canaan ( ?) and the ancient Jason Terry as backup point guards. No one to back up James Harden either. They have a good starting five but outside of that they have to look to small forwards like Kostas and Garcia to do something, that's pretty much it for even remotely notable players. I think you're right - the Rockets definitely are thinner than those other teams. But the cupboard isn't completely bare, it's just a bit unproven: Canaan is pretty promising when he gets a chance to play, but McHale has him on a tight leash at the moment. I would expect him to supplant Terry as the backup PG by the second half of the season. Excellent outside shooter and has some nifty drives, although his distribution could use some work at times. One guy you didn't mention who's worth keeping an eye on is Troy Daniels - he had a bad night against the Lakers but he's a lethal outside shooter and I'm expecting him to be a contributor as the season goes on. He suffers from being more of an SG body type (which makes it difficult to play him alongside Harden), but it's not an insurmountable problem. He and Canaan have great chemistry (they spent last year in the D-League together) so they will probably get put in as a platoon quite a lot. Kostas is a rookie but his play belies that - he comes up with something tricky almost every game and has already supplanted Garcia in the rotation (I'm not sure how much playing time Garcia's going to get at all - he basically got no time in the pre-season. Tarik Black played really well in preseason and forced his way onto the roster as a Centre. He outplayed Joey Dorsey (the nominal backup centre, although one who's coming off an injury) and actually got a lot of time off the bench against the Lakers. I don't entirely trust him though. He's bouncy and seems to have good timing on the blocks, but he often gets caught by pump fakes and his defensive positioning is a bit lacking. Ideally he'd be playing down in the D-League this year and be ready for next season, but the thinness at backup C has got him on the court. This is the one area where I'm genuinely worried about the Rockets' depth though. McHale experimented with playing both Jones and Motiejunas at the same time a bit in pre-season, but it doesn't really work. Motiejunas is foul-prone and still a bit light to cover a proper Centre, although he can probably survive against backups. If Howard gets in foul trouble though, the Rockets are going to be in trouble. ST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 If Tarik Black is going to succeed in the NBA, his discipline on the defensive side of the court will have to improve tremendously. He was a fouling machine at the collegiate level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 and they have Canaan ( ?).You speak of Isaiah Canaan (pronounced like Cannon), the greatest player to come from Murray State since the immortal Popeye Jones! Show some respect!But seriously, Canaan is a solid outside shooter/scorer but does struggle with ball handling. When he's hot though, he can hit from anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slurktan Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 So was Chicago that good or are the Knicks really, really bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 So was Chicago that good or are the Knicks really, really bad? Well the Knicks are pretty horrible, plus they were running the Triangle for the first time, so... Bulls are already good and they should get better the rest of the season as Rose shakes off the rust (provided he remains healthy, of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyenon15 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Calderon will probably run the triangle a little better when he gets in the lineup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlefingers In The Air Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I can't hear myself amongst all these fans. This is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I can't hear myself amongst all these fans. This is awesome. You going to the game? OK, I just started watching this pregame thing. Kevin Hart and Sir Charles sharing a stage hahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 So was Chicago that good or are the Knicks really, really bad?A little bit of both. Melo looked hesitant to shoot which was an odd thing to see. The triangle offense introduced to an already bad team is a perfect recipe for disaster. Bulls are really deep, I didn't even realized they signed Aaron Brooks. I'm very excited for this team this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andriy Czarchenko Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I just had thought about something. If we switch any eastern team with the Lakers ( by far the worst western team). How many would finish last in the west? I have Philadelphia, Orlando, Milwaukee, Indiana and Boston for sure and maybe even Detroit and both New York teams. And yes, at least one of those teams is going to make the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Thursday Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I just had thought about something. If we switch any eastern team with the Lakers ( by far the worst western team). How many would finish last in the west? I have Philadelphia, Orlando, Milwaukee, Indiana and Boston for sure and maybe even Detroit and both New York teams. And yes, at least one of those teams is going to make the playoffs. It comes down to your opinion of the Jazz this year. The changes are there to make them a fashionable pick for a Suns-like renaissance this year, but I'm not buying it yet (although I have their game against the Rockets queued up to watch later, which might change my mind...). I would have said Detroit is a cut about both Utah and Minnesota, but Brooklyn and New York..they could be awful. Depends a lot on Deron and Carmelo, I guess. ST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andriy Czarchenko Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Just not enough wins available for Utah to do that. Someone has to lose all those conference matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 great win for the Knicks. Fuck all you haters =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlefingers In The Air Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 You going to the game? OK, I just started watching this pregame thing. Kevin Hart and Sir Charles sharing a stage hahaha. Yeah. I'm on my way back to Akron now. This is definitely going to be a work in progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 great win for the Knicks. Fuck all you haters =PHa, they showed me tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlefingers In The Air Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I had a decent feeling this would happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabronius Maximus Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Oh no...not Russ too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Apparently Westbrook fractured the second metacarpal of his right hand. A real shame. His one man show against Portland was so fun to watch. The Thunder could well miss the playoffs now given how tough the West is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabronius Maximus Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Apparently Westbrook fractured the second metacarpal of his right hand. A real shame. His one man show against Portland was so fun to watch. The Thunder could well miss the playoffs now given how tough the West is.They could be the scariest 8th seed ever. And they'll have a shot at being the 2nd ever 8 seed to get to the finals (assuming they're healthy come playoff time).Edit: I dun goofed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andriy Czarchenko Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 They could be the scariest 8th seed ever. And they'll have a shot at being the first ever 8 seed to get to the finals (assuming they're healthy come playoff time). Sorry but that´s already been done by the Knicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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