“Kevin Durant was propping us up” all season and yet… we had a better net rating with KD off the court than with KD on the court this season. KD off, 900 minutes : +8.1 KD on, 2,700 minutes: +6.4 https://databallr.com/wowy/HOU/2026/2026/regular/high/wowy/201142 Not to mention winning 52 games and a top 5 net rating the previous year, without KD. We are not a great team, true. And we’re behind the 5-6 teams led by prime age all time greats in the West. But there’s no need to act like our whole team just sucks. IMO, too much of this board reads like we’re the 2024-25 Phoenix Suns or something.
It's almost like the basketball gods exist and dish out basketball karma. And when you have an owner as pathetic as Tilman, you get delt the hands karma deems fit.
We really chose Reed ****in Sheppard over Stephon Castle. FML. I still haven’t heard any news on firing of our team scouts.
Hmmm yes this reminds me of last Thursday when people were saying the Rockets offense was better off without Durant - and then they scored 77 points in a literal must win home playoff game, hours after Orlando shocked the nation with record setting futility (and finished with 78 points) The Rockets were 5-0 without Durant on the regular season. This included: Early season wins v Phx & GSW A win against Cleveland in Dec when they were starting to turn it around a tank win vs Ind The last game of the season The Rockets were 2-3 without Durant in the playoffs This included 3 losses against a *horrible * Lakers team without their Best player in which their offensive output was *egregious* I think this evidence alone (along with his phenomenal offensive efficiency) is enough to back the intuition that he propped up the team - because he did but I'll put together a deep dive later. Im walking the dog now so I can't really overturn your bucket of cherries. Suffice it to say replacing an efficient 27 ,ppg scorer with JaeSean Tate etc is not going to look good
We are not losing. We are still an above average team with Udoka. Just not good enough to win in the playoffs because a big part of playoffs is about adjusting and scheming against specific opponents.
The Rockets' defensive scheme was just fine. On offense, there just is not a scheme that is going to force defenders to guard non-shooters to the three-point line or overcome guys missing open shots. I like the picks of Amen, Sengun, and Reed, individually. Long-term, those guys got to either play better or be broken up.
Teams that were tanking with us are legitimately better and equipped for sustained success. Sucks having to watch the Spurs and Pistons have success. Time to for some new faces in mgmt - get rid of Stone.
That’s this season, what about last? Your profile date says 2003….You already forgot what it’s like to rebuild and cycle through players? But I get it…. I’ve been around here for awhile too and know posters will cry and whine either way. Some of yall wanted to fire Morey before the Harden trade so I’ve seen what makes some of yall cheer.
That’s what happens when you get lucky in the draft with a Cade or Wemby. Where would Detroit be without Cade? Charlotte has been perpetually bad for much longer so I’m not sure that’s really noteworthy.
Like i wrote: They were propped up by a 37 year old who took them out of lotto/play in range (just like FVV and Dillon did the year before) Be honest, take Durant off the team next year, pretend like he suffers an FVV season ender - add nobody except for FVV, replace Tate etc with replacment level gusy, What is your realistic over-under for the Not-So-Young Core? I would peg them at maybe 35 wins, probably a lottery team. If that's year 6 of your rebuild, your rebuild didn't go well and your core is nothing.
The Rockets are not a bad team, but I don't really hear anyone saying they are a bad team. They are a playoff team, and they are capable of winning a 1st round playoff series next year. Most of the disappointment is that the ceiling for the Rockets is also relatively low for a team that was the worst in the league for 3 straight years. The expectations were not managed - and this is where we are now. It also doesn't help that the Rockets have made a number of dumb decisions - that fans are latching on to. The Rockets could win a lot of games next year during the regular season IF they manage to add someone like Quentin Grimes, and all of their old and injury prone players stay healthy. They could win 60+ games. Problem is that FVV is 33 with major milage and coming off a serious injury, Durant is 38 and is not likely to play nearly as many games next year. Steve Adams is 33 and always hurt... DFS is like 35 and always hurt. The Rockets GM was extremely stupid to build and depend on old-injury prone players.... but can't do much about it right now. Not looking forward to being the third best team in Texas again soon..... Wemby is 22 years old and Flag is 19..... just wonderful.
See, this is I think the biggest disconnect with reality. Over the last 3 seasons, the Rockets have played 2,138 minutes without any of KD, Jalen Green, or Dillon Brooks on the floor. That's almost a full season worth of sample of just the young core + FVV + Adams + replacement level backups. How have we done over that time? We are a +9 net rating. 2,000 minutes is a massive sample. https://databallr.com/wowy/HOU/2024/2026/regular/high/wowy/1630224/1628415/201142 If you think KD, Jalen, and Dillon are the reason we win 52 games every regular season you are mistaken. We win regular season games by dominating every phase of the game other than first play halfcourt offense -- and those guys haven't played a huge role in those other phases. If you want to say that formula doesn't work in the playoffs, I wholeheartedly agree with you. It does not, and it's ugly to watch; I'm not really a fan of it. But it works in the regular season that's for sure. So no, we would not win only 35 games with young core + FVV + Adams.
Was going to write something similar. The Rockets lack a star player. It makes it very difficult to compete with the best teams. Provided the Rockets get some health from someone besides the 5 youngish guys, they are going to win more than 41 games. Probably behind the 1st and 2nd tiers of teams in the west, but still will win in the regular season.
No one, not even Stone, believes that running it back is the correct path forward. He's really bad at bluffing. He knows that hitching his wagon to old vets was his undoing this year and he'll likely course correct. The bigger issue is whether or not Ime will accept offensive help. Lots of posturing. Stone knows his moves blew up in his face. Ime knows he's offensively inept. Tilman knows that no one respects his son. What will be done about any of this is the bigger question. Using Sengun, Fred, and next year's picks to get into this draft would be a good move. But you likely have to move on from Ime to do it.
