If we were in the West, what seed would we have?

[Greenie]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Rockets won as many games this season as the Knicks. They have more talent and way more upside than last season and they finished the season only 2 games behind the Knicks. This season the Rockets have a more talented "Linsanity" type line up. I think Kevin Martin has a bounceback year this year, filling the role as a more talented Fields, they have another good shooter in Parsons, and Asik is the defensive anchor the team needs. A lot depends on the younger players and they need at least one to break out. I honestly believe the Rockets got better this season and the Knicks got worse.

I don't think the Knicks got worse. However I don't see where we have improved so much. By default we move up in the standings due to ATL and ORL getting worse. However Philly IMO and BK got better TDOT as well. We are not a top three seed in the east.

Heat
Celtics
Pacers

That's the top three seeds in the East IMO.

4-8 can and will be a toss up.

Philly
NY
BK
TDOT
ATL
WAS
CHI

The Knicks don't make that next step to me if their two cornerstones (STAT & Melo) don't step up and LEAD the team offensively AND defensively. POINT, BLANK, PERIOD.

[Bill Bradley]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

[GONYK]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

At best, they will be scrappy like the first Doc Rivers Orlando team. They might surprise people, but honestly, who cares? Nobody is scared of them and everyone knows they aren't going anywhere serious.

I don't understand this fascination with teams like this. They may overachieve and we may underachieve, but either way, we end up in the same place.

[seren]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

All good points. And it might turn out to be a great team in the long run. What you seem to be missing is that their roster decidedly is incomplete with way too many rookies who will play significant minutes this upcoming season. It is not a bad thing. It is a choice. They are rebuilding. In the right way. I just don't get why you are insisting that their apparent patience will pay off immediately when their obvious plan is not that.

[GONYK]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

All good points. And it might turn out to be a great team in the long run. What you seem to be missing is that their roster decidedly is incomplete with way too many rookies who will play significant minutes this upcoming season. It is not a bad thing. It is a choice. They are rebuilding. In the right way. I just don't get why you are insisting that their apparent patience will pay off immediately when their obvious plan is not that.

Exactly. At best, they are building a team for 3-4 years from now.

The only way that timeline gets accelerated is if they mortgage their youth and go all in for a star.

[bklynstoops]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

they have less question marks because their expectations are so much lower. If that was a capped out team attempting to become a contender, they would have an abundance of question marks. I think they'll be ok, but if the Knicks are anywhere in the same neighborhood as the Rockets, in terms of record, the FO should all just shoot themselves.

[Bill Bradley]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

All good points. And it might turn out to be a great team in the long run. What you seem to be missing is that their roster decidedly is incomplete with way too many rookies who will play significant minutes this upcoming season. It is not a bad thing. It is a choice. They are rebuilding. In the right way. I just don't get why you are insisting that their apparent patience will pay off immediately when their obvious plan is not that.

Exactly. At best, they are building a team for 3-4 years from now.

The only way that timeline gets accelerated is if they mortgage their youth and go all in for a star.

I agree with you guys that they are trying to build a CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDING team for the future, but we just disagree on how they will do this year. Of course nobody is expecting the Rockets to be a great team this year, I just happen to think that they will surprise people and contend for the 8th spot. And while the Rockets do have a lot of question marks about their youngsters, they don't have question marks about their starting five: Lin, Martin, Parsons, Patterson, and Asik. Then it will come down to competition for all of the other spots which will not necessarily be a bad thing.

I guess the reason I think they will be better than expected immediately is because if you have unselfish, talented, team first players, they don't need a long time to gel (unlike Knicks and Heat). We saw what happened with Linsanity and now Lin has one season of experience and more talented players to fill in the important roles. He has great shooters, good passers, gritty defenders, and a defensive anchor down low. So if we see someone like Jeremy Lamb breaking out into a high scoring sixth man type, this team will have more firepower than some think.

[Bill Bradley]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

they have less question marks because their expectations are so much lower. If that was a capped out team attempting to become a contender, they would have an abundance of question marks. I think they'll be ok, but if the Knicks are anywhere in the same neighborhood as the Rockets, in terms of record, the FO should all just shoot themselves.

Agreed, they should, and I wish they would

Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks and Rockets have similar records by years end. I will bookmark this thread just in case I'm right

[GONYK]

Not to derail this thread into a Rockets thread, but we can all just agree to disagree. Regardless of who "thinks" the Rockets will suck this year, I think they will surprise a lot of people. They have a lot of talent on that team and if one of their younger players break out this year and if Lin, Parsons, Asik, and Martin show expected improvement over last year, they will be a good team. This is a team of all good character, hard working players, and I expect them to have good chemistry early in the season. I think the Knicks have more question marks than the Rockets.

they have less question marks because their expectations are so much lower. If that was a capped out team attempting to become a contender, they would have an abundance of question marks. I think they'll be ok, but if the Knicks are anywhere in the same neighborhood as the Rockets, in terms of record, the FO should all just shoot themselves.

Agreed, they should, and I wish they would

Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks and Rockets have similar records by years end. I will bookmark this thread just in case I'm right

I hope you bump it if you're wrong too

[Bill Bradley]

Agreed, they should, and I wish they would

Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks and Rockets have similar records by years end. I will bookmark this thread just in case I'm right

I hope you bump it if you're wrong too

Okay, sure

[moabu08]

Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks and Rockets have similar records by years end. I will bookmark this thread just in case I'm right

Crazy talk

[Woodsanity]

Lol.... 2nd seed in the much stronger West. Thats cute. 4th seed at the very very best. I see us behind the Clippers in the Spurs so 5th-7th seed. The West is much much stronger than the East.