How Good Will The Rockets Be?

[Irish]

The Houston Rockets won 55 games last season and have added Ron Artest and Brent Barry. Is this enough to get them over the top?

It certainly could be, but Artest brings more defense to a team that is already one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. Last season their opponent's shooting percentage was 2nd in the NBA at 43.3%. What hurt Houston in the regular season was their shooting. Shooting only 44.8%, the Rockets were only 20th in shooting percentage and only 34.0% for three. In the playoffs, the Rockets shot only 40.9% and only 29.3% for three and scored just 88.0 ppg.

Artest will shoot some threes, but at 38.0% last season he was actually above his career average of 32.9%. Last year he went 84 of 221. But if he takes over for Battier, who shot 37.7% for three on 139 of 369 it won't make a huge difference.

Artest scored 20.5 ppg compared to only 9.3 ppg for Battier; but that was heavily based on post up moves. But the Kings had a fairly "outside" oriented offense with Kevin Martin being their top scorer and Brad Miller being jump shooter. So it was easier to post up using Artest than on a team with Ming, Scola, and Landry on the inside.

The Rockets have a terrific defense that will get better with Artest, but I'm not sure Brent Barry is going to make enough difference to deal with their offensive problems. Last year T-Mac was their main threat at 21.6 ppg, but at 41.9% from the field ant 29.2% for three, he was not enough.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[elindholm]

I'm not impressed with the Rockets. Either Yao or McGrady is always injured, and Artest's offensive skills are overrated. Barry has nothing left, so they will still lack bench scoring.

There are lots of teams for the Suns to be worried about, but the Rockets are not high on the list.

 

[scotsman13]

the rockets have some nice names but not one who helps others game. yoa is a slow grind it out half court player who has major stamia issues if forced to run. tmac is a full court running player, who runs into problem in the half court physical game. artist is insane and you cant count on getting any thing from him from one day to another.

 

[arwillan]

If Artest keeps his head on straight, i think they'll be an improved team from last year. However, i don't think the artest move was all that great for them. They were already a superior defensive team, so adding Ron doesn't fill what they need most which is a little depth and a healthy T-Mac/Yao. I wouldn't say artest has an over rated offensive game either. He's everything marion could be offensively if he ever worked on his shot and post game. I'm always impressed with how effectively artest scores off of post up moves actually. I think his quality as a player is often times masked by his off-court issues. Most people recognize a guy like Richard Jefferson as a superstar player because of what he does on both ends, yet artest is statistically not too far back of a jefferson and he brings a lot of the same things to a team (not including off-court issues). I assume they'll take Battier off the bench next year, and i don't like that much. Battier is more of a guy who belongs in the starting lineup guarding the other teams best perimeter player but now artest is filling that role. The rockets, imo, should try and ship off battier for a good scorer off the bench. Maybe the bulls would work out a sign and trade for gordon since negotiations with him are reportedly still at a stalemate.

 

[cly2tw]

Not sold on Rockets. Theirs seems to be an incoherent approach to me.

 

[mojorizen7]

At best i see the ROCKETS losing in the Western Finals.
But......as was already mentioned,T-Mac is Mr Glass and Yao is soft.
I see them bowing out in the 2nd round.
Also, Artest is only overrated by those that don't have to suit up against him on a nightly basis.

 

[Irish]

If you added Artest to the Suns he'd make a huge impact. But the Rockets are already a great defensive team, so it is far from clear he's going to help that much on defense. Is he THAT much better than Battier on the offensive end?

In the playoffs, everybody except the Suns are really good on defense. Winning takes playing well on both sides of the ball. If Artest is going to make a difference, it will have to be on the offensive end.

 

[mojorizen7]

If you added Artest to the Suns he'd make a huge impact. But the Rockets are already a great defensive team, so it is far from clear he's going to help that much on defense. Is he THAT much better than Battier on the offensive end?

In the playoffs, everybody except the Suns are really good on defense. Winning takes playing well on both sides of the ball. If Artest is going to make a difference, it will have to be on the offensive end.

Artest career scoring avg 16.0 ppg 42%
Battier career scoring avg 10.3 ppg 45%

Based on the numbers....Yes.

 

[Irish]

2004-05 7 games
2005-06 56 games
2006-07 70 games
2007-08 54 games

Artest finds all kinds of ways to miss games.

 

[nowagimp]

The rockets now have artest and yao is back, that is a deep team. They also have Battier, scola, landry, TMAC, Chuck hayes and Rafer Alston. Alstons injury may have been the reason they lost to the Jazz(he was out 2 games) in the playoffs. I disagree that they wont be a contender, this team will be the best defensive team in the west. Artest is better than Battier on offense because he can post most 2's and 3's very well, Battier cant post up effectively, doesnt have much of a game down low, or off the dribble. But both of them on the same team spells excellent wing defense. Add in hayes, landry, scola, and the rest and you have an outstanding defensive team. The rockets offensive woes had alot to do with no low post offense without Yao last year. Now thay have yao and a little artest low post offense. I put them at 2nd in the conference behind the lakers in talent/depth. If they stay healthy, a big IF, they will be tough in the playoffs.

 

[MastersofCombat]

Here is a write up on the Houston Rockets http://scoutingthenba.com/blog/category/houston-rockets/
This team is predicted to win 61games by Scoutingthenba.com

The Phoenix Suns will be added within a week

 

[Irish]

A lot of "experts" think the Rockets are going to be a lot better than the Suns. Maybe they will, but this is a team that played better without Yao and got 67 games out of T-Mac and still ranked 20th in shooting. T-Mac has yet to EVER win a playoff series.

It may all work out for the Rockets, but on the surface they don't look like a great team.

 

[AfroSuns]

Win 61 games? They have a lot of Ifs on that team; Yao and mac staying healthy and Artest not being a locker room cancer.

 

[dodie53]

suns will beat them, easy..

 

[Errntknght]

I expect Scola to be considerably improved this year and with him and Artest providing the low post punch, Yao can camp out at the elbow and take life easy on offense. He'll still draw one the opponents bigs out of the paint. Battier may well be used to back up both Artest and TMac. If injuries don't do too much damage I'd guess they are going to be serious contenders this year - and their increased depth will make it easier to keep Yao's and TMac's minutes down so less susceptible to injury.

 

[arwillan]

suns will beat them, easy..

to beat them the suns are going to have to really pound the inside because with battier and artest able to shut down the perimeter like we know they can, we can't hope for much from our perimeter game. they have a hole somewhat at the PF position in comparison to us, so that would be our best chance to beat them. I'm not sold on us beating them easily by any means, however.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

A brittle team physically and mentally. A team the fantasy losers love on paper, but will never do anything beyond getting smoked in the first round.

Scola is very good, but Tmac is brittle and a chucker, Yao is brittle, Artest is surely going to over do it at some point on offense. I would be shocked if they make it to the WCF.