************* Houston Rockets 22-23 Season thread *************

AG@RICE

9:34a, 10/3/22

First preseason game was last night! The team looked incredible. KPJ has better control, AL-P looks more comfortable, Jalen is bigger, Tari is an animal and Jabari is smooth as silk.

Its time to get this season on the road.

LFG!!!!

(I've never started one of these threads, so I hope I did it right....)

WES2006AG

10:07a, 10/3/22

In, and excited to see the young guys play.

mAgnoliAg

11:34a, 10/3/22

In

zgood10

1:47p, 10/3/22

Ryan34

2:05p, 10/3/22

We beat the **** out of the Spurs' JV team last night.

GigEmMortis

3:38p, 10/3/22

Interstate 10 belongs to us. Spurs back where they belong.

TREX01

11:35a, 10/4/22

Long time Rocket fan but I've just not been able to give much attention to us since the end of the Harden era. What are we expecting this year?

WES2006AG

12:13p, 10/4/22

In reply to TREX01

TREX01 said:
Long time Rocket fan but I've just not been able to give much attention to us since the end of the Harden era. What are we expecting this year?

73-9 regular season and Jalen Green finals MVP in a sweep of the Bucks.

Anything else is a disappointment.

AG@RICE

9:57a, 10/5/22

In reply to WES2006AG

You really think we will lose 9 games? Moron. We are going undefeated.

WES2006AG

10:07a, 10/5/22

In reply to AG@RICE

AG@RICE said:
You really think we will lose 9 games? Moron. We are going undefeated.

I figure it will take a few weeks for our young guys to really gel together. We obviously don't lose any games after Christmas.

Unemployed

11:05a, 10/5/22

Yes or No: You're okay if we tank for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Anderson?

Ryan34

12:03p, 10/5/22

In reply to Unemployed

RealTalk said:
Yes or No: You're okay if we tank for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Anderson?

Hell yes. Considering how young we are (especially once Eric Gordon is likely traded), I don't think that will be much of a decision either.

WES2006AG

12:16p, 10/5/22

In reply to Unemployed

RealTalk said:
Yes or No: You're okay if we tank for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Anderson?

Not sure we will have a choice. Our youth will likely have us losing a bunch of games either way.

shano0603

5:54p, 10/5/22

In reply to Unemployed

RealTalk said:
Yes or No: You're okay if we tank for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Anderson?

I'd do dirty things to get Victor.

We show a lot of promise, but this team is far from competing. Nightmare would be to finish in the 25ish spot. As long as we are one of the 5 picks that have roughly the same odds, that's fine. Jazz are trying their best to not win 10 games.

GigEmMortis

7:41p, 10/5/22

A core of Victor, Green and Smith, along with pieces like Sengun and Eason, for 10+ years? Sign me the hell up

coastalAg

1:24p, 10/6/22

Its going to be an interesting tanking race for bottom 3 record. Lots of worthy contenders.

Ryan34

6:25p, 10/6/22

This is an easy choice. I don't know if a guy that big can stay healthy, but damn it's unreal watching him.

AG@RICE

6:08p, 10/12/22

Road to 82-0 starts in 1 week.

gordo97

10:41p, 10/16/22

I thought we were planning on going 0-82 so we can get Victor

CFTXAG10

9:01a, 10/17/22

Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. has agreed to a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension, sources tell me and @KellyIko. Only the first season is fully guaranteed.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 17, 2022

YNWA_AG

9:03a, 10/17/22

In reply to CFTXAG10

Solid deal with only 1 year being fully guaranteed

AG@RICE

9:35a, 10/17/22

In reply to CFTXAG10

I've been pretty meh about the KPJ experience, but I loooooove that deal. He has looked very sharp this preseason and I think he is going to make a real leap this year in terms of passing/assists. He seems to be more focused on working for the team and his feel for the game is improving. Either that contact looks like a great deal in 3 years or he is gone by the end of the season. Perfect. Love Stone.

AG@RICE

9:47a, 10/17/22

In reply to gordo97

Shhhhhhhhhh, step 1 of the tank is to absolutely pretend like you aren't tanking.

Secretly, I'm really worried about the tank. We might be slightly too good and try too hard. More importantly, you can't keep telling players winning is unimportant. That's part of Ben Simmons problem, he was raised in a culture of losing. You have to instil good habits in young players, and I don't think the staff will encourage tanking. I could easily see us picking at 6-7 next draft because of Jalen and Scoot's growth and because our new rookies absolutely ball out on D.

coastalAg

10:58a, 10/17/22

Seeing our core come together this season and looking like a team capable making a leap with 60 million in cap space and a plethora of draft picks is a better place to be after this season than looking like dog **** for the third straight year and having more questions than answers.

YNWA_AG

6:39p, 10/17/22

In reply to coastalAg

coastalAg said:
Seeing our core come together this season and looking like a team capable making a leap with 60 million in cap space and a plethora of draft picks is a better place to be after this season than looking like dog **** for the third straight year and having more questions than answers.

We might be using that cap to overpay for grant williams or cam johnson

AG@RICE

8:29a, 10/18/22

In reply to YNWA_AG

YNWA_AG said:
coastalAg said:
Seeing our core come together this season and looking like a team capable making a leap with 60 million in cap space and a plethora of draft picks is a better place to be after this season than looking like dog **** for the third straight year and having more questions than answers.

We might be using that cap to overpay for grant williams or cam johnson

Raf Stone isn't going to turn into Bill O'brien overnight. The dude is incredibly bright and a savvy businessman. I got faith in our guy.

The Porkchop Express

11:41a, 10/18/22

I have checked out on the Rockets since they traded Harden and went tank mode after living and dying with them from 1981-2019 or so. I drafted Alperen Sengun in Fantasy Basketball this year to have a reason to follow them again. Really excited to see what Jabari Smith can become as well.

WARNING: I have a deep-seated desire for others to love the Star Wars franchise as much as I do, in exactly the way I do, and get snippy and sensitive and passive-aggressive when they don't.

Zachary Klement

6:50p, 10/19/22

Why is Fernando starting over Alpi?

Unemployed

8:58p, 10/19/22

Good start to tanking for Wembenyama.

AG@RICE

10:10p, 10/19/22

In reply to Zachary Klement

Zachary Klement said:
Why is Fernando starting over Alpi?

Fernando played ok. Sengun was terrible. 6 TOs...very sloppy.

Revised expectations....81-1

shano0603

10:40p, 10/21/22

Gotta get better defensively. Ja carved us up tonight.

Still not sure why Bruno is starting over Sengun.

AG@RICE

3:10p, 10/22/22

I think Eric Gordon is washed. He will probably end the year on our bench.

Ryan34

3:29p, 10/22/22

In reply to AG@RICE

AG@RICE said:
I think Eric Gordon is washed. He will probably end the year on our bench.

I'll be very surprised if we don't trade him.

Ryan34

3:33p, 10/22/22

I was able to watch last night and was very impressed with the development of some of the younger guys. Last year, that game would have been a blowout with the end of bench guys getting playing time. I don't think we win very many more games this year than last, but I'm encouraged by the trajectory.

dovato

7:48p, 10/22/22

This team is still bad bunch of street ballers...Silas couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag..

The Turkish guy is garbage.

Jalen Green is good he will look good on the Warriors or Lakers when he inevitably gets traded.