If the Rockets luck into some health, they should be an elite team as well. Brooks, K.Martin, Ariza, Scola, & Yao is an impressive starting 5. also, I don't think it's set in stone by any means that the Blazers or Rockets couldn't surpass the Lakers. Bynum's knees are wobbly and they aren't getting any younger. I could see Phil backing off the gas on the regular season and focusing on the playoffs STOMP
Considering how you felt and feel about Sergio's (and basically every other player) capabilities and future: If you think this team can't be a good defensive squad... That gives me a lot of confidence this team will be an elite defensive team.
Nobody ever thought Doc Rivers was a championship level coach either. I'm not a huge McMillan fan, but he's not a horrible coach either. He has respect around the league for a reason.
I don't get it. I need a few 1,000 more repetitions. Usually the first 25k do the trick, but sometimes it takes the full 30,000 repeats of the same thing before it sinks in.
You are a kind and thoughtful man westnob. Assuming of course you are a man and not say a blue furred muppet...
We better have a great defense because we have no offense that anyone on this board can identify! Bring on the D!!!!!!
Our defense will be great but don't forget to mention our rebounding. Our opponents won't get many 2nd chance points with Camby at PF and GO at C. . between the two alone, 25 rebounds a night will be easy. .
Assuming Oden and Batum stay healthy, Portland will be the best rebounding team in the league, and probably one of the top three defensive teams as well. I'm predicting 62 wins.
I felt we were a 60 win team last year before the season. Given that we won so many with so many injuries, I was probably about right. If anything, I think this year I might be aiming a little low. But when you get above 50 wins, each incremental win gets much, much harder. The difference between a 48 and 52 win team may be less than the difference between a 60 and 62 win team.
