Which team will disappoint this upcoming season? I think Houston is a fair choice (injuries) although I think it is going to be Boston.
The Jazz are getting a lot of fanfare lately. A few analysts are predicting them to be the top seed in the West, and possibly make the Finals. However, they have a lot of issues with their owner not wanting to pay the luxury tax and the Jazz will have to eventually deal Boozer or AK47 to get under the luxury tax threshold. I think trade rumors is going to be a major distraction all season long for this team.
I'm not sold on the Hornets. They were relatively fortunate last year with injuries, and Chris Paul was just ridiculous. And I'm not sure that Posey will be as impactful as they're hoping either. If Paul comes down to earth just a little, Peja and West return to their norm of missing a large chunk of the season with injuries, then this is a team that could actually take a step back. The Rockets are a given. They've had high expectations the last 2 years in a row, with nothing to show for it.
They remind me of the Bulls the year before they got all that cap space and used it in Ben Wallace (hopefully the Blazers will make better use of any cap space they might get), except instead of winning six fewer games for some reason to go from 47 wins to 41, I think they'll win around six more games to wind up with at least 47.
I think Houston is a given. Yao, Artest or TMac will get hurt at some point this year and really hurt their chances. I think the Blazers are another team. They have pretty high expectations for a really young team, which isn't always good. Playing in the Western Conference doesn't help their cause either.
Who would you consider last years Bulls' Greg Oden? Who was there BRoy? Who was there LaMarcus Aldridge?
The Suns. I don't know what kind of team they are and neither do they. I'll go out on a limb and say they miss the playoffs.
The Suns have too much talent to miss the playoffs. As long as Nash stays healthy, that team should be good.
Utah Jazz, outside of Boozer and Williams..I don't see too much raw talent, just good role players. The thing is, Boozer and Deron aren't Shaq and Kobe and need more than role players to become a stronger player in the WC.
Hurts me to say this, but the Rockets has to be way up there on the list. Artest might implode, Yao might have more foot injuries, and Tmac is already crying before the preseason even started. If the Rockets don't get passed the first round this season, I can see the team exploding and the team starting with fresh and new puzzle pieces.
for everyone saying houston, you realize that last season with yao missing 27 games and tmac missing 16 games(and being limited in others) the rockets still managed to win 55 games, right? and then the rockets traded bobby jackson to get artest. now i guess it all depends on what you consider their expectations to be, but even if we take injuries as a given i don't think they can win any less games than last season.
the sixers are going to be disappointing. the nuggets, clippers, and warriors are going to disappoint if people still think they have a shot at the playoffs. and i wouldn't be surprised to see utah and/or new orleans have down years compared to expectations.
True, it depends on what you think the expectations should be. Some touts are predicting Houston to win their division and seriously contend for the #1 seed in the WC. They can't reach that level unless they stay fairly healthy.
last year the rockets were 1 game out of winning the division and 2 games out of the #1 seed in the conference. so i disagree that the rockets need to be any healthier than last season to achieve that amount of regular season success. the playoffs are a different story which is why the rockets real goal this year should be just to enter the playoffs healthy.
