r/rockets • u/Shoddy_Ad7511 • 18h ago
1 Seed is Possible
Hate hate hate the JDub injury. Totally sucks. But OKC has lost alot of depth and experience. Lost Dort, Wiggins, Joe and possibly Jdub for months.
Spurs having problems with starting 3 guards and not having enough shooting in their starting lineup. Teams have also figured out how to give Wemby a hard time. And if they put Harper back on the bench I can see some major chemistry issues. Plus the Spurs coach ain’t great. If Wemby misses some time they are in big trouble.
Houston has a legit chance of getting the 1 seed. I don’t think either Spurs or Thunder will push really hard for the top seed. And both teams have multiple issues they need to solve.
Houston is DEEP this year.
FVV, Amen, Bari, KD, Sengun, Tari, Smart, Adams, Reed, Capela and Boggy. Houston has 4 outstanding perimeter defenders in Amen, Tari, Smart and FVV. Nice length in KD, Bari, Adams and Sengun.
Houston has such a variety of players now and can play so many different types of styles. From triple big to surrounding KD with shooters. To playing Smart, Amen and Tari together as a terrorizing perimeter.
Enough 3 point shooting with KD, Bari, Boggy, Reed and Smart.
Even an all bench lineup of Reed, Smart, Boggy, Tari and Adams is legit. How many teams have an all bench lineup that good?
This is basically last years 50+ win team with the addition of a top 20 PG (FVV), a starter level guard (Smart), and a sharpshooting wing that can defend (Boggy). Plus 4 core guys getting better and KD fitting in better.
Houston doesn’t have a top 5 player like OKC and Spurs. But at this point they seem to have more depth than OKC and more overall size and length than the Spurs.
I still hope they can make a couple moves to get a shot blocking backup center and another shooter.
Fatigue. I think OKC might be fatigued after 3 deep playoff runs in a row. Spurs look like the classic sophomore slump when a team exceeds expectations massively and then crashes to reality the next year