An annual pastime of a basketball fan is participating in “bold prediction” discussions. This is where fans display their homerism by pegging their awful team for a playoff berth or auguring by the birds in the sky that their favorite scrubby player will score 20 a game. Conversely, predictions not involving their favorite team tend to fall directly in line with conventional wisdom.
With that said, I have a bold prediction for you all. This might be what they call a “hot sports take”.
The Rockets will fail to make the playoffs.
I can envision many scenarios which lead to this as an outcome, most likely of which is that the refs get tired of blowing their tooties every time Harden goes into the paint.
Terrence Jones is a pretty good player, but is he good enough to ensure the fortunes of the Rockets? Not really. His lack of a reliable jumper doesn’t mesh well with Howard’s lack of a reliable anything.