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Horns RD Standard

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Posts posted by Horns RD Standard

  1. 56 minutes ago, UDontKnow said:

    I think there is a difference between in the hunt and truly contending. The Nuggets are fool's gold because they are virtually the exact same team after last year playoffs performance - losing Game 7 at home to a Trail Blazer team that couldn't take a single game off of the Warriors in the next round. The only four teams I see as true contenders are both LA teams, the Bucks, and the Celtics. They have the rosters and experience to truly contend. Certainly things could change through the remainder of the regular season and even in the playoffs. 

    My statement certainly embodies how I feel about the Rockets. The Rockets should finish as a top 4 seed - in fact as they are built, they should be vying for the top seed in the conference. Home court is especially huge come playoff time. I see the Rockets finishing at either 3 or 4, getting past whichever lower seeded team in the first round in 6 games, and then losing in 6-7 games in the second round. D'Antoni scares nobody. Teams fall down by 20 or more points against the Rockets and don't break a sweat because they know that Harden alone can't beat them, the 3 point shot will eventually stop falling, and D'Antoni refuses to make adjustments (he won't even call timeout for fucks sake). For that matter, versus the Nuggets, the Rockets had another of their patented 3rd quarters and saw a 17 point home halftime lead whittled to 3 points to start the 4th quarter. Defense is especially inconsistent - opposing teams get so many open 3 point looks especially corner 3s (ironic isn't it) and depth is not developed during the regular season thanks to D'Antoni's inane 8 man rotation. PJ Tucker's scoring is starting to take a hit because he's playing damn nearly 40 minutes per game guarding opposing players that have significant height advantages (his rebounding has been impressive though).

    I just think the road to a title is as wide open as it's been in a while. And I don't personally think you put a championship squad together in one offseason by making major overhauls.

    For that reason, I think the public sees the 2 LA teams as favorites, but I don't think either of them truly know who they are yet. They've both made significant roster changes and imo - need to both go through a postseason run together before they can truly assess themselves. LAL also can't sustain any injuries or setbacks to either superstar or they're chances are shot. 

    The Bucks, until Giannis shows he can hit a 3 under the pressure of postseason play, I'll have doubts they're capable of winning a ring! Folks will cut-off the lane, sag and dare him to shoot like Toronto did last year. 

    Boston's legit. Like Houston, they've stayed the course really. Made a roster switch (Kemba for Kyrie: CP3 for RW) and the hope is that they improve and gel collectively.

    I guess I just think that all these teams are flawed in some way, just like the Rockets.   

  2. On 12/31/2019 at 11:01 PM, UDontKnow said:

    It was a great win - a team win in fact. But this team is no title contender. And lol for using the Nuggets to gauge progress. The Nuggets are just as overrated as the Rockets, if not more. That might change if the Rockets start seeing this type of Russ night in and night out and if the defense can stay slightly above average consistently.

    If the Nuggets aren't title contenders in your eyes, may I ask who is then? If you're a Top 4 seed in the West this year, to me you're in the hunt it. Maybe not a favorite, but definitely contenders.

    I get the sense your statement is more a reflection of how you feel about the Rockets in general. Is there a team in the regular season that this team (as constructed) could beat that would have you even slightly convinced they're a contender? If so, I'm curious who? 

  3. 23 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

    He’s definitely got the athleticism to play at the next level.  It’s pretty impressive how well he guards on the perimeter when he switches on pick and roll.   If he can develop a shot and add some bulk he will have something, although not having a shot and being a bean pole didn’t stop Jackson Hayes from being drafted high.  BTW Lance Blanks said on the broadcast last night that there were actually scouts on hand to see him.  It’s a little deflating to think he could be yet another early leaver. But that’s why Shaka keeps getting these guys despite his record.  He’s running a system designed for athletes who can shoot and big men who can cover a large amount of floor. 

    Yep guys his size with his athleticism that guard on the perimeter - WITHOUT FOULING are a really rare breed. And he does a great job of it, especially for being so inexperienced!

  4. 29 minutes ago, A-Tex Devil said:

    While the "smartest person on earth" trait would suggest Veidt is Trieux's dad, it would tie back to the comic better if it was The Comedian.  That would make Lady Trieux 48, though.  

    Who is this "The Comedian" you speak of? Is that a character we've been introduced to? Is this who's keeping Veidt captive?

  5. He's 

    15 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

    If you'll allow me to be positive and negative in one post: Kai looks like the next highly touted recruit to show immense promise as a freshman only to demonstrate little to no improvement over the course of his college career under Shaka.

    But I keed, I keed.

    Love his energy and athleticism. Offense is going to take a while, but he's already looking like a potential force on the defensive end.

    It'll be really interesting to see how he develops (and if that development happens here or on the next level). 

    He has a better basketball skillset that than Sims does right NOW. He just needs more seasoning, imo! The more he plays the better he'll get. You can tell he just hasn't played enough ball yet. But I saw him last night pointing out missed rotations defensively to other players. So you can tell he's a confident bright kid (although an upperclassmen did have to get him in the right position a time or 2 as well. So he's far from knowing what he needs to to contribute more). Definitely a promising future though.  

  6. Don't need polls or projections to affirm my views. CBU probably won't be a quality Win by the end of the year. But for game 3, they looked to be a quality opponent and one that will give other quality teams some trouble in addition to the fight it gave Texas last night. Hell Texas won by 13, the sharps in vegas had the line as low as 15. So it's not like they underperformed woefully from what the 'real' experts anticipated anyway.

    And this conference discussion is a ridiculous one. It's apples to oranges. The Big 10 & ACC have like 50 teams in them each with half those teams deserving to be in the NIT or worse right off the bat. With pools of that size you should have a couple teams that end up being elite. And let's not act like it's a plethora of teams vying for dominance. Those conferences are top-heavy & controlled (a lot like ours) by the same blue-bloods each and every year(Mich St, Mich, Duke, UNC & UVA recently). The Wisc/Pur/OhSt's of the world ain't never winning ish. Now the ACC is a different animal. They have legitimate depth and quality. But I'd put the Big 12 up against any of those others and to me the fact you can literally go on the road to any school in the Big 12 and lose that night if you don't play well, puts it ahead of the others in the conversation.  

  7. I thought last night's performance was promising. Yeah you'd like to see more consistency from the guys you're going to regularly count on, but that's kind of unrealistic when you're dealing/talking about the 17-19 yr old kids. 

    To me I think you're starting to see a pattern where you're just going to have to deal with players having off nights (I think the tightening of minutes lends to that). There are other players that deserve minutes if someone gets off to a bad start. I think that kind of happened with Liddell tonight and to some extent Ramey against Purdue. The hope is that the other player's "on" nights are good enough to offset that. But that also makes it difficult for opposing teams to game plan for. It's a lot easier to focus on stopping a player(s) than it is to think schematically, imo. So I think it kind of bodes well going forward. That is as long as someone is on the floor that's got it going (i.e.- Ramey tonight). The consistency has to come from upperclassmen like Coleman, Jones & Sims. Those are the ones we need to be solid game in and game out!

    Oh and btw, CBU impressed last night. Those dudes(the 2 guards) were draining from all over the court. The lil semi-post by flavors to the turn around J...was an NBA caliber move man. That was kinda sweet honestly. A guard dominant team like that w/ 2 guys who can just catch fire and the undersized but bullishly strong Davis - they're gonna win some games and give some folks trouble this year.

  8. 44 minutes ago, Lobo said:

    As happy as I was about the Purdue win, I can’t even feign remote interest in this game solely for the reason that I’ve honestly never heard of this school and I’m pretty engaged in higher education.  

    I am embarrassed that they are on the Longhorn schedule even though there’s no shame in playing a few cupcakes in November for big names like us. Anything less than a 20 point victory will be a shame. 
     

    with this marquee opponent and the lovely weather… What are you guys think maybe 3000 in attendance?

    Well Texas is only favored by 16.5. So are you suggesting this is as an easy game to lay those points?...Asking for a friend

  9. The "enigma" that is the Rockets.

    It feels like this board as well as the fan base in general all wants to reserve judgment until "something" happens. I kind of feel the same way myself, but the question is what is this "something" we all seem to be waiting on. Is there anything they can do from a regular season accomplishment standpoint, that would make us "believe" in this edition? I still have my doubts that as currently constructed they can win a ring. But then I ask myself, why not? Who is head & shoulders above? Maybe the Clips, so would a 'W' tomorrow night convince me otherwise...probably not since they'll be w/o PG13. But it'll definitely register on that radar. 

    But I mean Harden even though he frustrates the heck out of us/me with his style of play, you can't argue with the results/numbers. I mean he was WC POW last week. They're on the 2nd longest winning streak (4) and their (7-3) Record is only 1.5 games behind the best in the league.

    Russ seems to be adjusting & looks pretty good operating around the midrange (his 3pt% is horrible so don't mind him settling for those instead). 

    Austin Rivers - D'antoni needs to find him more minutes for him. He's shooting close to 43% right now.

    Clint still maddens me at times, but I saw something last night that gave me hope. He unveiled a lil left handed hook shot over his right shoulder from entry pass to him on the block. It honestly caught me so off guard I had to rewind the DVR just to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

    Anyways, just a few early season thoughts (not that anyone really cares) but I think things are actually looking kind of promising for this squad out the gate. As I don't really see anyone running away with anything out West. Very interested to see where this team progresses from here!

  10. 17 hours ago, Macanudo said:

    I've been to a strip club in Portland.

     

     

    Trust me.    Don't.

    Was there this past June for a wedding. Went to a couple and they more like Burlesque shows. Reminded me of like a topless Esther's Follies! 

     

    He's right...don't waste your time!!!

  11. And granted it's just one game this year, but I've never gotten the sense (nor did last night's game do anything to change it) that Coleman or Ramey are great facilitators offensively. If Shaka continues to try to force one of them into being the offensive 'conductor' of sorts this team will continue to struggle on that side of the court again, imo. They're both better at creating shots for themselves then they are creating shots for others. Which greatly lessens their effectiveness if you're trying to run a "free-flowing" Coach K type of offense. You could probably get away with one of them if the offense was more set/play driven. But that doesn't seem like it's what Shaka's going for.

    I don't want to beat the kid up but everything about Coleman suggests he's a PG (size, decent handles, etc.), but I just don't think he has a high enough Basketball IQ to run a show. His anticipation, court vision and the desire to create for others just isn't there when I watch him. It's like he's just playing the role w/o his heart really being in it.

    Ramey is a hooper and you can see his versatility. You could put him in a number of different spots and he'd be effective. But forcing him to be your main ball handler I think sacrifices what he can bring in other areas of the floor offensively. 

    Sims is still a huge disappointment. Does he just not work on improving his Basketball skillset? He seems like the same raw unrefined athlete that he was when he first walked onto the 40.

    A Jones - when he gets his strength back, watch-out! So encouraging and heart-warming to see him performing like that!

    They should script a few plays in the first 8-10 minutes of each game to get Fabres at least 3/4 good looks from 3. Otherwise, he seems disengaged offensively.

    And I know most of them are really young, but Hepa, Hamm & the Freshman (sans Williams) all seemed to just hoist up 3s as soon as they could. Like they were just rushing to shoot them just to shoot them. I was really hoping Hepa would settle down in his second season, but he seems to be just as jittery and lost as he was last season.

    One bright spot I saw was the defensive intensity. That can carry over. And to me be very promising going forward. That's what can keep this team afloat until or if they ever find something they can go to consistently offensively.

    I don't follow recruiting (basketball or football for that matter), so my exposure to Freshman come when I watch them don the burnt orange for the 1st time. Liked what I saw from Williams, the big kid from Westlake and the kid from Jamiaca. The kid from Westlake looks to lack athleticism (which means he'll be here for a few years), but doesn't lack confidence offensively. He was shooting j's like he was expecting to make them. Although a couple of them barely caught iron if any at all. Defensively he looked to 'know' where he wanted to go, but the feet just didn't get him there. He may need to stay anchored around the cup so he doesn't get too exposed.

    Are you all expecting any of them to be impact contributors? One was out last night, is he gonna help and if so where? 

    • Like 3
  12. On 11/4/2019 at 4:49 PM, ChickenSandwich said:

    Are we all assuming Doc Johnson was the second shooter at Angela’s House?  

    Never read the comics or seen the movie. Just picked up and watched the 1st (3) episodes in succession the other night. So not sure which episode it was in. But there was a flashback to the "White Night" or whatever. It shows Angela w/ her husband as the clock hits midnight. The gunmen walk in and direct their attack towards her. Maybe I missed something, but what happened to the husband during all that? They don't show him at all after the attack starts nor mention anything about him during or after it all. It's like he wasn't there or something. Maybe i'm nitpicking their cinematic discretion, but just struck me as odd that he's absent from the scene after they break in.

  13. Lunardi’s latest has Tex as a 9 seed facing 8 Syracuse. Of the 7-10 seeds that lunardi has, this imo from what I’ve seen, would by far be the worst match for an inconsistent shooting Tex squad!

    Lunardi’s
    #7s - Lou, Aub, Cincy Wofford
    #8s - Bay, Wash, Syr, Iowa
    #9s - VCU, UCF, Fla
    #10s - NC St, OU, Ole miss, oh st


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  14. 13 hours ago, NowThis said:

    ideally, Rox creep up to the 3rd spot to meet GS in the WCF.  If everyone is 100%, HOU can get there and even pull off the upset.  Stay healthy!! 

    Ideally, I agree w/ the Rox getting the 3rd spot but it'd be nice if Denver catches GSW so that they end up with 2nd position. That way you face them a round earlier. IMO, you have to face them at some point anyway, so why not face them when you have a better chance of being healthy in the WCSF than a round later?

  15. Now only if Portland would cooperate & lose a darn game we could see some movement up the standings. Rockets have won 4 straight and have lost ground to them as they've rolled off 5 in a row. However, only 1.5 back of both Portland & OKC for that 3rd spot!

    Does it really matter? not sure...West is gonna be tough no matter where you're seeded. Just hope the Rockets have all their bullets in the chamber when the 'ish gets real!!!

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