The Rockets lost a nailbiter in Los Angeles, coming short when tired legs could do no more. They’ve won five of their last six and are just a few more games out of the 8th spot. Kevin Martin has been on fire while Kyle Lowry seems to have regained his groove. Two teams ahead of the Rockets in the standings, Utah and Denver, traded off their stars, giving more hope, but above all, Houston will enjoy the weakest remaining schedule of any team vying for the final playoff spot. Before the loss to LA, statistical odds of the Rockets making the postseason stood at 41%. What in the world is going on and why should we care? Man, this is fun. For the first time since early in the season, I am seriously hyped about getting out to tomorrow night’s game. What in the world is going on? I have no problem admitting that I highly prefer Dragic over Brooks, at least from a spectator standpoint (who can’t love the guy’s forays to the hoop), but don’t you just feel dirty citing Shane’s departure as reason for the recent success? It’s almost as if you know Battier being gone is a big factor in things, but you just don’t want to raise the point out of guilt. You can’t do that to Shane. But it’s true, isn’t it?
I think the trades definitely helped the team from a psychological standpoint, but that’s not really intrinsically related to the players dealt. Bud has confidence he’s never experienced since his first kiss and Lowry for the first time knows THIS IS HIS TEAM. I get that. Offensively, they also look much better, just by virtue of the inept Battier being gone; the ball hops, every man is a threat, yada yada yada. Are they really better without Battier though? I guess you could argue that without help shot-blocking, Shane’s prowess was so greatly diminished that his offensive inabilities mitigated what he did still bring on the defensive end. I don’t know. It’s one of those things we just can’t know without looking into the numbers. In fact, I would argue that it’s anti-intellectual to just state, simply on the basis of what we’re watching, that the team is better without Shane. You can’t make that conclusion on a guy who always looked bad visually; so how can you suddenly make visual conclusions when he’s gone? The numbers have to be explored and I won’t be the one to do it; that’s why we brought in Ben Heller.
So in any event, something is going on, the team is winning, is projected to continue winning, and might make the playoffs. Do we even want this? One of the things oft-cited as a potential positive byproduct of the deadline deals was that they would make us a worse team, strengthen Memphis, and give us a better lottery pick. Long-term rational prudence. But man, is this fun. So what do we want? Honestly, and I never thought I’d say this, but I really think I hope this team makes the playoffs. This is just too much fun, even though I know the team would be one and done. Daryl Morey stated that through winning, the team can look attractive to disgruntled superstars and help promote a deal; while I agree with this in theory, I just don’t think it’s feasible in this new fraternistic era of basketball. I don’t think guys like DH12 or CP3 look at a 45 win team filled with role players and make the logical conclusion one would expect – that they could win a title carrying them; these guys want to play with friends. When you are great, you want to be surrounded by greatness. (I’m really going off on a tangent here but psychologically, I don’t think people really desire to lead mediocrity. They want the comfort of companionship. Think about something you’re great at. Sure it’s fun being around others who are worse at it than you and having them ride your jock and depend on you etc. etc., but at the end of the day, I think you want to be able to sit back with someone else as good as you and connect. You want to be able to talk to them because they get you; you have a friend you can depend on, etc….)
In any event, I don’t know that winning will do what Morey is hoping for, but from a spectator perspective, watching this team is pure cocaine. And I guess it’s irrational to desire this present pleasure, but so be it. [Actually, you could probably make the argument that the difference in picks (17th as opposed to 14th) is so miniscule that the potential for raising our players' value outweighs the difference in players we would draft. In fact, it's a weak draft. So there, I just justified my current irrationalism.]
I really have little recollection of what all I just wrote but as a synopsis, in essence, things are getting crazy and this is fun; go Rockets.
‘Huq’s Pen’ is a column of generally coherent musings written by Red94 founder/editor Rahat Huq.
