- Our roster features a starting rotation with 2 second rounders, 1 undrafted free agent, 1 rookie and James Harden. - The core group of players and leaders are all still in their infancy and are still probably a year or two from reaching their potential and prime years. - We all know they are the youngest team in the NBA both in terms of age, NBA experience and starting experience - The roster has had by far the largest turnover of any roster in the NBA both at the beginning of the season and again at the trade deadline with only 2 players left that were on the team at the end of last season. Those are the simple, plain facts that make you shake your head and probably had Kevin McHale questioning why he ever agreed to coach the Rockets. What Daryl Morey and the Rockets did this summer has to be the most drastic rebuilding job any franchise has ever done to a team in the course of one summer which was followed up by a minor alteration last month and will likely be followed up again by a major addition this coming summer. The Rockets should just be starting to figure out how to play together at around 20 – 25 wins and Clutch should be warming up the lottery generator so we can dream about what big name player the Rockets will select in the draft lottery. Instead the Rockets are sitting in the 7th seat in the Western Conference and just one game out of 6th seat. The Rockets with all of their youth and inexperience are probably the 8th best team in the NBA right now. 1. Miami 2. San Antonio 3. Oklahoma City 4. Los Angeles Clippers 5. Indiana 6. Denver 7. Memphis Houston Rockets The only other team that might be as good as or better than the Rockets IMO are the Lakers and that’s only because of Kobe Bryant who is playing out of his mind right now. It’s amazing the masterful job Kevin McHale has done coaching a team like this and getting as much out of them as he has and it’s a tribute to the type of talent that Daryl Morey has acquired and put on the floor. The Rockets are the highest scoring offense in the NBA at 106.8 PPG while OKC is number 2 at 105.3. So what are the next in the evolution for the Rockets? Obviously defense is number 1. The Rockets have to become better at team defense and the have to become more disciplined. The team especially has to find away to continue to compete defensively when Asik is on the bench. If the team is lucky enough to snag a D12 then that issue would be solved as Asik would move to the bench. As long as those two were healthy our rebounding and interior defense would be good. The next thing I want to see at some point is adding one more wrinkle to the offense. I want the Rockets to find big with some post moves that they can dump the ball down low to when the three point shot is not falling and the refs are not calling fouls that get Harden to the line. I think DMo can be that player but it’s hard to tell because he has been playing so bad the last couple of games. LMA would be the player I would want the most but for all the rumors of Portland trading him I just don’t see it happening. Brent Berry said it as well on the last Rockets Cast Live Podcast that the Rockets need to add that to their offense. I would have been a nice option in Golden State last night when the 3 ball was not dropping at the end of the game. Regardless I’m just wondering what everyone thinks is the next step the Rockets need to take to move towards being a championship contender? Just let them grow and mature together? Improve the D (seems obvious) or is it even important with the way the Rockets play to have a legitimate threat in the post that the team can dump the ball into
Let's wait till the end of the season and post season first. That will give us a longer look at DMo and TRob, as well as show any deficiencies as other teams adjust and try to exploit flaws. The longer look at DMo and TRob, as well as other players, will help Morey determine how desperate he is for help in that position, as well as help him determine how much he wishes to give up for an upgrade. It can also help rehabilitate TRob's trade value and raised DMo's in case Morey wants to use them for trade chips for a second superstar. I don't think Josh Smith is worth max and I hope a longer look at DMo and TRob can dissuade Morey from overpaying. On the flipside, if either player regresses and falters, then there's renewed impetus to pursue a PF upgrade. I disagree with you that we'll keep Asik if we grab D12. Under the new salary and luxury tax regime, it's just not feasible to pay $8M to a back up C when that money can be spent elsewhere. You can probably get better trade value on that contract and upgrade the roster elsewhere, rather than have $8M sitting on the bench for limited backup minutes, especially if the guy ahead of him is D12 who you would want to give lots of minutes to in order to exploit him. Further, D12 and Asik both have the hack-a-center and FT problem. With the new luxury tax penalties, and the fact that you'd have max contracts in D12 and Harden, as well as Parsons needing a raise as his contract expires, you just can't afford to have $8M in a backup C when those resources can be used elsewhere. But I'm of the mind that there's almost nil chance of D12 leaving Hollywood, so I'm happy with Asik, especially if he can improve his FT's and offense over the summer. Further, Asik came to Houston for the chance to be a starter and leave the Chicago bench. It would be better for him and for the Rockets to trade him instead of benching him. Even Chicago saw it wasn't smart to match and have someone making that much money at the backup C position. Someone is getting moved this summer. There's just not enough room to develop everyone. Morey already tried to shop TJones for a pick, reportedly. And if Houston signs a big man free agent, then there's even less minutes to go around. Dmo, TRob, TJones, Greg Smith, Asik, Ohlbrecht, new Big Man free agent (whether D12 or a PF like Josh Smith or Paul Milsapp or whoever)....not enough minutes to go around, and a waste of assets to let them sit on the bench and lose value. Someone is getting moved or cut.
I think we have to let Dmo and Trob play out the rest of the season to see where they are at. It looks to me like Dmo is really something special on the offensive end. If he can get somewhat consistent with his D then the rockets may have a PF for the future.
We need a couple of elite defenders in the starting lineup, and everyone else needs to be just average. IMO, Asik - Elite Parsons -Slightly above average Lin - Below average Harden - Below average DMo - Way below average I think Lin, Harden, and DMo can all become average defenders. Not sure Parsons can become Elite. I'm really excited to see how much TRob and DMo can improve in the summer. Then we need a post....we need a guy like Scola that you can throw the ball into 5-10 times a game and he can make something happen. With more muscle, DMo can do that. Last, we need Lin to gain consistency and hit 37% from 3.
A legitimate post threat. If we are thinking long term, we aren't going to beat teams like the Heat without a post threat.
I think Lin is already the second best defender in the team. He is just getting burned by helping too much. Harden also showed that when he seriously tries, he can do a decent job on defense. I think he just saves energy for offense though. What I think we need to do is to relieve some of the offensive duties from Harden by creating more uncontested or high percentage shots for the rest of the team. Perhaps when DMo's defense gets better and he stays in for longer, we could redirect some of the offensive flow through him with post-plays and add some versatility to our offense. This way, Harden could use some of that energy on defense and we could be all-around better. As for Lin's consistency, I agree with you. He is still trying to balance the offensive duties. Last night, he also seemed like he was trying to prove something to McHale. I am confident that by next year, he will be overall better again. One thing I would like to see at this point is to see if we can use Anderson more. Since McHale doesn't seem to stagger Lin and Harden's minutes anymore, perhaps we could use Anderson to give Harden a breather every once in a while.
As much as things change they stay the same... things really stay the same Reality is a hard place to live Go Rox. Next year is our year
If Les would allow it... the next step in our present evolution would be defense.... Improving your team is about finding where you have the best growth opportunity... We were very close to GS on offense last year... scoring 115.3 vs 115.9.... Defense wise we got killed.... allowing 109.6 vs 104.3... Combined SRS GSW killed us with a point diff of 11.35 vs our 5.84... So what would be easier to attain... scoring 6 more points a game than our offense did last year... or allowing 6 less points per game... not to mention scoring options are typically much pricier on the free agent market (or via trade) than defensive specialists... It's about the defense folks... It aint as sexy as adding all-star scorers... but supposedly were all about numbers and analytics... well analytically the smart move is to work on the D... ...jus sayin...
