[ClutchFans] The Rockets’ season was a big success — so too must be their offseason

DMo would have made the offense more efficient so less defensive rebounding opportunities for GS. But he's not a significantly better defensive rebounder than Smith/Jones. Perhaps DMo could've played well enough to have gotten Green in some foul trouble and made him sit? That would've closed the rebounding gap substantially.

 

I think Marc Gasol is a pipe dream. I think he either stays in Memphis or joins the Spurs. He even mentioned this today in an interview and said his brother was giving him his opinions. We all know Pau didn't want to come to Houston either in the failed Lakers trade.

 

I don't really know if the Rockets missing pieces were the right pieces to stop the Warriors. They definitely would have helped against the Clippers and the Mavs though - DMO as a stretch 4 and hack-a neutralizer would have been huge. He would have been roasted at C against Festivus EZ though. Maybe if the Clippers are finished off in 5 the Rox have more in the tank.

Obviously Prigioni gave them nothing v. GS so a Beverley hounding Curry owuld have been helpful.

 

great write up.

my thoughts after reading the article:

1) trade jones, 18, pap, and prigs for lowry, lawson, or jennings

2) beverley, smith, and KJ will probably receive larger offers than we care to give them, and we will probably let them walk.

3) use MLE on lou williams to add even more scoring to the team.

4) draft a PF at #32 (yes morey takes the BPA, but that's usually an undersized PF right?)

5) vet min signings of: terry, scola, and aaron brooks

roster will be:

dwight-capela-dorsey
dmo-scola-#32
ariza-brewer-summer league guy
harden-lou-terry
lowry-brooks-NJ

we would be adding 5 guys who can create offense for themselves and play defense. warriors watch out!

 

HAHAHAHAHAH

almost fell out of my chair

dude delivers

 

Yup, and Harrison had a pretty disappointing season off the bench. I noticed Kerr said they'd been remarkably lucky w/ regard to both health & guys buying into their roles. They were very fortunate that Lee and Iggy were willing to accept changes to their roles this season. Having Draymond in the starting lineup and Iggy's playmaking off the bench was huge for them.

 

Gasol presents as many problems as he solves

1) defending 4's. Defending the majority of 4's would be tough with either Howard or Gasol. Draymond Green? Lamarcus? Love? All these guys are quicker than both, could bring them out / away from rebounding position / etc. It's better than Asik, but we'll still see similar twin tower issues that we saw before.

2) Playing slow and fast. This team as constructed likes to push the pace when possible, get early shots up when they're there. Sometimes Howard is lagging for those efforts. Now you'll have 2 guys lagging. Effectively, this would almost necessitate playing slow / half-court much more often. Might be ok, but feels like it's moving away from what Morey/McHale want to do.

3) losing Ariza. Yes, can be fixed...but would be tough as well


I love Gasol, but I don't think I think him + Howard together is a winning solution if it means losing Ariza

 

Defensively, Dwight and Asik looked great defending other double big lineups. Gasol is even a better match for Dwight defensively than Asik was. Dwight most certainly can guard 4's out on the floor. But you don't have to make him do it a whole lot. You're gonna force teams to go small on you, which means you can then take out one of our bigs and plug in a stretch 4 and roll. Or stay big and blow them out dominating the paint area and forcing them to miss 3's.

 

Thanks Clutch. Great read and spot on.

It's important to remember this squad was oh so close to being out in the second round, which would have made the need for more wholesale changes more obvious. The biggest change getting past the Clippers showed is that Mchale is NOT in over his head. he'll still have dumb coach moments, but he out-coached Carlisle and Rivers, and just didn't have the horses to match GS.

I think this statement:
The Rockets have two amazing superstars as their core

is perhaps too much.

I can't get over how much of a liability Dwight can be offensively. GREAT on appropriate PnRs, on lob dunks. But horrible offensive creator. Too many turnovers (I know, saying this after Harden's historic turnover performance), and HORRIBLE at free throws. In a league where offense is increasingly important (see the Spurs shift, see the Warriors rise, the Clippers rise, the Rockets, etc.), in a league where wing and backcourt players are increasingly important, is Dwight still a SUPERSTAR? if so, is he an "amazing" superstar. Keep in mind, Dwight is currently scheduled to be the 4th HIGHEST paid player in the NBA next year.

The going after Gasol is interesting. Gasol makes absolutely no sense next to Dwight. Neither should be guarding the opposing teams PF night in and night out. It completely devalues their production.

The only way it makes ANY sense for them to even put out feelers on him would be if they had considered moving Dwight. Besides which, even if it was trading for someone like LMA, I think at this point i consider Ariza more valuable than Dwight. I know it sounds stupid, but Ariza is a heck of a defensive player in the backcourt, which you absolutely have to have next to Harden, and is a 3 point shooter, which you absolutely have to have next to Harden. and most importantly, he's a bargain. Ariza makes 1/3 of what Dwight does.

I posted this in another thread, but you could do something like:
Dwight, TJones for Lawson, Hickson, Jameer Nelson

If Jameer opts out, you have the potential to get to $21 million in cap space. Keep DMo. Hopefully sign the max FA big of your choice - LMA, Love, Gasol, DeAndre Jordan. I'd probably lean Jordan of those - he's almost Dwight's equal, is younger, helps weaken the Clippers, is defensive focused.

Starters: Lawson, Harden, Ariza, DMo, Jordan
Bench: Bev (re-sign), Hickson, fill out remainder. Certainly need a better bench.

Just a thought... you could try and go all offense and go for Love instead of Jordan.

Whatever... it is definitely interesting that they are nibbling around the edges at a guy like Gasol. Maybe it's just because DM has always had a hard-on for him, though...

 

4th on Basketball Reference
3rd on NBAstats

They use different rating systems. I like NBAstats because it's simply points/100 possessions.

 

Not necessarily. Gasol is a good enough shooter and passer on the perimeter and Dwight is athletic enough to chase both C and PFs. These two guys might work together.

 

Clutch said in the article (good read as always, by the way):

I read that and thought to myself:

That's Donatas. Has the post game that Dwight doesn't, spreads the court to make it easier for James to penetrate.

That's Donatas. He drastically improved his three shooting this year. Take that Clyde Drexler.

Well, I don't know about the "versatility part" but...that's Donatas. D Mo is a very good positional defender. If we had him for the Clipper series to defend Blake, we would not have had to come back from 3-1.

This team lost so much when Donatas went down -- I hope everyone understands that. He really is the perfect compliment to Howard and Harden.

Ariza is a great fit as well, and Capela is exactly what we need in a backup center.

For me, this offseason is all about getting a starting point guard who is a playmaker, can score, and is not a liability on defense. If the Rockets can do that (and stay at least a little healthier than this season) they could very well be a plus 60 win team next season, and be able to compete for the top seed in the west.

 

There are almost no "double big" lineups. That is mostly an irrelevant point.

Dwight can guard some 4's on the floor in spurts. I think any who can put the ball on the floor can give him problems, any that stretch the floor will give him problems (he'll sag too often), etc. He also doesn't punish smaller guys often enough in the post to force teams to go big.

 

For starters, I sure would like this guy as a solid rotation player / back up PG:

Spoiler

Also, thanks for article, Clutch. Great read.

 

I definitely agree.

But he did go down. It didn't seem like a chronic injury... but who knows. It kind of came out of nowhere.

I think probability is he plays at the same level next year, and is helpful in the playoffs... but we just went two years in a row where Bev got hurt and either couldn't play or played hurt and subpar in the playoffs.

I would just be cautious saying "DMo fills that gap. He'll be there next year" ... when we have no idea who will be healthy, and when.

Rockets need more, better players. That's clear.

 

If we signed Marc, we would probably be breaking up the most formidable double-big lineup.

1. But aside from that....DeAndre/Blake is a double big lineup.

2. Duncan/Splitter or potentially Duncan/LaMarcus is a double-big lineup.

3. LaMarcus/Lopez is a double-big lineup.

4. GS's lineup with Bogut/Draymond is a big power lineup. Ideally you want Green to stand outside and shoot 3's. He's not good at them. And if he comes down low you want Dwight on him. Gotta have the second big to tangle with Bogut.

5. The Pelies play a lot of double big lineups with Davis at the 4 and Asik/whoever at the 5.

6. Dallas with Dirk/Chandler is a double-big lineup. And they're going to try to get LaMarcus or DeAndre.

7. If Sac drafts WCS, then they will be playing a ton of minutes with double bigs.

8. Utah, a young team on the rise, plays a double big lineup with Gobert and Favors.

9. OKC plays a double-big lineup with Adams/Ibaka.

10. If Love winds up with the Lakers as a free agent and they draft Okafor or Townes there's you another double-big lineup.

11. If Minny drafts Townes, there's another double-big lineup with either Pek or Dieng.

12. If Chicago somehow makes it out of the East, they're running Noah, Pau, and Taj at the big man spots along with a stretch 4. That's power bigs.

13. And last but not least, irregardless of what Love does, Cleveland is going to be running Mozgov, Tristan Thompson in the middle at the very least. If CLE somehow retains Love then they're bigs are Mozgov, Love, TT, and essentially Lebron.



The path to the Finals is littered with teams with double-big lineups. Gotta put on the big-boy britches and bring it.

 

Scola?!

I agree the Smith walks. What do you think Rox would match at for Bev though?

 

Dude, you can't just point out basically all C/PF combos and call them "double big" lineups.

The "double big" in quotation means, basically, two centers, or center-like bigs.

Sure, Davis/Asik at times. Sure, Duncan/Splitter at times.

But even those lineups weren't predominant. The Pelicans were better in the playoffs for example when Davis and Asik weren't playing together. The Spurs are just as good with Diaw as with Splitter depending on the matchup.

The point remains.

Dwight Howard + Marc Gasol on the same team, bot make near or above $20 million in salary, is LUDICROUS.

if the Rockets are targeting Gasol, it's because they are also thinking of moving Dwight.

 

good read. a successful season indeed.

 

what he said