|REALGM|2010-11 Season Preview: Houston Rockets

_RTM_ · Oct 9, 2010

2009-2010 Stats Record: 42-40
Seeding: 9th in the West
Playoff Result: N/A

What changed since June: New Blood and New Old Blood

The two biggest changes from the team that ended last year should both have meaningful effects. First, we have the return of Yao Ming. While it appears his minutes will be limited initially, potentially the whole year, it is hard to overstate the impact he can have on a game. Furthermore, the addition of Brad Miller gives Houston another big who can contribute at the center position as opposed to having a guy playing against substantially taller guys.

The other move is getting a little less attention and that is the swap of Trevor Ariza for Courtney Lee as a part of the bigger trade. My best guess is that much of Ariza’s niche will be filled by Shane Battier this year, but clearly Daryl Morey has intentions of playing Lee and Kevin Martin together- otherwise that trade never happens.

Houston’s biggest strength: Quality of Size

It is genuinely shocking how few teams have a starting quality power forward and center whose games mesh well. Yao and Luis Scola complement each other and what makes the Rockets special is that they have a ton of overall depth at PF and C. While only losing David Andersen, Houston added both Brad Miller and Patrick Patterson to the fold on top of Chuck Hayes, Jared Jeffries and Jordan Hill. Even with Yao playing limited minutes, this team should be able to overwhelm opponents on the interior while changing shots and clogging driving lanes.

Houston’s biggest weakness: Uncertainty in the Swingman Rotation

The Rockets clearly possess swingman talent. Martin, Battier, Lee, and Chase Budinger are all solid talents, as well as a group of other guys like Jermaine Taylor that could break out. The remaining issue is how these pieces all fit together now that Ariza is gone and replaced with Lee. At this juncture Kevin Martin is the only true #1 scorer of the group and Battier is the only lock-down defender, though Lee has serious potential on the defensive end. The connected issue is that Martin, Lee, and Budinger are all natural SF’s with physical limitations guarding small forwards. Coach Adelman can choose either to just roll with it, acknowledging that it will be hard for other teams to guard their men as well, or change up the group somehow. Either way, it is the biggest flaw for this deep team.

The Big Question: How quickly can they get in sync?

The Western Conference is stacked this year. As such, teams that get out to a quick start will have an advantage to press while sluggish teams will have to work that much harder to get back in the hunt. Houston has plenty of talent, yet did not even have much meaningful time last season to get in a rhythm with the guys that are returning for 10-11. As such, how they start could prove intensely important for the following months.

Where the team fits in:

A heavily injured Rockets team finished over .500, yet still ended up eight games out of the playoffs. We do not know if the bug will strike again, but management has built a team that is even deeper than last year, especially accounting for the limited return of Yao. This team at their peak is clearly in the second tier in the West, but the time necessary for them to mesh coupled with just how vulnerable this team is to injury with their pivotal top guys makes the lower-end playoff hunt (6-9 in the West, with a better record than last season) the most likely outcome.
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Read more: http://www.realgm.com/src_feature_p...season_preview_houston_rockets/#ixzz11riQkVXX

gabion · Oct 9, 2010

_RTM_ said:

Read more: http://www.realgm.com/src_feature_p...season_preview_houston_rockets/#ixzz11riQkVXX
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nice thread.. although i expected a higher ranking for them

mylilpony · Oct 9, 2010

just sounds like another writer afraid of stepping out there with a bold prediction, so he picks "we will be the same or a little better than last year."
Oh, wow. The tenacity.

diegot143 · Oct 9, 2010

Let the haters hate, Rockets just have to prove them fools wrong.

DaDakota · Oct 9, 2010

Huh, so Lee is a small forward...huh...did not know that.

DD

AstroRocket · Oct 9, 2010

The connected issue is that Martin, Lee, and Budinger are all natural SF’s...
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Opinion invalidated.

TheRealist137 · Oct 9, 2010

What does 2nd tier mean?

If LA is clearly superior to anybody else out West, they are the only 1st tier team.

lionaire · Oct 9, 2010

Haters gonna hate.

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