Roster shuffles continue, but team looking up at Warriors
Were it easy to build a championship NBA roster …
I won’t even close that sentence with some witty phrase guising as a deep or meaningful point.
There is no need for Shakespearean prose. The difficulty is obvious.
Despite all of the talk and the megahits for ESPN’s online trade machine, it is unlikely that a championship team was built by moves made before Thursday’s trade deadline.
The league awards a championship trophy every year, but the number of teams with legitimate hopes of claiming it is never more than a hand-
ful. Often not that many.
The few remained the few Thursday.
General manager Daryl Morey has pushed and pulled, ripped and grabbed, putting in full effort to make sure the Rockets are among them.
He was successful a year ago. The Rockets were one of the two best teams in basketball.
This year has been a bit more difficult. Offseason departures, in-season injuries, and upgrades by other teams have led to the Rockets’ not being among the NBA’s best.
Two-thirds of the way through the regular season, with the NBA trade deadline gone, the Rockets are trying to figure out who they are, what they are and what they can be.
Thanks to a quality buyout market, Trader Daryl might not be done, but regardless, the Rockets have work to do to move into contention.
James Harden should win his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award, but aside from his splendid play, this Rockets season has been a dud. Good thing there is plenty of basketball left to be played.
With powerhouse Golden State atop the mountain and improving, the Rockets needed to get better to have as good a season as they did a year ago.
The Rockets’ marketing department sold “Run it Back” as a slogan, but standing pat with the hopes of a rerun of last year’s 65-win Western Conference finals appearance wasn’t the smartest option.
Matching the offer Trevor Ariza received from Phoenix was unrealistic. Keeping Luc Mbah a Moute was doable, but the projection that he wouldn’t be worth it has proved accurate as he has played in just four games for the Clippers, with no meaningful contribution, because of a knee injury.
Ryan Anderson, who desperately wanted out, has played in only a quarter of Phoenix’s games, unable to crack the rotation for a team with the worst record in the conference. Those were the right moves. The corresponding replacements were not, as the three players brought in to hold down those roster spots are gone.
James Ennis III, traded away for a tiny promissory note Thursday, was solid but hardly a gamechanger. Carmelo Anthony, who brought more bright lights than highlights in his 10-game stint, and Michael Carter-Williams, who brought even less, were each paid to leave.
Morey rarely suffers so many blows in such short order. He has recovered nicely.
Free-agent pickups Kenneth Faried and Austin Rivers became instant contributors, and Iman Shumpert, whom the Rockets traded for Wednesday, should step right into the rotation when he suits up against Oklahoma City on Saturday.
Faried has brought major energy and averaged 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds in nine games. Rivers hasn’t been as consistent, but has averaged double-digit points and played valuable minutes when the team was short-handed.
As disappointing as the season has been, the Rockets (32-22) are 10 games over .500 for the first time this season and just 2½ games out of the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
When Clint Capela returns from a thumb injury and Chris Paul rounds into game shape after missing more than a month, the Rockets should be better.
How much better will depend on whether Faried and Shumpert can help the Rockets improve from the bottom of the league in defense to at least the middle of the pack.
The true measure of what type team Morey has built will come down the stretch and in the playoffs.
As crazy as it sounds, the Rockets brass believes Golden State is the only Western Conference team clearly better than the Rockets.
Las Vegas odds bear that out. Will the Warriors be better than who the Rockets hope to be in May?