Can nice pieces solve playoff puzzle?
Rockets are interesting but need a superstar to be true contender
There is one definitive thing to say about the post-James Harden Rockets.
They appear to have already won the Russell Westbrook trade.
Have you seen Westbrook’s shooting numbers lately?
Wow.
And I don’t mean the good wow.
The ex-Rocket (Westbrook, not Harden) is connecting on only 37.4 percent of his field-goal attempts and 61.7 percent of his free throws. Even with injuries, inconsistency and COVID-19-related postponements factored in, it’s eerie seeing the Rockets’ second-best player last season averaging just 18.1 points for a 3-11 Washington team that the worst record in the NBA.
Ex-Wizard John Wall recorded team highs in points (24) and assists (five) Tuesday night in the Rockets’ 107-88 home victory over Washington, which marked their third consecutive win and pulled Stephen Silas’ 7-9 team within 1½ games of eighth place in the Western Conference.
Is Wall worth $41.2 million this season, $44.3 million next season and $47.3 million in 2022-23? No, if you’re a realist. Not yet, if you’re an optimist.
But Westbrook is set to basically make the same. Which means Westbrook’s deciding he didn’t want to play with Harden in Houston anymore has already become one of the best things to happen to the Rockets this season.
Speaking of an NBA campaign that still has 56 games to go and could significantly change again for the Rockets just before the March 25 trade deadline …
Where do the new Rockets go from here?
And what type of team are they going to become?
Thanks to Cal McNair, Jack Easterby and Deshaun Watson — I’ll start including new general manager Nick Caserio when we’re all convinced Easterby isn’t still secretly running the Texans — Houston’s NFL team has been demanding our minute-by-minute attention and draining our brain space ever since Harden quit on the Rockets on Jan. 12 and was giftwrapped to Brooklyn.
The fire encircling NRG
Stadium will burn hotter with the Texans settling on David Culley (who?) as their new head coach while 99 percent of fans are still hoping Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will somehow win the job in the final minute.
As for Houston’s NBA team?
They’re fun. Interesting.
Worth watching. Kind of cool.
But are they good? And
will they make the playoffs?
TBD.
You have to dial the local time machine back to 2011-12 to find the last time the Rockets failed to make the postseason.
Kevin McHale’s first season as Rockets HC. Lockout year. Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola, Courtney Lee and a 23year-old Chandler Parsons. A 34-32 record but ninth in the West, one spot behind a Utah team I covered in the Jazz’s post-Jerry Sloan era.
I already like the potential of these Rockets better than those Rockets. But there was a reason thenGM Daryl Morey pulled off a blockbuster for Harden just before the start of the next season: The Rockets needed a superstar to truly compete in the West.
Wall is just getting started here and should only improve, as long as he can stay on the court. But the 30-year-old point guard would rank 45th in the NBA in scoring (17.9 points) if he qualified right now, sandwiched between Eric Gordon and Lowry.
Christian Wood is currently the best Rocket. He’s averaging 23.5 points on 52.8 percent shooting and pulling down 10.8 rebounds per game. He’s also 25 years old, is making a team-friendly $13 million this season, and is under contract through 2023.
But Wood has initially appeared to be a strong complementary piece, not a future NBA superstar, while the Rockets are still searching for their oncourt identity on both sides of the floor under Silas.
Victor Oladipo is averaging 21.8 points in four games. Again: a strong complementary piece, not a superstar.
Wood, Wall, Oladipo,
Eric Gordon, DeMarcus Cousins, Jae’Sean Tate all together is … interesting. But what is it all going to become, and is there any way this roster can do any real damage in the West this season?
P.J. Tucker, once so valuable to Mike D’Antoni’s Rockets, feels like another trade waiting to happen.
LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers are 14-5 this season after knocking the Rockets out of the playoffs and winning it all.
Utah (14-4) is the hottest team in the Association and drilling 3-pointers like D’Antoni’s old Rockets.
Then there is Los Angeles’ other NBA team and Denver, Portland, Philadelphia, Boston, Milwaukee and Harden’s Nets.
Two of the Rockets’ last three wins have been against two of the NBA’s worst teams. When you remember how much has changed since last season’s Florida bubble ended, a 7-9 record feels right for these completely remade Rockets.
They’re interesting. They’re worth following and pulling for again.
But until they find another superstar(s), it’s hard to picture the Rockets being real contenders again.