Houston Rockets Offseason Challenges: The Draft

Entering the offseason, it’s only fair to admit that, even though they failed to reach the mountain-top, the Houston Rockets‘ 2014-15 season was somewhat of a success.

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After being on the wrong side of the scale as they went through an array of injuries throughout the year, the Rockets still reached the Western Conference Finals and were able to trade punches (sort of) with one of the most legitimate Western Conference champions in a while, the Golden State Warriors.

Now, it’s time to focus on how can the offseason-savvy Houston Rockets improve this summer.

With an impending free agency and the 2015 NBA Draft, the Houston Rockets have a lot of things to figure out if they wish to compete, once again, in the Western Conference for a chance to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in two decades.

The Houston Rockets will likely try to bring Clint Capela, Donatas Motiejunas and Terrence Jones back; therefore, drafting a bigger player like UCLA’s Kevon Looney or Virginia’s Justin Anderson is hopefully out the question.

James Harden has brought up the Rockets’ need to reinforce their backcourt. With the 18th pick of the draft, the Houston Rockets have a chance to fulfill the shooting guard’s demands by taking Duke’s Tyus Jones.

After reaching the national championship game, the Blue Devils beat the Wisconsin Badgers and won the title thanks to an explosive 19-point second half performance from Jones.

He also became the Most Outstanding Player of a tournament featuring the likes of Frank Kaminsky, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, Karl-Anthony Towns, and none other than the artist formerly known as Willie Cauley-Stein.*

As good as Tyus Jones is, the 2015-16 Houston Rockets will likely continue to run almost all of their offense through Harden and a healthy Patrick Beverley, who will be coming back from a wrist injury that kept him out of the 2014-15 playoffs.

The Rockets know they’ll get nowhere by riding James Harden and Patrick Beverley to the ground — minutes-wise — so if they were to draft and stash Jones — hoping he could work under James Harden’s and Daryl Morey’s mentorship to become the backcourt player they need — they’d still need a guard that could hit the ground running and take over some of the minutes currently allotted to Beverley and Harden.

So, with only $56.1 million on their books for the 2015-16 season — if they were to exercise all their options — it would probably be a smart move for the Houston Rockets to pursue a (sort of) proven guard.

On the offensive side of the ball, Harden has them covered, however, what the Rockets really need is a defensively inclined guard. If the Rockets had had Patrick Beverley during the Western Conference Finals to at least make Stephen Curry work for his shots, they would’ve had a chance to hide/rest Harden on defense in order to take full advantage of his offense.

But instead, they had to turn to defensive liabily — at best — Jason Terry to try and stop Stephen Curry.**

The obvious choice would be to pursue Ty Lawson. It’s no secret that Ty Lawson is not willing to be part of the rebuilding process the Denver Nuggets will likely go through. And with the league turning to the 3-point shot more than ever, an effective on-ball defender like Lawson would definitely help improve the Rockets’ wing defense.

Daryl Morey loves continuity and is arguably the most statistical inclined general manager in the NBA. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that he’ll blow up the Houston Rockets core just to make a big splash during the offseason — not after what they achieved this year.

In fact, Morey will most definitely try and bring back as much guys as he can and simply add any of the previous pieces in an effort to give the Rockets the much-needed edge they need to

eventually

hopefully come out of the Western Confernce for a shot at their first NBA championship in two decades.

* Now Willie Trill Cauley-Stein

** During Game 5, the Houston Rockets’ energy was at an all-time. Maybe that’s what eventually trumped their undeniable will and talent.

Next: Have The Rockets Reached a Tipping Point?

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