Houston Rockets: Patrick Beverley, Ty Lawson Should Play Together

The Houston Rockets have found themselves in an enviable situation that they would not have expected at the end of last season. In spite of having one of the very best shooting guards in the NBA in the form of James Harden, the Rockets had a pretty significant backcourt issue.

In a Western Conference absolutely littered with elite point guards, the Rockets were at a decided disadvantage at that position after starter Patrick Beverley went down with a wrist injury at the end of last March.

That forced the Rockets to rotate guys like Nick Johnson and Pablo Prigioni into that vital spot for regular minutes down the stretch and into the playoffs. These guys certainly competed, but when you’re rolling out a guy like Prigioni for regular minutes, and he scores 6.5 points per 36 in the playoffs (and an identical rate in the regular season), you have a production problem.

ALSO ON HOOPSHABIT: 25 Best Players To Play For The Rockets

Enter Ty Lawson. As has been documented to death at this point, Lawson needed to start anew and found his way off the Denver Nuggets.

Ty Lawson isn’t a superstar, and he’s had some nagging injuries over the course of his career, including back issues this preseason. Given the issues his new team has had with injuries of late, that almost seems like a prerequisite to be a Rocket.

What Lawson is, however, is an aggressive ball-pushing point guard. His Denver Nugget squads never finished lower than fifth in the NBA in pace or possessions per game, and three times in his six years finished as high as second. Playing in the altitude of Denver made that aggressive up-and-down style of play a calling card of those Denver teams.

That brings us to today’s Houston Rockets squad. Last season the Rockets finished second in the NBA in pace, with 96.5 possessions per game. That number is higher than every single Nuggets ranking in Lawson’s tenure, save one. The 2013-14 Denver Nuggets had 98.1 possessions per game.

Lawson fits the Rockets’ game plan better than almost any point guard in the NBA, and certainly better than all but the most elite like Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Lawson will be able to push the ball quickly upcourt, and he’s a slasher who can create for the Rockets perimeter scorers. He’s not a stellar defender like Patrick Beverley, but as long as he can avoid being a turnstile on the perimeter he should be able to make up for being exposed on the defensive end with his offensive acumen.

While the Rockets default configuration will most likely be to start Lawson and bring Beverley off the bench to spell him, there may be times when the team will call on them to play together in the backcourt in a dual-point guard lineup. This lineup is one that head coach Kevin McHale has indicated he will be keeping a particular eye on, according to the Houston Chronicle.

"“I want to see if it works,” McHale said. “I’m going to try a lot of people together. We’re going to go small with different things. I just think Pat and Ty give us a different look. Why we do anything, to see if it works. But I’m going to take a look at it. The efficiency and effectiveness of it will determine if we stay with it or if we go, ‘Oh, that’s not going to work.’"

This duo would allow the Rockets to play at a breakneck pace while Lawson and Beverley are on the floor together. A lineup with the two point guards and James Harden and Trevor Ariza or Corey Brewer at forward would be able to play at a pace almost nobody in the NBA would be able to match.

This backcourt alignment would come with drawbacks. While Lawson and Beverley are fast, they’re both undersized. Lawson is 5-foot-11 and weighs 195 pounds, and Beverly is 6-foot-1 and weighs 185. When teams are able to get into half-court sets against the Rockets, bigger guards will be able to post up and wear down these small guards.

As a result, it’s a stretch to picture the Rockets featuring this duo for extensive minutes, but the upside is high enough that they’re going to need to give it a try.

Lawson elaborated on the gameplan for the dual-point guard lineup in the article by the Houston Chronicle.

"“Me and Pat have been talking about being on the court at the same time; he’s going to handle the ball mostly,” Lawson said. “I will be coming off down screens and stuff like that and getting open so I can make the second penetration. We’ve been talking about different options. I think we’re on the same page with it.“I like playing off the ball and I like coming off down screens, so if I get it and get in the paint, I can find open people easier than just coming down, everybody homing in on me.”"

The Rockets have gone from having a point guard situation worse than any elite NBA team to having versatility only dreamt of by most teams in just a few short months.

This versatility is going to grow and evolve over the course of this season, but you can rest assured that some of the most intriguing basketball played this season will involve situations where Lawson and Beverley share the court.

Next: Each State's All-Time NBA Starting Five

More from Hoops Habit

• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
• NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers