Who Caused Houston’s Disappointing Season?
The Houston Rockets failed to come close to expectations this season, stumbling into the playoffs and losing to Golden State in five games. Who is to blame for their disappointing season?
For a Houston Rockets team with its sights set on an NBA championship, a 41-41 record and an embarrassing five-game loss in the playoffs was the basketball version of stepping on a rake and smacking your face with the handle. The question is: who left the rake in the yard?
With a flop this large there are clearly multiple culprits, and the failure that was the Houston Rockets this year there are a plethora. Here are the ten people most responsible for the dysfunction.
10. J.B. Bickerstaff
“JBB” was more an observer to the mess, as he became coach a few weeks into the season after Kevin McHale was fired (note: McHale is not on this list). But he contributed to the problem by not being a solution, proving wholly unable to retain chemistry or get this team to care.
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9. Josh Smith
Things got so bad in Houston that Daryl Morey thought trading to get Josh Smith back was the sane thing to do. Smith has been that sort of deceptive player his whole career, tricking teams into thinking he’s worth having around. If Morey hadn’t been hoodwinked by Smith, he may have been able to find a real solution.
8. Daryl Morey
Speaking of Morey, his “Moreyball” approach clearly forgot a vital aspect of team-building: chemistry matters. You can’t simply gather a collection of box scores and VORPs, give them a playbook based on an analytical model, and expect to win championships. When the only locker room veteran is Jason Terry and the two biggest stars have track records of attitude problems, more care needs to be taken in that area. And that’s on the GM.
7. Lil B
The rapper has purported to dabble in dark magic for years now, laying curses on various NBA players. But his favored target has been James Harden and the Houston Rockets organization, specifically for Harden’s alleged theft of his “cooking dance” celebration. While his direct curse on Harden was said to be lifted, he later cursed the Rockets’ organization for making Harden bobbleheads featuring the Bearded One in mid-cooking motion.
If there are darker forces at work, it seems reasonable to think Lil B had something to do with them.
“Donuts” missed much of the season coming back from injury, and as a key part of their successful 2014-15 season his mere absence hurt the team on the court. But Motiejunas did come back and in the playoffs “tripped” and slid across the court, using his sweat to prepare a death trap for Stephen Curry’s knee. Was bad karma from his future action retroactively affecting the team? Did his penchant for hurting people extend to fans of the Houston Rockets?
These are serious questions that have to be asked after a season such as this one.
5. NBA Players — All of Them
Last season Stephen Curry led the Warriors to a 67-15 record, 11 wins more than Houston, and Curry was rewarded with the league MVP trophy. Harden, the runner-up, could have entered this season with a chip on his shoulder ready to claim a trophy of his own. The NBA players, however, made Harden their pick for MVP, awarding him a trophy and showering him with praise.
This unadulterated praise went to Harden’s head, and he spent the offseason focused on how great he was instead of focusing on how to get better. If the NBA players did that on purpose, they are the ones who should be awarded a trophy.
4. Ty Lawson
Perhaps the biggest weakness on last season’s team was at point guard. Patrick Beverley plays tenacious defense, but is a shaky shooter and ball-handler and he missed the playoffs. The Rox needed a secondary playmaker, and felt like they had one by trading for Ty Lawson. Instead, Lawson was a wreck from the start, averaging only 5.8 points and 3.4 assists for the Rockets and shooting 38 percent from the field, 5 percentage points below his previous career low.
His off-court issues also could have contributed to unrest in the locker room. In short, Morey’s gamble on Lawson backfired, and they were forced to simply cut Lawson this spring. Add in the first-round pick headed to Denver from the trade, and Ty Lawson had a major part in sinking this season — and beyond — before it began.
3. Khloe Kardashian
This really applies to the entire Kardashian family. They have a track record of imploding star athletes, from Reggie Bush to Kris Humphries. Recent history tells us when a player begins dating a Kardashian, their career is going to take a major turn for the worse. Thus the entire world should have seen this disaster of a season coming when Harden began dating Khloe Kardashian this offseason.
Pictures of Harden napping on a couch next to Kanye West or hitting up the beach scene with his new girl circulated the Internet. No pictures of Harden “hitting the weight room with K.J. McDaniels” or “at Starbucks reading ‘Defense for Beginners’” surfaced. Players trying to date the Hollywood scene are going to be distracted. Harden went for the pinnacle of distracting offseasons, and it showed.
Dwight Howard has often been described as childish, selfish, and petulant. While it seems fair to point out Howard’s lack of maturity, especially in making major career decisions, he also seems to have been mis-characterized. He is not as much of a team cancer as he is made out to be.
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That being said, anything other than “humble teammate who always gives 150 percent” was going to hurt this team and Howard never stepped up. Frozen out of the offense by James “world record for consecutive dribbles” Harden, Dwight pulled away, becoming disinterested in helping his team win. The divide between Harden and Howard meant the team wasn’t unified in moving forward, but rather skirting around this simmering issue.
If Dwight came out this year publicly supporting Harden as the top dog, played his absolute hardest on every possession of defense and filled a role as an elite pick-and-roll finisher? This Houston team may have had a very different season and the popular perception of Dwight may have been significantly different.
1. James Harden
Where to begin? James Harden was clearly the center of the problem in Houston, a superstar who ignored one end of the court and showed little commitment to excellence in his play, demeanor, or work ethic. After his offseason of indulgence, Harden came into camp out of shape. As the leader of a team, it is his responsibility to set the example for the rest of the roster.
Instead, the team saw someone who wasn’t committed enough to stay in peak condition — a problem from the beginning.
Harden averaged a career high in points and assists, with shooting percentages in line with his last few years in Houston. However, he also averaged a career-high in turnovers, personal fouls and terrible-defense Vines. Of the top-70 players at all positions in ESPN’s RPM metric, Harden had the worst defensive RPM of anyone at -0.78. Among only shooting guards, Harden’s defensive RPM was 47th. If their leader doesn’t try on defense, why would the rest of the team?
His ball dominance also froze out the rest of the team. As Serge Ibaka highlighted in a prescient quote in March, it’s hard to stay engaged with the game when you are never touching the ball. Harden gets assists, but they generally come as catch-and-shoot opportunities after Harden has dribbled and probed for most of the shot clock. Other players are not given the opportunity to create with the ball, to grow as offensive players.
Harden is an amazing offensive player, but his game seems more like he’s playing one-on-one than a game focused on making an entire team excel.
Harden’s demeanor and on-court game paint the picture of a player very focused on himself. He has cracked skulls with Dwight Howard, yes, but he’s also reportedly had problems with (former coach) Kevin McHale, with teammates and with team officials. What became evident this season is that he is either not ready, not willing, or perhaps entirely unable to take mature leadership of this team.
All of the team talent in the world is pointless without chemistry and leadership and Houston has sorely lacked both this past season.
Is this something that can be fixed? Perhaps. Letting Dwight Howard walk is a good first step; keeping him in this locker room is not the best atmosphere for Harden to grow into his leadership position. Bringing in a strong locker room veteran would be another step. Finally, a coach who can get through to Harden and provide accountability is a must. This team has the talent, but putting it together rests first and foremost on the shoulders of their star.
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Or, if you believe in such things, on the spellbook of Lil B. If that’s the case, this team has a lot further to fall.