Coming into the 2012-2013 NBA season, the Houston Rockets seemed destined for yet another year of mediocrity, lottery picks, and a long summer vacation. Even after signing Jeremy Lin, many had the Rockets finishing towards the bottom of the Western Conference, winning anywhere from 25 to 31 regular season games.
Then James Harden happened.
Despite being the youngest team in the NBA, the Rockets defied expectations by winning 45 games and taking the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
With the incredible success that the Rockets had this season, on top possessing one of the most talented cores in the NBA, it appears that Houston has nowhere to go but up if they can take advantage of this upcoming offseason.
Let’s take a look at five improvements the Rockets need to make to become contenders next season.
1. Power Forward
Despite Omer Asik and Chandler Parsons having breakout seasons, after trading Patrick Patterson to the Sacramento Kings, the Rockets played a majority of the season without an established power forward. However, they have a few options to fill this gap.
One option they have is to develop the young talent that they have on their current roster. When they dealt Patterson to the Kings, in return, they were given one of the top young power forwards from this years NBA Draft, the fifth overall draft pick, Thomas Robinson. In his junior season at Kansas, Robinson averaged 17.7 points per game, shot 50.5% from the field, and averaged 11.9 rebounds per game.
While Robinson didn’t see much playing time this season, potentially due to his high turnover rate, three turnovers per 36 minutes, his athleticism, ability to grab rebounds, and score makes him a very viable option heading into next season.
Another route the Rockets may choose to take, especially if they are unable to sign Dwight Howard, is to shop the free agency market for one of the power forwards who have already established themselves in the league. Names that the Rockets must consider are: Paul Millsap, Josh Smith and David West.
All three of these players are unrestricted free agents this summer and would almost certainly add instant offense, as well as more reliable defense, to the Rockets instantaneously, while giving the younger talent more time to grow.
2. Free Agency
The Rockets are one of the first names that come to mind when people discuss where Dwight Howard might end up this summer and signing Howard would thrust the Rockets into contention. Not since the years of a healthy Yao Ming have the Rockets had an All-Star post presence that brings the full package: scoring, rebounding and defensive presence in the paint.
Whether or not the Rockets will be able to attract Dwight Howard to Houston is a different story.
Another free-agency option the Rockets may pursue is to attempt to lure Chris Paul away from the Los Angeles Clippers. Although Houston just signed Jeremy Lin to a massive contract at the beginning of last summer, he hasn’t quite yet developed into the point guard that general manager Daryl Morey may have hoped he would. He’s still young and very motivated to grow, according to David Barron of the Houston Chronicle, but bringing in a future Hall of Famer in Chris Paul would certainly improve the Rockets’ backcourt. Combined with Harden, the addition of Paul would give the Rockets one of the most lethal point/shooting guard combinations in the NBA.
If the Rockets are unable to sign either Howard or Paul, as mentioned above, it is likely that they will pursue signing one of the top power forwards available in this year’s free agency.
Regardless of what the Rockets end up doing with their cap space this summer, it’s hard to see how they will not be able to make drastic improvements to their already solid, young roster.
3. Capitalizing in the draft
While the Rockets don’t possess any first-round draft picks this year, they do have one pick early in the second round, the 34th overall pick. As Morey has proven before, he doesn’t need a first-round draft pick to find great talent that can contribute immensely. One needs to look no further than Chandler Parsons as evidence for this.
Draftexpress.com, in their mock draft, predict the Rockets will choose Mike Muscala out of Bucknell, with their pick. Muscala is a 6’11” center who averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds his senior season. According to the scouting report on Muscala, he was not only a great scoring big man, but his 14.8 rebounds per 40 minutes were on par, historically, with the likes of Kevin Love and Andrew Bogut.
For further evidence of the on court talent Muscala possesses, take a look at this video:
Muscala would offer the Rockets much needed depth at the center position, especially if they are unable to sign Dwight Howard, but would not be expected to play big minutes early in his career, which would give him plenty of time to develop into a solid NBA player.
4. Strengthen the Point Guard position
When the Rockets signed Jeremy Lin, many believed they gave him a large contract and expected his performance this season to mirror what he did during his stretch as Linsanity in New York. Thus, when he didn’t put up incredible numbers like that, people were quick to call him a flop and write him off as a good NBA point guard.
What people fail to recognize is that Lin is still a very young player with plenty of room to grow. In the meantime, the Rockets still need to address this position on their roster if they are going to contend for the top seed in the Western Conference. Lin and Patrick Beverley have proven that they can play big minutes in games, but the problem lies in their consistency to do so.
For example, against the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 30, Lin scored 22 points, shooting 53 percent from the field. However, in his next game against the Bobcats, Lin only managed to score nine points while turning the ball over four times. Then, in the next game against the Golden State Warriors, Lin scored 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
In the 16 games where Lin scored 20-plus points, nine of these were followed by performance where he scored less than 15 points and six of those nine were followed by performances where he scored less than 10 points, with the most dramatic difference coming from a game where he only scored 10 points against the Wizards after scoring 38 against the Spurs two nights before.
Moreover, although he averaged six assists this season, Lin also turned the ball over 2.9 times per game this season, according to NBA.com.
If the Rockets want their fast-paced offense to produce at even more efficient levels, they’re either going to have to find a way to get consistent scoring from their point guards, while minimizing the number of times that the ball is turned over.
5. Mature and grow as a team
Undoubtedly one of the best things that happened to the Rockets this season was obtaining James Harden in a huge trade. However, what few remember to account for is that the Rockets received Harden on Oct. 27 and four days later he stepped on the court in a Rockets uniform and scored 37 points, dished out 12 assists, grabbed six rebounds and had four steals.
Essentially, the Rockets did everything that they did this season without hardly any time to grow together as a unit.
Coming into the season, not only was Houston the youngest team in the NBA at around a team average of 25 years of age, but at the beginning of the season, the only players remaining from their team last year were Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morrison, Chandler Parsons and Greg Smith.
This offseason will be the first chance that this team has had to truly get to know one another, study how they play together as a unit and become even more cohesive. As the San Antonio Spurs are proving this season, continuity on a team can do wonders. Give the Rockets a summer to grow and the results could prove to be unbelievable.