Houston Rockets: Rockets Offseason Overview

With all of the rumors surrounding the Houston Rockets and Dwight Howard, it’s easy to forget that there are plenty of other aspects of this team the front office is focusing on during this offseason.

To make sure that you’re prepared for the Rockets offseason, let’s do an overview of the different parts of this team that have the potential to be affected during the summer.

Head Coach

Next year, Kevin McHale will be entering his third season as the Rockets’ head coach, where he will be looking to improve upon his record of 79-69 through the first two seasons. After leading the youngest team in the NBA to the playoffs last season, McHale will be given the chance to work with a relatively stable roster for the first time during his tenure in Houston.

McHale’s coaching ability he put on display last season made him a commodity in this offseason, especially given the number of coaches being let go.

If you watched the Rockets this season, you know that McHale prefers to defer to the veterans, while letting the rookies develop. In an interview with Jason Friedman, McHale said, “To be honest with you, I wish we had more veterans. I’m very competitive. I want to win. We can still win, but it’s always much more difficult to win on a consistent basis in this league with young guys.”

McHale’s experience, however, is great for this younger team. As a player, he knew what it took to win and as a coach, he is doing everything he can to instill that mindset into his players.

While the Rockets have lost some assistant coaching this offseason, their leader is there to stay and now that he has the ability to work with the younger guys like Thomas Robinson, James Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin, expect this team to come out even better than last year.

Point Guard

When the Rockets signed Jeremy Lin to three-year, $25 million deal, many were expecting him to produce at “Linsanity” levels immediately, forgetting that this 24-year-old still has lots of room to develop.

This season, Lin averaged 12.9 points (.89 per possession) and 5.9 assists per game. One area of his game that Lin will need to work on over the season will be ball control. This season, Lin averaged 2.8 turnovers per game.

When Lin was injured during the playoffs, backup point guard Patrick Beverley took advantage of the opportunity given to him. While Beverley didn’t make much of an offensive impact throughout the season, his tenacious defense was a welcome sight for a Houston team that struggled on the defensive end of the ball.

According to Ramneet Singh of Lakers Nation, it’s possible that Lin might not be a Rocket by the end of the offseason. In order to create cap room to sign a second all-star, the Rockets are reportedly looking to obtain Dwight Howard from the Lakers via a sign-and-trade.

However, this is certainly a long shot, and nobody ever knows what will happen with Dwight Howard, so more than likely, Rockets fans should expect see Lin back next season.

Shooting Guard

It’s said that few things in life are certain, namely life and death. Another one of those things is that James Harden will be back at shooting guard for the Rockets and poised for yet another All-Star year.

Small Forward

After the breakout season that Chandler Parsons had last year, the expectations for him are incredibly high.

The Houston Chronicle recently reported that Parsons has been invited to Team USA’s minicamp. What this means for Parsons is that he will be given the opportunity to train with players like Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard and Paul George, among others.

For Parsons, the opportunity to play against this level of talent will do wonders for his game. After last season, where he averaged 15.7 points (1.02 per possession), 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, another summer of development could do wonders for this young player.

Parsons’ role on this team is unlikely to change at all over the offseason, however, if the Rockets were to sign a true power forward, Parsons will see more time at his natural position of small forward instead of playing a stretch 4 like he often did last season.

Power Forward

The power forward spot has been the biggest question mark for the Houston Rockets this past season. With a plethora of young, but undeveloped, talent in Thomas Robinson, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas, the question for the Rockets is whether they will sign a proven power forward or move forward with one of these young players.

One change the Rockets might make right off the bat is finding a way to shed Robinson’s $3.5 million contract in order to make room to sign Dwight Howard. While Robinson is undoubtedly a valuable young player, Terrence Jones’ level of play has made Robinson somewhat expendable, especially if it allows the Rockets to sign Howard.

Even if the Rockets are unable to sign Dwight, they are still in the market for a power forward, and there are plenty of proven stars on the market this summer. The Rockets could opt to use their cap space to sign the likes of Paul Millsap or potentially Carl Landry if Golden State does not pick up the final year of his contract.

Given the active front office of the Rockets, it’s almost a guarantee that the depth chart at this position will look different than it currently does. Whether that means releasing Robinson to clear up cap space, or signing a big name, is yet to be seen, and will likely be dictated by the Rockets ability to sign Howard or Chris Paul.

Center

Hours upon hours, and thousands upon thousands of words, have already been spent discussing whether or not Dwight Howard will be a member of the Houston Rockets next season.

Assuming Dwight doesn’t sign with Houston or Omer Asik isn’t shipped to L.A. in a sign-and-trade, it’s unlikely that much will change down low for Houston.

Greg Smith showed some potential last season, averaging 1.13 points per possession and 13.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per 36 minutes, proving that he is a capable backup for Asik.

Bench

The Rockets bench this season consisted of players such asCarlos Delfino and Francisco Garcia, who could come in for periods of time and shoot the lights out. After choosing not to pick up Garcia’s option and with Delfino’s foot injury, the Rockets will likely look to upgrade this area of their team.

One free agent they may target is Kyle Korver. Not only is Korver well known for his ability to shoot the long-ball at an incredibly high percentage, 48 percent this season, but he has also improved on the defensive end of the floor. This makes him a potentially solid addition to the Rockets and if they choose to also let Delfino go, a relatively inexpensive one as well.

Given the fervor with which Houston is pursuing Howard and Chris Paul, the discussions surrounding other options for this team have been scarce. That should not, however, lead one to conclude that this team does not have several avenues of change on their mind if they are unable to land either of these stars.

While the young core of Parsons and Harden is stable, the pieces surrounding them could very likely change in the coming months depending on the route general manager Daryl Morey chooses for this team.