The Houston Rockets’ disappointing offseason has been a rather repetitive header in NBA news. The Rockets literally reached for the stars, but fell short in their attempts to sign a third All-Star caliber player. They also lost a starter and two notable players off the bench in the process (Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik, and Jeremy Lin); however, perhaps the Rockets have forfeited more than just their roster depth.
With the departures of both Parsons and Lin, the Rockets are now considerably lacking in the passing department, which may undermine Houston’s upcoming season more than one would assume.
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If the 2014 NBA Finals taught us anything, it’s that passing is still
the
most essential aspect of the game of basketball.
The San Antonio Spurs have proven that a selfless group of players can potentially form an offense that operates efficiently through the coordination of many offensive contributors; they utterly demoralized the star-studded Miami Heat by executing incredible ball movement as well as player movement.
Conversely, the paucity of facilitators in Houston will hinder the team from fully maximizing the abilities of each individual on the floor. It’s part of what separates Houston from the top-tier teams in the Western Conference, including last year’s No. 1-seeded Spurs.
In the preseason thus far, the Rockets are dead last in assists per game with 17.29, which is a full assist behind the 29th team on the list, the Toronto Raptors. History says that if Houston’s low assist rate carries over to the regular season, wins will be excruciatingly difficult to come by.
The 1998-99 Atlanta Hawks are the only team since the 1956-57 season to dish out fewer than 18 assists per game and have a winning record, according to Basketball-Reference.
Although it’s just the preseason, the Rockets must address this issue immediately if they hope to compete in the Western Conference. James Harden is the only viable playmaker left on Houston’s roster, and he already has enough offensive responsibilities on his plate to generate points for the team.
Kostas Papanikolaou has shown flashes of creative playmaking ability, but he’s only a rookie and will take time to acclimate to the NBA; and the nearly obsolete Jason Terry cannot be relied on to create for others as he once did.
As a result, Houston may experience a decline in their offensive efficiency from last year due to the fact that it’s easier to knock down a shot off the catch rather than off the dribble. Ian Levy delved deeper into the topic when he wrote:
"Last season, according to the NBA’s SportVU Player Tracking Statistics, teams shot almost five more attempts per game off the catch than they did off the dribble, which is understandable – catch-and-shoot attempts generated a league-wide average effective field-goal percentage of 51.6%, far superior to that of pull-up attempts, 40.4%."
Should Houston’s point guards divert their attention to setting up their teammates rather then creating shots for themselves, their problem could very well be mitigated.
Otherwise, if general manager Daryl Morey plays his cards right, he could potentially use the $8.3 million Jeremy Lin trade exception, the New Orleans Pelicans’ protected first round-pick that they obtained in the Omer Asik trade, as well as Terrence Jones or Nick Johnson in a trade to acquire Rajon Rondo, Goran Dragic, or Michael Carter-Williams before the trade deadline.
Out of the three options, the latter is likely the most plausible solution for Houston, and according to Kelly Scaletta, Carter-Williams is on the trading block.
Nevertheless, Morey is known for actively seeking to improve his team’s roster at all costs; perhaps an upgrade at the point guard position would establish the Rockets as legitimate contenders.