Houston Rockets: Complete 2017 offseason grades

Overall

What an offseason. For about 2-3 weeks starting in late June and ending in mid-July, there weren’t any opportunities for Rockets fans to relax. Daryl Morey was seemingly always on the verge of a trade or free agency signing.

In the end, the 2017-18 Rockets will look vastly different than the previous year’s squad. Gone are Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrel. Enter Chris Paul, P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and Tarik Black (alongside the returning Nene).

Houston Rockets

The Rockets now have two of the best playmakers and ball-handlers in the entire league. Of course, it will take time for Paul and Harden to mesh, but when they do, the Rockets’ offense may actually be better than last year.

However, the defensive end of the floor is where Houston should see bigger strides. After ranking 18th in the league last season, the Rockets added very good defenders in Paul, Tucker and Mbah a Moute. Combining those players with Trevor Ariza, Clint Capela and Nene will lead to a much improved (and possibly top-10) defense.

The Rockets won 55 games last season, and the team took home two individual awards (Mike D’Antoni as Coach of the Year and Eric Gordon as Sixth Man of the Year). However, Daryl Morey knew that a second star must be acquired and better defenders must be added to the roster.

While it’s tough to see beloved players such as Beverley leave in addition to developing young players like Dekker and Harrell, Rockets fans will be pleased to see a better balanced team that is still incredibly fun to watch.

Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far

Would it have been better to not give up as much to get Paul? Sure. But it’s hard to really fault any moves the Rockets made this summer, putting them firmly in the driver’s seat to be the primary competitor to the Warriors.

Grade: A