The Houston Rockets have made a major splash in adding Russell Westbrook, but there are plenty of uncertainty for the new-look contenders. Here are the three big questions heading into the 2019-20 season.
The Houston Rockets had disappointing conclusion to their 2018-19 campaign. Despite the strong teams in the Western Conference, the Rockets were one of the few teams with a chance to dethrone the Golden State Warriors.
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Looking back at the Western Conference semifinals, the Rockets lost 4-2 to the Warriors. Clint Capela was completely shut down,and the Rockets were forced to play small ball for most of the series.
Veterans like Chris Paul and P.J. Tucker were playing well over 40 minutes a game towards the tail end of the series and the Rockets just could not keep up with the Warriors.
James Harden has proven to be one of the NBA’s best players, if not the best. Despite the early defensive woes, Harden as improved as an all-around player but has really taken off as an offensive force.
He was able to keep the Rockets in the hunt for most of last season, but just got beaten by the much better team.
To shake things up, and to put all the Paul-Harden rumors to rest, the Rockets traded Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, pick swaps in 2021 and 2025, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019
The Rockets are in of consistent defense and versatility in their scoring. Chris Paul is at the tail end of his career and the drama surrounding their two stars forced the Rockets’ hand.
With the rest of the Western Conference beefing up their rosters, the Rockets picked a good time to take a chance on the Harden-Westbrook reunion.
The Rockets have the ability to start fresh with Harden in his prime. They have some young players coming into their prime as well, but there are still plenty of uncertainties for the Rockets as they try to become a legitimate NBA championship contender.