The Houston Rockets have tried everything they could to make it to the finals. Last season they tried small ball. Here are 5 roster moves they must make.
In the NBA there are 30 different teams trying 30 different methods to become NBA champions. There are the 3-point shooting teams or wing-dominant teams where LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard have led their teams. Then came the small ball attempt of the Houston Rockets.
Last offseason the Rockets changed their point guard from Chris Paul to Russell Westbrook via trade. The Paul experiment had not panned out and combining Westbrook with James Harden was the next plan to take this team to a championship.
Then, right before the trade deadline, the Rockets pulled the trigger on a huge four-team deal. The upshot was they sent Clint Capela and Nene to the Atlanta Hawks as well as Gerald Green to the Denver Nuggets. In return, they got Robert Covington. Small ball was born in Houston.
Why the Houston Rockets thought small ball would work.
The Rockets needed to make the most out of their two stars in Westbrook and Harden, who was leading the league in scoring again. Westbrook is at his best when he is attacking the basket. He has led the league in assists previously so is adept at kicking the ball out to his shooters.
When one of those shooters is James Harden, this could be seen as a very intelligent coaching move. However, by trading away the two big men on the roster, the Rockets needed to rely on P.J. Tucker to man the middle.
They had Danuel House and Covington playing on the wings, both of who are very good at shooting the 3-ball. Even their new starting center Tucker is a tremendous shooter of the corner three. The strategy was to out shoot their opponents while making opposition pivots defend the perimeter.
It is safe to say the Rockets strategy did not work as they were knocked out in the second round by the eventual champions the Los Angeles Lakers. Here are five roster moves they need to possibly make to go deeper into the playoffs.