After being the 4th seed last year and losing in the second round in Western Conference playoffs, the Houston Rockets are ready to go all-in for a championship.
Key Offseason Moves
The Rockets signed 3 players this offseason. They signed Tyson Chandler, Anthony Bennett, and Ben McLemore. Ben McLemore is a decent shooter. He didn’t have a significant role in Sacramento, but he could see an increased role in Houston. Anthony Bennett was drafted first overall in the 2013 NBA Draft. Although now perceived as a bust, he continues to look to jumpstart his career with the Rockets. His NBA production has been just downright awful, he has shown improvement in shooting and turned out to be one of the best big men in the G-League in 2018. Tyson Chandler signed the Veteran’s minimum to chase a ring with the Houston Rockets. Tyson Chandler is 37 this year, he will be a major player off the bench backing up Clint Capela. Although Chandler is past his prime, having that veteran presence and a player that used to be one of the best big men in the league can be beneficial. There’s one more thing…what is it…OH YEAH OBVIOUSLY THE RUSSELL WESTBROOK TRADE. The Rockets traded for a top 5 PG and a Top 10 player in the league to play with another Top 10 player in the league. All while getting out of Chris Paul’s cancerous contract? What a steal. This duo, on paper, is one of the best duos in the league,
This is the lineup and depth chart I have for the Houston Rockets.
PG: Russell Westbrook, Austin Rivers,
SG: James Harden, Ben McLemore, Daniel House
SF: Eric Gordon, Gerald Green,
PF: PJ Tucker, Gary Clark, Kenneth Faried,
C: Clint Capela, Tyson Chandler, Nene
Lineup Analysis
I’ll be the first to tell you that I hate the idea of Russell Westbrook and James Harden on the same team. Not because they’re not superstars, but because their playstyles are not compatible. You have arguably the most Iso players ever on the same team and you’re telling me that it is supposed to work? I don’t know about all that. Despite that, this Rockets team is very good and deep enough to put a scare into anyone. Clint Capela will probably have less of a scoring role this year, but he’s still going to get a lot of inside looks. The team will continue to shoot 3s in their offense, while probably have Russ doing a lot of drive and dish. There won’t be any set plays for this offense, just a lot of driving and dishing, and iso ball. I’m going to hate watching it honestly.
This team is a great team with plenty of talent. The problem is how well is Westbrook going to fit into that. If he and Harden somehow make this work, their ceiling is the 2nd seed while the floor is the 5th seed. Either way, they’ll make the playoffs easily and I doubt they get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
