Rockets Going All In

Rockets Going All In

September 3rd, 2018

It is not crazy to think that the Houston Rockets were a Chris Paul injury away from reaching the 2018 NBA Finals and potentially winning the championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers. I think we can all agree that Houston is the undisputed best team in the Western Conference behind the Golden State Warriors, however, their win now approach has become a costly one.

The Rockets’ payroll is mostly ate with the salaries of James Harden , Chris Paul and newly signed Clint Capela. That trio accounts for 80% of their cap space alone. The Rockets are over the cap and will be repeat offenders against the luxury tax. When teams are in this financial situation you can only hope that you have a contending roster. Luckily for Rockets’ owner, Daryl Morey, the Rockets are currently constructed to do just that.

After a very successful season, Houston has G James Harden, G Chris Paul, G Eric Gordon, G Gerald Green, F PJ Tucker, C Nene Hilario and C Clint Capela all returning from last year’s roster. 

Additionally, Houston worked on the phones this summer and made plenty of roster moves. Most notably, Houston added F Carmelo Anthony to their roster. Anthony opted into his player option and Oklahoma City executed a deal with Atlanta to get him off of their books and was subsequently waived by Atlanta. Anthony will be playing for the veteran minimum this season while also still getting his $25.59 million from Atlanta. Though Anthony is in the midst of his post-prime years, he still should be able to provide solid shooting and still average roughly 12 to 15 points per contest.

In addition to adding Melo, the Rockets finally got their wish in getting F Ryan Anderson off of their books. In their recent trade they sent over Anderson and the draft rights for G De’Anthony Melton to the Phoenix Suns for F Marquese Chriss and G Brandon Knight. 

The key addition in this trade is the addition of Brandon Knight. Knight will complement a second unit with Eric Gordon behind Chris Paul and James Harden. This should be the deepest and most effective backcourt units in the NBA. Knight, who missed all of last year with an ACL injury, has shown to be an effective scorer and should help make Houston the most potent offense this upcoming season if healthy. 

Marquese Chriss is the wild card addition for the Rockets. Chriss is a below average scorer and has not shown too much promise in his two years in the league. I think with the fresh start Chriss does have the ability to flourish in Houston’s system. Chriss is a very athletic PF that can catch lobs from CP3 and Harden and if he buys in defensively, he can provide valuable minutes. It is time for Chriss to prove himself.

Also, G Michael Carter-Williams was added to the roster in free agency and he should provide decent rotational minutes when needed. 

The biggest thing that is concerning for the Rockets is the drop off defensively they have heading into this year. They were able to retain Clint Capela, however, they lost their key defenders in F Trevor Ariza and F Luc Mbah a Moute. Ariza and Moute were able to take on the defensive load on the wing and made them an elite team on both sides of the ball. 

The moves they made this offseason were not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but the moves did not help them defensively. With the Warriors adding DeMarcus Cousins with their Mid Level Exception, it is hard to bet against them this year and with the Rockets not improving defensively, it will be hard to project them eclipsing the Warriors this year. 

For the Rockets this is a tremendous problem. The Rockets have one of the highest team payrolls and are stuck long term with a max deal with CP3. I can’t image Paul stays at this pace for all of his deal and the tail end of that deal will be brutal. 

So the Rockets need to win now and we see they are going all in with their personnel and their finances but will it be worth it? My guess is no. Houston's window to win a championship realistically is in the next one to two years and with the pace that the Warriors are headed along with Boston and the LeBron led Lakers, it appears that the Rockets will end up being the team we talk about years later as the team that could have dethroned the Warriors.