Around him, Beverley, Gordon, Anderson and Nene have all had trouble staying on the floor their whole career. Harden played in all 82 last year and put up historic numbers. The other glaring weakness is durability. McDaniels was a college defensive player of the year and is maybe the best wing shot-blocker since Dwyane Wade (if we’re accepting LeBron is not a wing because he’s a LeBron). If he’s off on a night, Nene could come in to the 4 - or Capela is athletic enough to guard down a position - and all of a sudden the Rockets have a good defensive lineup. James Harden has nowhere to go but up.Īnderson is a problem, but the bet is he’s worth more points on O than he gives up on D. Clint Capela has length, bounce and timing enough to be a good-to-great rim protector in place of Howard. Trevor Ariza and Patrick Beverley are studs on that end. D’Antoni’s rep on D is as bad as his offensive rep is good, and the Rockets were one of the league’s worst defensive teams before losing Dwight Howard and adding the turnstiles that have been Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon.īut, a lot of the issues last year were due to a team-wide malaise. Zach Lowe thinks it will be behind only Golden State this year, and it’s hard to disagree right now.ģ. No one has done that since John Stockton, so we’re skeptical, but a double-double doesn’t seem out of the question. He’s averaging double-digit assists in the preseason so far, and D’Antoni said (while laughing, we should point out) that Harden could average 12-13 a game this season. Harden has also embraced his leadership role on the court and in the locker room. Mike D’Antoni’s teams have always scored at a good clip, and he hasn’t had an offensive stud to build around like Harden since Steve Nash.
With James Harden now surrounded by shooters and big men who will be willing to get out of the paint to clear space for his drive, this offense should hum. Based on the toxicity of the locker room last season, a large chunk Rockets fans consider this addition by subtraction.Ģ. Most notably, the Rockets probably breathed a sigh of relief when Dwight Howard opted out, and by all appearances, made no effort to re-sign him, even when it became apparent he wasn’t going to get close to the maximum contract he sought. We’re going to go ahead and say the Rockets signed three capable, yet injury-prone, rotation players for $136 million, which sounds a lot better than parsing it out. After dropping the war chest on that pair, they signed Nene, still a capable backup center, to a one-year deal worth $2.9 million. The biggest additions were the Rockets’ double-dip into the New Orleans Pelicans starting lineup, signing Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon to four-year deals totaling $133 million. What significant moves were made during the off-season? Key Additions: Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, Nene, Pablo Prigioni, Chinanu Onuaku, Tyler Ennis, Mike D’Antoniġ. Key Losses: Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas(?), Josh Smith, Jason Terry, Ty Lawson (mid-season), Michael Beasley J.B.
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