The Rockets have certainly not been bereft of drama, on or off the hardwood. After subtracting Chris Paul and adding Russell Westbrook this summer to be James Harden‘s new backcourt mate, Houston has struggled. The club is currently 4-3, the eighth seed in a loaded Western Conference.
As Houston prepares for a Wednesday home bout against a Warriors team missing as many as five starters, let’s take a look at more Rockets notes:
- Following a lopsided 129-100 defeat to the 5-1 Heat, the job security of Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni has been questioned, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. “This is gonna stick with the FO (front office) for a while,” one coach texted Deveney during Sunday’s blowout. D’Antoni’s current contract with the Rockets expires at the end of the season.
- Despite the Rockets’ rocky 4-3 start to the regular season, including that forgettable showing on Sunday, GM Daryl Morey considers the ceiling for the new-look Rockets to be extremely high, according to a conversation with The Athletic Houston’s Kelly Iko. “I really think we could be the best offense ever put on the floor,” Morey said. “Now we’ll see if we can back that up, but our transition has been really good. Obviously, last year, we were one of the best halfcourt teams ever. There have been times where we’ve combined those two things and looked really good. Sometimes our transition has fallen off, sometimes our half-court (offense). But if we pull it together like I think we can, I think we’ll be the best offense in the league and a top-10 defense. That’ll be a formula to win the title.”
- In the same interview, Morey acknowledges a desire to improve the team’s defense. The team is currently ranked 28th in defensive efficiency, according to NBA.com. “We’re going to be a good defensive team. Obviously there’s been, you know, some things that don’t look good so far. But I have a lot of confidence that we’re going to be one of the top-10 defensive teams by the end of the year… To be a championship-caliber team, you gotta be a top-10 defense.”
- Notably, Morey’s new Q&A with Iko doesn’t touch on the controversy stemming from the GM’s summer tweet supporting the Hong Kong protests against mainland China. That message prompted China to suspend all business ties with the Rockets. Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports thinks Morey needs to address what became the big story of the NBA preseason, as he notes in a recent opinion column.
Can’t wait for my upstart Warriors to continue finding their way and perhaps surprise the Rockets Wednesday.
Golden State upset Portland last night, so you never know. Especially being an ESPN game perhaps the young guys will want to show how much they’ve grown in the last couple weeks.
Look for my early-season chest thumping on a hoopsrumors post shortly after game time Wednesday LOL.
Unlike Portland the Rockets will not take them lightly. You know the ego of the 2 headed ball hogs will act like they beat warriors in a meaningful game.
I’m not saying the Warriors are any good. In fact they’re kind of crappy. Especially on defense. Never seen so many guys fly down the middle for dunks and layups as I have the first part of the season.
But maybe they’ll surprise the Rockets, catch them napping.
Their defense is getting better. They are still to short for teams with lots of big men. They will get pounded inside. Houston is at home so harden will get all those foul shots running into the defensive player.
Lol, yes !!
Morey really doesn’t have a clue how to build a team. He did a great job plucking Harden from the Thunder years back, but everything else has been a mess.
He also did a great job ridding the team of the two biggest mistakes of his career when he traded away the contracts of both Ryan Anderson and Chris Paul.
CP3 will play almost as many (or few) games as Curry does this season, as well as the next two years. Years from now people will wonder why OKC gave away two of their three MVP’s to the Rockets and received almost nothing in return. The answer to their question will be the genius of Daryl Morey.
I hope you’ll be tuned in Wednesday night. Maybe Jordan Poole will shoot 50% and starting center Willie Cauley Stein will rebound in double-figures.
Don’t fall asleep on these Warriors, they could catch the rockets by surprise.
No one on planet earth will wonder why OKC traded Westbrook. They got picks and a path to getting under the tax. People will wonder why the Rockets decided to pair Harden with a player who has the exact same style and an even worse contract. Dudes going to be making 40 million very soon.
You’d rather have Chris Paul and an even worse contract going forward?
Reason I say it’s worse because Chris Paul is older and will play less games from injury. Westbrook still has good years ahead of him.
The Rockets had to find a taker for that contract and they got an MVP candidate in his place. Not too shabby in my opinion. Could have done worse.
No I would not rather have CP3 but thats why they traded picks to make up the difference. Westbrook was an MVP 3 years ago and even when he won it, his team was bounced in the 1st round. He is nowhere near a top 5 MVP canidate anymore. He will put up numbers but when it comes playoff time the Rockets won’t get farther than the 2nd rounf. There is a reason Westbrooks teams have had so little playoff success
James Harden and Westbrook do not have the exact same style.
Harden is a strong shooting guard who goes to the hole using strength and quickness and his 6-5 body to score in bunches.
He’s a good percentage shooter from long range and smart player with his ability to find the open man, on the few occasions he looks to pass LOL. But he does find capella for those alley oops.
Westbrook on the other hand excels by using his pure world-class athleticism. He’s not as smart with the basketball and will often make bullheaded errors.
His jumping ability, speed and quickness are off the charts and allows him to pair it up with his unmatched determination and put up huge numbers. I think they’re playing styles are totally opposite in fact. Though their numbers match- points rebounds assists, their styles are totally different in my opinion.
All good points, they don’t play the exact same style. They’re both very dominant lead guards that are at their best with the ball in their hands. Russ is almost useless off-ball cause he won’t cut and can’t shoot. While Harden would be very effective off-ball but you take the ball out his hands and that takes away his ability to the best offensive player in the league.
CP3 can actually knock down a shot, makes better decisions with the ball and plays much better defense then Westbrook.