A week after the Houston Rockets’ playoff-ending loss to the Golden State Warriors, I decided to not embellish into the disappointment too much but rather write my feelings about the whole thing. Heading into the 2019 NBA playoffs, the 2018-2019 Houston Rockets were considered the best team to knock off the defending champion Golden State Warriors; but on May 10, 2019 that all went out the window. The Rockets lost to the Warriors and the criticism of this team has been nonstop ever since. Once again, people have questioned guard James Harden’s clutch ability, the actual worth of Chris Paul and Clint Capela after their big contracts as well as the playing style of another Mike D’Antoni team. All these things are fair to bring up as they have contributed to the same playoff story for these Rockets: an impressive regular season overshadowed by a disappointing playoff run.
Fire D’Antoni
Head coach Mike D’Antonio has been amazing for the Rockets. He has kept this Houston team competitive while enhancing the game of guard James Harden. But in the postseason, none of that has translated into any real success. Under D’Antoni, this team has been bounced out of the postseason in crucial, collapsing moments. In 2017, they suffered a 39 point blowout in Game 6 of the Western semis to the San Antonio Spurs; 2018 saw them miss 27 straight 3 pointers and an opportunity to beat the Golden State, even though they had an injured CP3; this year they lost to the Warriors despite them missing Kevin Durant to injury. These losses came on Houston’s home court and it should not bode well for this fan base.
NBA coaches get fired for some of the flimsiest reasons and this would be no exception. Houston is equipped with the talent to challenge Golden State, as evidenced in this series. They have the offensive firepower in Harden, the veteran floor general in Paul, the versatile shot selection of Gordon and the defense of P.J. Tucker. There’s no way that the Rockets should be sitting at home watching other Game 7’s; they should have been the 3rd one on that day. People talk about Harden’s playoff miscues, but D’Antonio has a history of getting bounced out himself. He has never been to a Finals himself and has never had that one player to really come up in big playoff moments. Those moments could be coming few and far in between because time might be ticking faster than one of his offensive possessions.
Keep the offseason moves in the Offseason
The last few seasons has saw the Rockets build their team through waiver wires and trade deadlines, instead of a traditional NBA offseason. The only major move made during the summer free agent period was when Houston traded for Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers, sending them guards Lou Williams and Patrick Beverly, as well as Montrezl Harrell. Outside of that, they have played the in season pickup game.
In 2014, the team picked up former Atlanta Hawk and Detroit Piston Josh Smith; that same year, they acquired Corey Brewer from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Both players were instrumental in their playoff run that season, including overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat the Clippers in the 2nd round. Last year, they went out and got journeyman Joe Johnson to aid in scoring in the postseason, but he was seldom used. This year, they really dug into their transaction bag. They acquired forward Iman Schumphert from the Sacramento Kings at the trade deadline. In addition to that, they picked up center Kenneth Faried, who was waived by the Brooklyn Nets and picked up former Clippers guard Austin Rivers on waivers, who turned out to be a nice addition down the stretch. All these moves happened in the wake of the team signing Carmelo Anthony in the summer and then trading him.
There is nothing wrong with reloading a team during the regular season, because injuries happen and it never hurts to have fresh legs in the playoffs; but eventually you find out why these guys are on wires. The Rockets could have very well beaten the Warriors but they did not have the star power to rise in that moment. A lot of these players mentioned have very little playoff success. Schumpert went to a couple of Finals but his play was not enough during this year’s playoff run. Another quick fix to all of this would be to get better in the draft. It has been a while since the Rockets picked up some solid talent in the draft, and this year they will not have any picks at all. They must get better at making offseason moves, even if it means rearranging some things in their cap space.
Get Their Money Right
The last sentence is a perfect segue into what the Rockets should be doing and that’s getting the money right. This summer, the league might see some more superstars shift from one conference to the next. However, in order to combat that this season, as well as beyond, Houston must solve their salary cap issues. They are heading into the 2019 season way over the salary cap. This is in large part to the large contracts by both Paul and Harden, who make up about 60% of the cap space combined. Everybody else is a distant from that total, with Capela being the highest outside of the superstar backcourt.
Eventually, somebody will have to get moved in order to shovel off some of the heavy dollars. Eric Gordon is heading into the last year of his contract and could be a candidate to ship off as they bring back either one of the midseason pickups from last year, or replay their formula for the upcoming year. P.J. Tucker has a couple of years left on his current contract but a trade wouldn’t be out of the question, as it appears to be a small price that could be used for a quick reload or upgrade. For the past 4 seasons, the Houston Rockets have taken on the moniker, “the biggest threat to the Golden State Warriors,” but they never fully lived up to that name outside of the regular season. As rumors run rampant of the Warriors dynasty breaking up, not only is that window closing on that namesake, but so is the opportunity for Houston to win a title. CP3 is getting older, and that can become an issue when looking to defend younger guards such as Utah’s Donovan Mitchell or San Antonio’s Dejounte Murray. Harden just turned 30, but before you know it, he will be hitting 34 himself and as a free agent. It’s possible he’ll have a lot more basketball left at that age, but what will the Rockets pay to see that happen? It’s best to make that decision now by implementing a couple of these changes.