Rockets: Forgive the Slow Start, It’s a Long Season
The Houston Rockets are off to a ration dubious start, 0-3 – each by 20 points. Arguably, Houston entered the season as the team with the most potential to put up a disappointing season. Given the success of the team last year that’s not an unfair proposition.
The Rockets added Ty Lawson and Marcus Thornton over the offseason and had a chance to let Terrence Jones and Dwight Howard recuperate. Early on in the season, though, Lawson is struggling to find his fit and Howard sat out against Miami (potentially nursing his ego after Harrison Barnes’ transgressions). In that same time, Harden has looked haggard and, at times, frustrated. All of this has resulted in some fairly disjointed play, blown leads, and creates fertile ground for locker room drama.
Fortunately, in that same span, Howard and Harden have owned up and put themselves in front of the camera during these struggles. We’ve seen a good showing from Thornton, and Clint Capela is making the right strides. While early returns are frustrating fans, it’s important to keep a few things in mind.
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This team underwent a significant change to the starting lineup by adding Lawson. In theory, Lawson adds a point guard to take Harden off the ball and free up opportunities. In reality, though, James Harden has and always will be what he is – a ball dominant guard who is deadly as the man at the point of attack. Harden crowed for help this offseason but Lawson isn’t the right kind of help given Harden’s play style. Fortunately, Lawson’s sheer talent alone is a windfall for the Rockets; Lawson can take over primary scorer duties when needed and is always a threat to score when involved in a play.
The Rockets thrive when mixing up their lineups and have a coach willing to find where players fit. Given that Houston overhauled its bench and tweaked its starting lineups, these kinds of hiccups are to be expected. That’s expected, not forgiven (you don’t blow 20 point leads to lose by 20, that’s not okay).
Kevin McHale has shown a consistent willingness to adjust and tinker with his lineup throughout his tenure. Early on in the season, as things are off to a rocky start, McHale has been proactive in adjusting lineups and trying to strike situations, not force lineups to work. In a way, this is to be lauded. Basketball is a game of runs and every run has a different catalyst. By mixing variables and factors, McHale is finding what works with certain groupings and experimenting to determine results. That information will pay off later.
In an 82 game season, adjustments and changes have to be made. You have to test and learn. No team made its season in the first week (unless that team lost its franchise player in the first four games). What we’re seeing now is not necessarily a prequel to the season’s end. Strictly speaking, talent alone will not allow this team to fall as far below expectations as this early start would have you believe. Instead, with a proactive coach, a significant influx of talent, and skill-based pairings coming together, the Rockets are in a test and learn stage with this team.
Daryl Morey has orchestrated one of the greatest experiments in basketball. The growing pains in Houston are merely signs of the next stage in that experiment: finding the recipe for sustained success based on stability and talents.
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