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Houston Rockets: FOUR Reasons Why Everyone Is At Fault

By James D'Elia

Feb 23, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) and center Dwight Howard (12) leave the court after the game against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Utah won in overtime 117-114. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 23, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) and center Dwight Howard (12) leave the court after the game against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Utah won in overtime 117-114. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 4, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) sits on the bench during a game against the Orlando Magic at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 4, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) sits on the bench during a game against the Orlando Magic at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

These are the roster changes that took place over the summer and up to today.

Out: Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni

In: Ty Lawson, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Marcus Thornton

No major pieces changed hands, the Rockets kept their core together, and in theory, the chemistry they had together last season.

Winning obviously patched over the cracks.

It would be wrong to pinpoint the Rockets woes to the acquisition of Lawson. In all honesty, he was never given a chance and his only use (much to my dismay) to this team is he has a massive expiring contract which could be valuable elsewhere. Well, that was the case until the team officially bought him out yesterday.

Jan 20, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) helps Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) off of the floor after falling while playing against the Detroit Pistons in the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) helps Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) off of the floor after falling while playing against the Detroit Pistons in the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports /

Many people have also been quick to blame James Harden and Dwight Howard, but Harden is having a season as good, if not better, than his MVP runner -up year and Dwight is putting up his best numbers since switching allegiances to Houston.

Trevor Ariza has been playing out of his skin since the calendar flipped forward another year. The 20 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and two steals he provided against the Milwaukee Bucks Monday night off only eight field goal attempts was something special.

Patrick Beverley has been good in small quantities but he has never been a consistent perimeter threat.

Terrence Jones has become unplayable. On many occasions, he’ll stop with the ball, pump fake, then proceed to drive to the rim to either get blocked or miss horrendously. He can’t rebound, he constantly switches late and fails to communicate with teammates.  There is nothing Jones can do on a basketball court that is helpful and the Rockets were rewarded for giving him 12 minutes against the Bucks with a whopping plus-minus rating of -24.

There are so many problems with this bench that I don’t know where to begin. The bench has been a problem all year for the Rockets and it still continues to be the bane of their existence. As soon as Harden’s butt hits the pine, the team collapses.

Remember when these weren’t issues?!? Those were the good times.

Next: CLICK HERE: How Far Have The Rockets Fallen?

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