Houston Rockets: What the team needs to compete with the Warriors

The Houston Rockets made it to Game 6 of the Western Conference semi-finals and lost in quite tragic fashion this year. While they had a great season and offensively were terrific, their defense will need an upgrade if they want a chance at getting out of the West.

And the only way the Houston Rockets get out of the Western Conference is by getting past the Golden State Warriors. If the two were to meet up for a seven game series as the rosters stand right now, I don’t see the Rockets winning more than a game.

The Houston Rockets would only have the Warriors outright outmatched at the center position with the Clint Capela– Zaza Pachulia matchup. But Draymond Green is one of the best two way players in the game, where as Ryan Anderson is pretty much a strictly offensive stretch four.

Trevor Ariza would be expected to guard Kevin Durant and while Ariza is our best perimeter defender, Durant is longer, taller and faster and could easily maneuver around or above him.

Then there’s the issue of Patrick Beverley who, despite all his defensive prowess, has never had much success at stopping Steph Curry. And then of course that leaves James Harden on Klay Thompson.

And while Harden is better offensively than Thompson, with how much Golden State excels at coming off screens and how often Harden loses players with his not so great off the ball defense, well, suffice to say this wouldn’t be a matchup at all on the other end of the court.

So what can the Rockets do, if anything, to compete with the Warriors next season. The most important thing they can do is pick up another big man with sufficient defensive capabilities without losing anything on offense.

While Clint Capela, Nene Hilario and Montrezl Harrell all provide energy, defense and rebounding, all three are also limited offensively with the oldest of the bunch (Nene) providing the most range. Honestly Nene is the best all-around offensive big man on the team, but unfortunately he just can’t handle the minutes like he used to.

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So what else can the Houston Rockets do? It doesn’t seem like with their current roster there’s much they could adjust to make a series victory over Golden State seem plausible.

Making a trade is an option. So who could we go after? There’s always the talk that the Cleveland Cavaliers want to get rid of Kevin Love every year.

And perhaps he’d feel more comfortable in a Rockets system that encourages him to shoot from the outside and start fast breaks with his terrific outbound passing skills. That trade doesn’t really seem feasible though.

The Rockets could take a stab at getting Blake Griffin in free agency. But at what cost and what maneuvering of contracts to make it happen?

Blake Griffin is the closest thing to hope that the Rockets could compete with the Warriors. He would put pressure on Draymond Green both offensively and defensively and can run the floor well on fast breaks.

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As of now there’s not talk about the Rockets trying to sign Blake Griffin. But sincerely, this team does not have a chance at being considered serious challengers to the almighty Warriors unless extreme moves are made. Signing Blake Griffin is the only thing that could put the Rockets somewhere close on that level and even then, can anyone beat them? Here’s hoping in 2018 we can.

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