Houston Rockets: Team almost won all the awards they deserved

The Houston Rockets were awarded with some pretty special hardware last night, with Mike D’Antoni winning coach of the year, and Eric Gordon winning sixth man of the year. While Daryl Morey should have won executive of the year and Rockets fans would want the complete sweep with James Harden winning the MVP, Russell Westbrook was the right choice in that category.

First off, let’s start with kudos to the Houston Rockets who won last night. Mike D’Antoni deservedly won coach of the year after making the choice to put the ball in Harden’s hands coming up the floor rather than off the ball as he moved Harden to point guard. And it made a hell of a difference.

Harden forced teams to focus all their attention on him at the top of the key and because of his versatile skill set it opened the game up for the rest of his teammates. Whether he pulled up for the three to force defenders to press him or driving past defenders when they did press him causing them to collapse on the interior opening up a three for his outside shooting teammates or an alley-oop for his big men down low, it was a move that made the team’s offense jump leaps and bounds in terms of efficiency.

D’Antoni also let his players shoot from all over the floor from long range rather than focusing on the corner three. This caused more spacing issues for the defense as they had to traverse further out to try and close out on shooters who could hit from further out when left open.

Eric Gordon, being one of those shooters who was left open from deep three, took advantage and revitalized his career as a result. After suffering injury riddled season after injury riddled season, Gordon was signed in the hopes he could produce at the level everyone knows he’s capable of.

His scoring prowess was never in question. It was a matter of staying healthy. And he did just that by playing in the most games he’s played in a year since his rookie season with the Los Angeles Clippers. It was only the second time Gordon played more than 64 games in a year, and he averaged 16.2 points per game in 31 minutes per game. Definitely deserving of the award.

Now moving on to Daryl Morey who should have won executive of the year. Morey lost out to Bob Myers of the Golden State Warriors. No slight to Bob Myers as he made some good hires, including Mike Brown as assistant coach and signing JaVale McGee, Zaza Pachulia, and David West to make up for the loss of Andrew Bogut down low.

His (Eric Gordon) scoring prowess was never in question. It was a matter of staying healthy.

But come on. Was pulling Kevin Durant away from the Oklahoma City Thunder to play with the best team in the NBA that hard a sell? I know there’s work involved in luring a star player to your squad and it’s not easy to do when they’ve played with one franchise their whole career and are deeply tied to the community. But the moves Daryl Morey made were more innovative and somewhat controversial considering the question marks surrounding the players he signed.

Whether it was hiring Mike D’Antoni as head coach or signing Ryan Anderson to quite a large contract despite his health concerns, signing Eric Gordon despite HIS health concerns, or even the signings that didn’t seem like that big a deal such as the signing of Nene Hilario. All these additions ended up contributed mightily to the Rockets 14 game improvement.

He also made a trade for Lou Williams that made our second unit even more offensively efficient, especially considering Williams came in third place for the sixth man of the year award.

Now the most controversial stance that I’m making, as a Houston Rockets writer, is that the voters got it right giving the MVP award to Westbrook. I know his team finished with a worse record, but watching the series we played against the Oklahoma City Thunder, it was obvious that he did more with less support.

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Harden was surrounded by three point shooters who helped drive his assists up, whereas Westbrook did not have that luxury. I also think averaging a triple-double is something that is so special and rare, combined with the fact that the Thunder lost a future hall of famer in Kevin Durant and still made the playoffs, Westbrook earned it.

Not to take away from Harden’s magnificent season, but if the award truly is most valuable, the Rockets had sufficient enough support that without Harden I could see them snagging an eight seed with the play of Gordon, Anderson, and the addition of Williams.

The Thunder without Westbrook? Their win total is in the 20’s. They’re in Brooklyn Nets territory.

Feel free to disagree of course and I wouldn’t blame you as Harden had a magnificent season. But watching the series when we matched up with the Thunder and the difference it made when Westbrook left the floor, I mean there’s a reason the Thunder led every game by the end of the first quarter. And there’s a reason they began to lose the lead at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth. It’s the difference of Westbrook being in the game.

Next: Why the Rockets should pursue Derrick Rose

Overall Rockets fans have to be happy with first place finishes for our coach and our premiere bench player as well as a third place finish for our other offensive threat on the second unit showing our team depth. And second place finishes for the front office and MVP vote is nothing to scoff at. So be proud and look forward to another season of improvement and maybe additions via trade or free agency as the Houston Rockets seem to be on the right path.

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