Houston Rockets: Five early roster predictions for the 2017-18 season
The Starters – Pick your poison
The starting lineup in Houston is fairly set. We’ll lump these positions by front court versus back court. The paradigm in the NBA has shifted where that’s the only alignment that matters. Point guards and shooting guards are indistinguishable, the death of the center happened roughly around the time that Tim Duncan dominated the NBA as a four/five.
Houston’s backcourt starters are obvious – James Harden and Chris Paul. These two will stagger minutes and operate the offense in kind and solo as needed. The potent combination of these two facilitators and scorers gives D’Antoni limitless options on offense.
The starting backcourt is equally well established. Clint Capela, Ryan Anderson, and Trevor Ariza will take the floor. The purpose of Houston’s frontcourt is simple; space the floor, protect the rim. Capela’s job is unique in that he is the rim threat both offensively and defensively. Ariza provides perimeter protection and spacing. Anderson provides spacing and agony over his contract.
Houston’s starting lineup is locked in barring a trade for Carmelo Anthony (Seriously, just get it over with, New York). The unit has the versatility to play methodical halfcourt ball quarterbacked by Chris Paul and attacking fluid ball headed up by Harden. Houston’s offense became multidimensional and that is key to seeing this team succeed.
The Bench – Defense is a specialty
The bench is decidedly different from the starters. Given that D’Antoni’s rotation is laughably tight (see: my previous failed joke of a 4-man rotation), we’ll focus on four players off the bench to complete D’Antoni’s usual 8-man rotation.
The first four players off the bench will be Eric Gordon, Nene Hilario, Luc Mbah a Moute, PJ Tucker. If that rotation looks terribly light in the backcourt, that’s the correct observation.
The back court rotation is extremely thin. Eric Gordon is a known commodity, an offensive gunner and scorer, the sixth man of the year, and a player capable of creating offense. He’s the sparkplug every bench needs and helps ensure less drop-off when Paul or Harden goes to the bench.
The paper-thin depth in the backcourt seeks some support from Isaiah Taylor. Taylor is a second-year point guard will have to contribute floor spacing and distribution on the floor to earn his minutes. His youth surely counts against him in D’Antoni’s mind. Taylor will have to carve out a specific skillset to make sure he can open the rotation. James Harden and Chris Paul will absolutely need him to do as much.
The frontcourt depth though. If you don’t love the front court depth then you’re just plain doing it wrong. Mbah a Moute is a defensive specialist and floor spacer. Nene is a known commodity and a leader on the floor with a fluid post game. PJ Tucker is a clamp-down defender capable of spacing the floor. As new additions, both Tucker and Mbah a Moute are able to play an up-tempo game and guard multiple positions.
Opposing teams are going to find the second team to be tough to score against. If the purpose of the bench is to stabilize a game until the starters come in, then there’s no doubt that Houston is built to do so.
Make no mistake, the second team is going to struggle to score. If the second team can make it equally tough on opposing teams to score then their work is done.