Houston Rockets: Why team may need to wait until 2018 to compete

The Houston Rockets tried so hard for so long to get their third superstar with their primary focus being on Carmelo Anthony.

The Houston Rockets lost that bidding war along with the bidding war for Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder who we beat in the first round of the 2017 Western Conference playoffs.

The Thunder have now created a super team that the Rockets thought they had the head start on when they pulled off a sign-and-trade for Chris Paul. All they needed was to swing a trade for Paul George or Carmelo Anthony, but in the end they didn’t have enough attractive assets they were willing to lose and couldn’t find a third team to make those deals happen.

The Rockets could see their fortunes reversed with the Thunder as since adding Chris Paul they’ve only been able to add smaller pieces that, while they will contribute, aren’t the type of off-season additions that will launch them into the conversation of teams that can beat the Golden State Warriors.

I was not the biggest advocate for adding Carmelo Anthony to the Rockets as I didn’t think that, even with the addition, it would put us in the same conversation for championship contenders as Golden State.

However it doesn’t hurt us if we don’t add Carmelo and he stays in New York. What does hurt us is a Western Conference foe adding him that makes them considerably better now in a head-to-head match up between their team and ours. The Thunder seem to be a better team as players who were starters will now become part of their biggest weakness last year, the bench.

The Thunder have now created a super team that the Rockets thought they had the head start on when they pulled off a sign-and-trade for Chris Paul.

They’ll be able to afford more rest for Russell Westbrook and not have his legs die out in the fourth quarter as we saw in the series we faced them in in the first round of this year.

Though the Rockets did add a hall of fame point guard in Chris Paul, it’s looking as though their roster is pretty much set now going into the regular season. And on paper, it doesn’t look like a team that can compete with the Warriors which is the gold standard that you need to compare yourself to if you want to have a reasonable chance at a championship.

As a result Daryl Morey, who we all know will do what he can to help the team in the immediate become a contender, will also have to consider how to manipulate contracts and assets to have a shot at adding someone big for the 2018 off season.

There are a lot of great players to be had, including Paul George and Carmelo Anthony should they opt out of their contracts next season if things don’t go well in OKC. Demarcus Cousins is unrestricted in free agency next year though the Rockets would have to move heaven and Earth to make that work while also re-signing Chris Paul.

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The amount of money it would take to sign Cousins since he would accept nothing less than the max if he doesn’t re-sign with the New Orleans Pelicans would require moving Ryan Anderson, not re-signing Trevor Ariza and most likely not matching any offer sheet for Clint Capela as a restricted free agent just to make it somewhat possible to sign Demarcus Cousins.

However that would be the definition of a super-team having Chris Paul, James Harden and then a center who can stretch the floor and cause headaches for opponents on both ends (when he feels like playing that is.)

While Demarcus Cousins’ reputation is that of a malcontent, he also has never played on a competitor. Perhaps a change of scenery to a team with a strong back court could be the cure to his mercurial ways in order to give the Rockets the now necessary three superstars to compete.

Some kind of addition is necessary as the team right now does not seem to have what it takes to get past the reigning NBA champions. Capela, while defensively stout, has no range, Anderson is not strong defensively, and Ariza is aging.

Daryl Morey will of course make every effort to give the team additional help to compete with the Warriors for the time being and hopefully the team as constructed will outperform our expectations.

Next: Projecting the starting five for 2017-2018

But prudence should also be exerted with an eye towards next season when there will potentially be a dearth of options depending on which players opt-out for free agency. Perhaps it’s best to wait and pounce next year when you have the ability to add a truly franchise changing player. Only time will tell at this point and we’ll have to wait and see.

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