Houston Rockets: Four things to establish in first month of season
By T.A. Mock
#3: Ensuring the defense can maintain an identity despite losses
The Houston Rockets lost two of their best defenders this offseason. Trevor Ariza was the heart and soul of this defense for years. The Rockets best defender off the bench, Luc Mbah a Moute, also left the team after one season. Their departures will absolutely be felt and will leave a void that will be hard to fill.
About a month ago, the Rockets also received the biggest shock of their offseason when Jeff Bzdelik suddenly retired before the start of training camp. Bzdelik was the architect behind the Rockets defensive growth and it remains to be seen how they will fare without him. If you want to read more about this, you can do so here.
The Rockets retooled as best they could by adding Ennis and MCW. The rest of the additions don’t scream defense but they’re all solid in their own right. The Rockets also still have one of the best defending point guards of all time in CP3. Let’s not forget about Capela who is a top five defensive center.
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It’ll be important for the coaching staff to do their best emulating Bzdelik on the bench and motivating this team to the defensive heights they reached last year. CP3 could also take the role of coach on the court to help this team play with the defensive intensity they had last year.
If the Rockets really want to duplicate the success of last year’s team they’ll need to capture and establish a new defensive identity that has the same intensity as last year’s team. Doing this in the first month of the season is crucial.