2010-11 Season Preview: Houston Rockets

[htown11]

2009-2010 Stats Record: 42-40

Seeding: 9th in the West

Playoff Result: N/A

 

What changed since June: New Blood and New Old Blood

 

The two biggest changes from the team that ended last year should both have meaningful effects. First, we have the return of Yao Ming. While it appears his minutes will be limited initially, potentially the whole year, it is hard to overstate the impact he can have on a game. Furthermore, the addition of Brad Miller gives Houston another big who can contribute at the center position as opposed to having a guy playing against substantially taller guys.

 

The other move is getting a little less attention and that is the swap of Trevor Ariza for Courtney Lee as a part of the bigger trade. My best guess is that much of Ariza’s niche will be filled by Shane Battier this year, but clearly Darryl Morey has intentions of playing Lee and Kevin Martin together- otherwise that trade never happens.

 

Houston’s biggest strength: Quality of Size

 

It is genuinely shocking how few teams have a starting quality power forward and center whose games mesh well. Yao and Luis Scola complement each other and what makes the Rockets special is that they have a ton of overall depth at PF and C. While only losing David Andersen, Houston added both Brad Miller and Patrick Patterson to the fold on top of Chuck Hayes, Jared Jeffries and Jordan Hill. Even with Yao playing limited minutes, this team should be able to overwhelm opponents on the interior while changing shots and clogging driving lanes.

 

Houston’s biggest weakness: Uncertainty in the Swingman Rotation

 

The Rockets clearly possess swingman talent. Martin, Battier, Lee, and Chase Budinger are all solid talents, as well as a group of other guys like Jermaine Taylor that could break out. The remaining issue is how these pieces all fit together now that Ariza is gone and replaced with Lee. At this juncture Kevin Martin is the only true #1 scorer of the group and Battier is the only lock-down defender, though Lee has serious potential on the defensive end. The connected issue is that Martin, Lee, and Budinger are all natural SF’s with physical limitations guarding small forwards. Coach Adelman can choose either to just roll with it, acknowledging that it will be hard for other teams to guard their men as well, or change up the group somehow. Either way, it is the biggest flaw for this deep team.

 

The Big Question: How quickly can they get in sync?

 

The Western Conference is stacked this year. As such, teams that get out to a quick start will have an advantage to press while sluggish teams will have to work that much harder to get back in the hunt. Houston has plenty of talent, yet did not even have much meaningful time last season to get in a rhythm with the guys that are returning for 10-11. As such, how they start could prove intensely important for the following months.

 

Where the team fits in:

 

A heavily injured Rockets team finished over .500, yet still ended up eight games out of the playoffs. We do not know if the bug will strike again, but management has built a team that is even deeper than last year, especially accounting for the limited return of Yao. This team at their peak is clearly in the second tier in the West, but the time necessary for them to mesh coupled with just how vulnerable this team is to injury with their pivotal top guys makes the lower-end playoff hunt (6-9 in the West, with a better record than last season) the most likely outcome.

 

Pretty much agree with the preview. Rockets played hard last season and basically ran out of gas, but they really have gotten deeper this season and have some very nice pieces. Depending on how well they mesh and the injury bug being kind to Houston, this team could be a threat in the West.

 

Ariza will be missed on the defensive end, but I finally watched both pre-season games the Rockets have played and noticed how athletic and fast Courtney Lee really is. For the price Lee is worth the time, he gets to the basket fast and controls his body movement far better than Ariza, and shows the potential on defense. Ariza was a solid defender, but I think Lee will be able to fill his shoes and have a really good season.

 

Hopefully the Rockets can stay healthy and utilize all the options they have.

 

http://realgm.com/src_feature_pieces/971/20101009/2010_11_season_preview_houston_rockets/#ixzz11twaPNJH

[Dash]

Good read. I'm beginning to see why Morey made that trade for Lee, great chemistry guy and is well built in literally every part of the game. Whether its scoring, keeping in front of his man, passing and even rebounding, Lee seems to be able to do it all. I still don't like the trade as I see Ariza as an elite defender and great compliment to Yao and Martin, but I am warming up to it.

 

Like I've said in the past, this season depends heavily on how much of a point guard Aaron becomes. So far he's impressed me with his passing but I'd like to see if he can carry it over for 82 games. I think Martin will compliment Yao beautifully when he's in the game, expect Kevin to once again lead the team in scoring. I'm also very excited to see how our youngins have grown and mesh in the princeton offense.