Houston “We Have a Problem” Rockets: SCREWED

I have moved the Houston Rockets to the top of the list for offseason plans, even though they were just eliminated a little less than a week ago. I am an obvious Warrior fan, so watching my team eliminate them for the fourth time in five years was amazing. I always love watching these two teams compete. The Rockets and Warrior series always feel like the real Finals. The Rockets are a great team and they are led by this season’s leading scorer, James Harden. James Harden was phenomenal this season, he played great on my fantasy team too. But he did average an amazing 36.1 points per game and 7.5 assists a game. He played great in the regular season. Despite what the media wants to say, it wasn’t Harden’s fault that the Rockets fell yet again. It was Daryl Morey’s.

Harden had a great series against the Warriors. He averaged 34.8 points a game on 44.3% from the field. What more could you want from your superstar? I don’t think there is much more he could have done during this series. I blame this loss on Daryl Morey. He is the general manager of the Houston Rockets. He made the grave mistake of signing a 32 year old Chris Paul to a four year max contract. This means he signed CP3 for the maximum amount of money possible, for four seasons. That was the nail in the window to close their title hopes. I understand CP3 is one of the best point guards of all time, but now you are stuck with a point guard who is going to get consistently worse every year now.

Players to Let Go

The Rockets have quite a few free-agents this offseason. This is another reason they will be screwed. Nene Hilario (Player option), Gerald Green, Vince Edwards (Restricted), Danuel House (Restricted), Kenneth Faried, Iman Shumpert, and Austin Rivers are all set to be free-agents. I would think Nene is going to retire, if not, he will for sure accept his player option. Rockets should pray he retires because they need any kind of salary space possible. Vince Edwards will probably get brought back for depth. Danuel House is someone the Rockets will probably want to bring back, but they won’t be able to afford him. They will be forced to let him walk. Faried was a brilliant find for them, but he will also command too much money and they will be forced to watch him walk as well. Austin Rivers is another player the Rockets did a great job with by signing him, but I think he will walk and find a bigger contract.

Side Note: I want the Warriors to sign Rivers, I believe he replaces Shaun Livingston next season.

Players to Keep

The Rockets would love to have Gerald Green back. He will want to come back and the Rockets should accept him with open arms because they need some kind of bench scoring. They need anything they can get because they will be absolutely strapped for cash this offseason. Shumpert was a solid piece for the Rockets, really don’t see him garnering a huge amount of attention, but I could see him walking to another contender. But the Rockets would also love to have Shump back. Nene makes the players to keep list just in case he accepts his player option.

Players to Sign

Honestly, i’m not even sure who they could sign because of their cap situation. P.J. Tucker, Clint Capela, Chris Paul and James Harden take up a majority of the space. I could see them offering Tyreke Evans, Thabo Sefelosha and David Nwaba contracts. These are three players that I think are going to get the veterans minimum in terms of contracts. Tyreke Evans did not have a good season, it is clear that his stats were completely inflated by the poor team play of the Memphis Grizzlies. He still has some use though, he is an effective playmaker and a decent scorer. He offers a bench playmaker and a capable scorer as well. Thabo Sefelosha is a defensive player that should be able to make things difficult for the opposing team. He also has a decent three point shot, and everyone knows the Rockets love anyone slightly capable of shooting. David Nwaba is literally just a defender. He offers almost nothing on offense but the Rockets need some kind of defensive identity. These players may not be the best available, but with how much cap space the Rockets have, they need to go dumpster diving because of Chris Paul. Maybe State Farm will protect their arena though!

PS: Chris Paul is one of the best floppers in the NBA, his teammate James Harden may get a career ending case of whiplash but it was all worth it!