The Houston Rockets got here into final season with enormous expectations. They have been coming off a yr the place they have been the second seed within the West and simply added famous person ahead Kevin Durant to deal with their scoring points.
As an alternative, the Rockets had a really bizarre common season, as they seemed like critical contenders firstly, then faltered in direction of the center and finish. They earned the 5 seed within the West, drawing the injury-ravaged Lakers within the first spherical, however a knee harm for Durant doomed their possibilities they usually misplaced in six video games.
Houston had apparent flaws all year long that have been anticipated to be addressed this summer time. One among them was guard depth they usually went out and signed Marcus Good and drafted Bruce Thornton. There’s one weak point although that they haven’t addressed.
The Rockets nonetheless do not need sufficient capturing
Capturing has plagued Houston for the final couple seasons they usually haven’t absolutely addressed the difficulty. Reed Sheppard and Durant are their solely true perimeter threats and for a roster that has two excessive utilization stars in Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun, two very poor leap shooters, that’s simply not sufficient spacing.
The Rockets’ offense simply felt very clunky and disorganized final yr and whereas Good and the return of Fred VanVleet will give this workforce some a lot wanted flooring common expertise, the spacing remains to be set to be subpar. Additionally they signed Bogdan Bogdanovic, who has traditionally been a superb shooter, however is coming off a down season and is 33-years outdated, so it will be unwise to anticipate huge issues proper out the gate.
Whereas Houston was a strong capturing workforce within the common season, they utterly faltered within the playoffs, the place the margins are tighter, and spacing isn’t as straightforward to come back by. LA was capable of expose that by clogging the paint and all driving lanes, which led to the Rockets capturing 30 % from three-point vary.
Durant could have helped with that difficulty, however even then, he was their solely perimeter risk, and in matchups with the Lakers, he struggled with the double and triple groups they threw at him. Having extra perimeter retailers would have helped offset that difficulty and the Rockets nonetheless do not need sufficient in that space.
The highest of the West is about to be robust as soon as once more and Houston has not finished sufficient to deal with their weak point on the perimeter. There’s nonetheless time within the offseason to make strikes, so we’ll see what this roster seems like come coaching camp, however they should do one thing quick.
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