Houston Rockets had a busy off season for sure, but the gains are not there to see – NBA Feature Part 4
The biggest surprise came when the Houston Rockets used their amnesty clause on Luis Scola in July, essentially ending their relationship with the forward from Argentina.
Scola started his NBA career with the Rockets and played with them for five seasons, averaging 14.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and shooting 51% from the field during his stay. He became one of the most important players on the Rockets
roster and his departure came as a huge surprise. He was claimed off the waivers by Phoenix Suns, who were glad to pick him up and pair him back with Goran Dragic, whom they had also signed in the post season after Houston did not give him a new contract.
To sum up the offseason for the Rockets, they lost Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Luis Scola, Courtney Lee and Marcus Camby. And in return, they got a yet to be proven Jeremy Lin and a backup centre in Omer Asik at an overpriced contract.
The Rockets had a stable core last year, one they could have easily built upon with the addition of role players. However, they decided to take a completely different approach, leaving them weaker for the next season. They will
now need to go through rebuilding with their draft picks and trade-able players, but it will be a steep and long road back to playoff contention in the Western Conference.
The Rockets had been in touch with the front office of the Orlando Magic, in hopes of signing their All Star Centre Dwight Howard and rebuilding the franchise around him. However, their efforts to deal directly with Orlando failed
as they had nothing to offer to Orlando in return, which the Magic deemed favourable.
They also attempted to involve themselves in a three team trade with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic that would have landed Howard in Los Angeles and the Lakers former centre Andrew Bynum in Houston. However, that
deal did not go through as well.
Now, the Rockets will begin next season with an unproven cast who are yet to play together. They are also missing a few critical pieces in their line-up and will defiantly be out of playoff contention. The sad part is that they
were much better last season and could have easily retained that core, and added a few pieces to make them better. Instead, they went for a roster overhaul and will now wait for a few seasons at least before they are taken seriously again.
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