The Houston Rockets Head Coach wants to play to his roster's strengths next season rather than forcing his own vision on them.
The Houston Rockets did not have the best of summers this year and lost plenty of talent to put them in a peculiar position in the Western Conference for next season.
The Rockets played good basketball last season, and had it not been for a losing streak near the end of the season, they would have picked up a playoff spot as well. However, the Rockets parted ways with point guard Kyle Lowry
in the summer, did not give breakout point guard Goran Dragic the contract he was looking for, and then amnestied forward Luis Scola in order to clear cap space to be able to sign Dwight Howard. Once that did not work out, the Rockets chose to remain like
they were for the next season.
The roster changes will now give Kevin McHale, the Rockets dead coach, a tough time in putting the pieces together for next season. The Rockets signed Jeremy Lin for a three year contract in the summer, and he will definitely be
their point guard next season. Kevin Martin will likely play at the two position and newly signed centre Omer Asik, who was a backup centre with the Chicago Bulls last season, might be asked to start the game for a Rockets team that is lacking a big man.
Royce White, the talented rookie who is like a point-forward, can also be added as one of the pieces. But the overall strategy McHale is looking to follow next season is to find an offence that suits the players in the position
they are playing at, rather than forcing his own strategy on the team. He just wants to play to the strengths of his players.
“So we’re just going to have to do whatever fits our team the best. If our best playmaker is our two-man then we’ll run a ton of stuff that will allow him to make plays. If our best playmaker is our four-man, then we’ll run a ton
of stuff for him to make plays. The object is not to run your offence, the object is to run an offense that fits your team. I’m not playing, so it doesn’t matter what I like; it matters what these guys can and can’t do. I’ve never believed in a one-size-fits-all
offense,” said McHale while talking to Rockets.com recently.
McHale is going into the next season with the right frame of mind, but what he will be able to make out of this team is still uncertain. The Rockets are going to struggle on defence next season, and are unlikely to make it to the
playoffs after the roster downgrade they went through in the offseason. Hopefully, they can get a good draft pick next year and begin to reassemble their team from there on.
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