Rockets general manager Rafael Stone and head coach Ime Udoka sat in front of the media Monday afternoon and did their best to convince the fans through us that everything is heading in the right direction.
It’s hard to blame anyone for not believing them. I don’t.
The Rockets’ roster construction, relative to what’s going on in the Western Conference with Oklahoma City and San Antonio, doesn’t add up to pushing for Western Conference finals titles, much less NBA Finals gold.
Last summer, Stone basically blew up the Rockets’ roster and mortgaged the future of the franchise – young gun Jalen Green for veteran Kevin Durant. And what was the result? An identical record, a lower playoff seed, and another first-round exit to an aging superstar.
Let’s not get it twisted. KD is still a high-volume, efficient scorer and has years of usefulness left in the NBA. And Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun, and Tari Eason with Durant are capable of making some noise in the regular season. But taking down San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama or Oklahoma City Thunder frontman Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not about to happen with the roster Stone and Udoka have put together.
Now, granted, the Rockets were dealt a blow with the loss of point guard Fred VanVleet before the season started and big man and enforcer Steven Adams during the season. But with those two and Durant healthy would have only amounted to advancing out of the first round of the playoffs against an aging LeBron James and the Lakers.
So it was interesting to listen to Stone on Monday talk about the Rockets being competitive next season with a healthy Durant, VanVleet, and Adams at their disposal. In my mind, when you make the blockbuster trade the Rockets made last season, you bring in a Durant because he is the missing piece that stands between a first-round exit and a realistic chance to win it all.
“I think the season was frustrating and disappointing. We expected to win more games in the regular season, and I think we expected to win more games in the playoffs than we did.”
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone
Damn just being competitive. That’s not why you decided to speed up the team’s trajectory last summer.
But clearly, Stone doesn’t view it that way, and let me know in no uncertain terms on Monday.
“Nope,” Stone responded to my question about desiring to be more than just competitive after mortgaging the future of the franchise for Durant last summer. “You just go out and compete. There is no trade I can make, no draft pick I can make, that is going to guarantee we are going to win a championship. That’s not it. You have to compete. This is a hard feat. The margins are very thin. Sometimes, the hardest series a team has on its way to a championship run is its first-round series.
“To me, the goal is to put a roster in place that has a chance to compete for a championship. That doesn’t mean if you don’t make the finals or something, then you’ve failed.”
You want to bet? I’m sure when owner Tilman Fertitta gave the thumbs-up to Durant, he did so thinking the Rockets would be more dominant in the regular season and postseason. Not be in the same spot as a younger player with more upside.
KD was also hoping the Rockets were just his scorers’ touch away from competing with defending champion Oklahoma City for the title.
Surely, he didn’t come to the Rockets to be overworked, over-relied on, and then most unavailable for the first round of the playoffs.
But let’s let Stone finish his thought.
“In terms of putting together a roster that can compete, you want one that can compete,” said Stone. “Not once did I ever say in respect to bringing Kevin in that it was championship or bust. I never said that to him. I never said that to anybody. That is very much not our attitude.
“We thought he could be added to the team like he was. We thought he could be a wonderful example to the team, to the young guys, of how to work as a professional, how to really hone your craft. I thought he did a really good job of that. That was the thought process.”
But was the plan really to play him in and start him in 78 games, averaging 36.4 minutes while carrying the load in every game with a team-high 26 points per game? When you have a vintage vehicle, you do everything you can to preserve it and prolong its life and usefulness. You don’t drive it to work every day.
James and Durant are both aging veterans whose best years are behind them. But look at how the Lakers utilized LeBron during the regular season. He played in 60 of 82 regular-season games and was the Lakers’ third option in the offense. And notice how James had enough in the tank to lead the Luka Doncic-less Lakers while Durant sat in street clothes with a wear-and-tear injury.
Udoka admitted to me that the plan wasn’t to rely on Durant as heavily this season as the Rockets did, and certainly won’t be the plan next season. The injuries to VanVleet and Adams, along with the slower-than-hoped growth of youngsters Sengun, Thompson, and Smith, necessitated Durant’s overuse.
“We definitely want to shave those minutes down,” Udoka said. “That was the plan going into the season for us. We are grateful he is on the court. We lost two of our guys, and Kevin was available. We had ups and downs with other guys being in and out.
“He shouldered the load, and he obviously works extremely hard to be ready for those situations with age as a factor. Having Fred and Steven back next year, we don’t want to rely on anybody. I think we are good when everybody is healthy and shave those minutes down.”
But even in a perfect case scenario, how good can we expect the Rockets to be next season? With not much wiggle room in terms of salary cap and with Eason as the biggest name player with an expiring contract, it just doesn’t seem like the Rockets can do much better next season than contending for the playoffs and hope they can break through to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
For sure, the Rockets need more shooting, and they also need a proven and effective point guard to play behind VanVleet next season. Amen and Reed Sheppard took some tiny steps handling the point this season, but not enough to be competitive for anything real.
Udoka left the door open to some roster changes, but nothing wholesale.
“If there is a name there or something, then if it makes sense, you look at it,” Udoka said to the Defender. “But you also hope that they took steps and grew enough in a backup role or coupled with Fred. With that, the shooting is always a thing, but versatility is a good thing for us. Alperen, Tari, and those guys with Steven can help in a lot of different ways. It gives us a lot of options.
“We will look at everything and whatever makes sense and adds to our team, no doubt.”
