May 2, 2014; Portland, OR, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) reacts after being fouled against the Portland Trail Blazers during the fourth quarter in game six of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Did Houston fail, or succeed this summer?
Michael Saenz: OMG, did they fail. If you take money away from the situation, the move to let Chandler Parsons walk is incredibly stupid. Add money back in and it makes sense. However, what Parsons did on last year’s Rockets team (as a third option) was tremendous. And they expect Trevor Ariza to replace Parsons. Yea, that isn’t happening. Sure, on paper, Ariza looks like a good signing, but the Rockets have already been down this road with Ariza. SPOILER: It didn’t quite work out.
At one point this offseason, it appeared that the Rockets were going to both keep Parsons and acquire Chris Bosh. The did the exact opposite and have none of them. It’s not that the Rockets are a bad team now (I think they’ll move down a few spots in the West next season), it’s just that they’re not what they could’ve been this offseason. They went from potentially the most talented roster in the league to an above average one. That’s not a successful summer.
John Armstrong: They failed at free agency (although Trevor Ariza was a very good pickup), but they succeeded at building intrigue. I’m not going to lie, my TV will be tuned into EVERY Mavs-Rockets duel this coming season as this Parsons vs. Rockets rivalry is picking up more and more steam with every passing comment.
Morten Jensen: While Parsons is a tremendous player, he isn’t a superstar or even All-Star talent. He might get there, sure, but $15 million a year compared to $8 million from Ariza? I’ll make that trade-off, even if Ariza doesn’t have the same skill set. That being said, they clearly didn’t succeed. They could have kept Parsons for about a million, and then gambled in unrestricted free agency the following year. Lesson of the day: Never underestimate value contracts.
Added to their disappointing summer is the fact that they now lack depth. They were a first-round team last season, and this doesn’t improve their chances of improving upon that anytime soon. Daryl Morey has his work cut out for him over the next 12 months.
DBLTAP
George Middleton: It’s hard to say the Houston Rockets failed this season, but they did. They basically swapped Chandler Parsons for Trevor Ariza, which isn’t the end of the world as Ariza is a terrific player. But the Rockets tried clearing space by trading Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, in hopes of landing Chris Bosh, to find out that he re-signed with Miami. Isaiah Canaan might get significant minutes as a back-up after a terrific summer league and they got a decent back-up wing in Alonzo Gee. Overall, the Rockets failed but they will still be a threat in a loaded Western conference.
Bryce Olin: FAIL! You can’t go all-in on a few free agents, while losing your third, fifth and sixth best players, and get virtually nothing back in return. You just can’t. The Rockets will be okay with James Harden and Dwight Howard. For a team that had their sights set on winning the West with Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh on the team, okay isn’t good enough and this offseason was wildly disappointing.
Brandon Osborne: Fail. The Rockets went all in this offseason in their attempts to land Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh. They traded away Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin and allowed Chandler Parsons to walk away. Trevor Ariza is a solid pickup but losing two key bench players and Parsons, who thrived in Houston’s system, will comeback to hurt the Rockets.
David Ramil: I think the Rockets failed, in a number of ways. There’s no “Good Effort” award in the NBA, and Houston’s swing-for-the-fences approach to free agency resulted in…Trevor Ariza. They traded away capable backups Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, lost out on Chandler Parsons, tried to bring Chris Bosh to the fold and have had their two “star” players make public fools of themselves while insulting their teammates and creating an uncomfortable locker room. And it’s still not even August.
Aside from these bad roster moves, it just looks like Houston didn’t have a plan – much less a plan B – in place. They’ve tied their fate to immature-yet-talented players like Dwight Howard and James Harden. They’ve weakened their team considerably. They don’t have ample salary cap space so there’s no hope of making a big splash in the future. So they took an underachieving team from last season and made them worse. Yeah. Fail.
HoopDon: Houston failed. They whiffed on Chris Bosh, while simultaneously losing Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin. Omer Asik is gone, while Dwight and Harden seem set on alienating as many teammates as possible. The Rockets may recover from all this, but as it stands now, its hard not to say they’ve taken a step back.
Stefan Abramian: The Rockets failed because they let go of Parsons.