Houston Rockets: Austins Rivers should help, but there are still holes to fill

The addition of Austin Rivers should help the Houston Rockets, but there are still plenty of issues with this team at this point in the season

If the first third of the NBA season is any indication how the Houston Rockets will fare without Chris Paul over the next few weeks, they’re going to struggle to stay afloat.

Through the first few weeks of the season, the Rockets are 1-5 without Chris Paul – with their lone win coming in their latest outing against the San Antonio Spurs. The hope is that Paul will only miss a few weeks, and will be back at some point in January.

However, especially when it comes to hamstring injuries, you can never predict how a player is going to react to rehab. In his absence, it’s going to be tough for the team to make up for his loss. That’s why the team elected to sign Austin Rivers, who had recently been traded to and then waived by the Phoenix Suns.

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However, it wouldn’t be fair to expect Rivers to fill the void that Paul is leaving. While he will help, he’s simply not in a position to play a bit role on this Rockets team, at least not yet. During his time with the Wizards this season, Rivers was averaging just seven points and two assists on 39 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from 3-point range.

He was on pace to post one of his lowest production seasons of his career. Perhaps that had something to do with playing on the Washington Wizards, who have a myriad of issues on their own.

Nevertheless, to say that Rivers was having a down season would be an understatement. The big question is, can he turn it around with the Rockets?

That’s a tough question to answer, but it should be noted that Rivers is coming off one of his best statistical of his career a year ago with the Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged 15 points and four assists on 42 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent from 3-point range.

He won’t be playing 30-plus minutes (as he did last season in LA) with the Rockets, but if he can come anywhere near close to those types of numbers – heck, Houston would even just take those shooting percentages – then perhaps he can transform into a real weapon for this team moving forward. And not just as a replacement for Paul.

Austin Rivers should help, but this team has way more holes than it has ways to fill them at this point in the season. Don’t be surprised if it gets a bit worse before it gets better for the Houston Rockets.

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