Does Houston have what it takes to win the Championship?

D-12 with members of the Rockets front office and past legend during his official announcement to move to the Rockets

Anybody following the NBA has heard of Dwight Howard’s decision to move to the Rockets after one disastrous year with the Lakers. It was a hugely anticipated free agency period, with potentially four teams trying for Howard. But Howard found Rockets most suited for his game.

However, it wasn’t the only big move that the rockets have had in the past 2 years. They have steadily built a team which can be considered as a team contending for home court, come playoff time. Acquiring Harden in last year’s trade with OKC improved them as a team and that shows in how their season ended compared to the previous one.

Rockets acquired Asik and Lin along with Harden in the 2012 post season to bring the Playoffs back to Houston after missing it the previous two seasons.

Here’s my analysis on their bench and starting 5 and how each plays how much of a role in Rockets’ 2013-2014 regular season.

Starting 5

Lin and Harden would start the back court just like they did most of the regular season, with Chandler Parsons at small forward. There is no doubt about where Howard fits in the starting 5. In their roster, the only qualified Small Forward they have is Ronnie Brewer, who I presume would be starting at SF considering the other small forwards in the roster are rookies. So that’s the starting 5, unless of course they decide to place Omer Asik alongside Dwight Howard in the paint, for which he would have to make a transition in his game.

Offense

The starting lineup does look healthy offensively. Harden leads with 25.9 ppg and healthy contributions from Chandler, Lin and Asik of 15.5, 13.4 and 10.1 respectively. You could expect a healthy 18 ppg from Dwight while Brewer averages 8.2 ppg for his career. In terms of the offensive glass, Asik would be the key and vital to the team whether he plays on the bench or on the starting 5. He averages 3.4 offensive grabs a game.

Under Hall of Famer, and now Rockets coach, Kevin McHale, Dwight would thrive in this sort of offence where it runs through him, just like it did back in Orlando, with the occasional bursts from Harden while he is on the bench.

Defense

If Asik does play alongside Dwight, they would be a force to fear in the paint, with Asik averaging 1.1 blocks per game. Meanwhile, Dwight averages a mighty 2.4. To go along with these stats, both of them averaged a double double in the previous regular season. Brewer is an excellent perimeter defender and so are the rest of the Rockets. The average age of the team along Howard is 24, which shows how young the team is. Teams with young rosters often show the capacity to be a better defensive team.

The Bench

Offense

They look quite a hapless lot, with Carlos Delfino the only player coming off the bench who point average is in double figures. Marcus Camby could get few minutes if Asik starts the game. However, not a lot of production can be expected from the big man who is way past his prime and in his 17^th year in the league. Brewer and Cassipi would be the big men at the forward positions who contribute to the Rockets offence. Greg Smith could be the other big man seeing s few minutes, and again not a lot could be expected from him either as he averages 6.0 ppg

Defense

Rockets have a young bench and good young perimeter defenders but would have to rely on either Asik or Howard to constantly be on the court as neither Greg Smith nor Camby are a presence enough for the opponent’s offense to recheck his shot.

Prediction for 2013-2014

I see the Rockets having a strong regular season, being strong contenders for home court. However, with the lack of depth in the bench, they would not be contenders even for the conference championship. I strongly believe a team has to have offensive and defensive depth in the bench to have a long post season and the Rockets certainly lack that.

So I predict them finishing a strong 3^rd in the best case scenario or 6^th in the worst case scenario in case of injuries, with a second round exit in the Playoffs.