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Threats
There will be a few threats in 2019-20 to the championship aspirations of the Houston Rockets. First of all, most of those teams are in the Western Conference such as the LA Clippers. When former Raptor Kawhi Leonard signed with the Clippers on July 5th, 2019, he was followed by Paul George joining the Clippers via a trade. The Clippers maintain a strong core of players that saw them win the 8th seed in the West in 2019 and have now added two major superstars (Leonard just won Finals MVP in 2019) to that roster that also boasts the 6th Man of the Year in Lou Williams.
The LA Lakers also had championship dreams in mind when they traded for Anthony Davis this summer to pair with LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma. No one can forget about the West’s dynasty, the Golden State Warriors, moving into a new arena across the Bay Area from Oakland to San Francisco.
While the Warriors are without Iguodala and KD whereas Klay Thompson is likely to miss the first half of the season, the Warriors have appeared in 5 consecutive NBA Finals and have eliminated the Rockets in each of the past two seasons. Further, the Warriors did add D'Angelo Russell to their depleted roster on a 4-year $117 million deal.
Two other teams stand in Houston’s way in chasing the Larry O’Brien Trophy and they are the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz.
Moreover, it's not just external threats that haunt them. Head coach Mike D'Antoni, now without most of his support staff, is an offensive genius but has failed to lead any of Houston, New York or Phoenix past a Western or Eastern Conference Final. D'Antoni who has canceled contract extension negotiations with the Rockets is in the final year of his deal and the management wanted to tie parts of his contract extension earnings to rounds of playoffs won in the future. The question now is will the former two-time NBA Coach of the Year be motivated in 2019/20 to maximize the club's talents?
The Western Conference will be fun to watch in the 2019-20 season with so many teams ready to compete. The Houston Rockets will be challenged by several very good teams in the coming season. For the moment, the plans of any NBA franchise are on paper only and many teams look great. Those plans only become a reality once the games start for real in October of 2019 and the win/loss record of the Houston Rockets will tell the tale of where they belong in the championship race.
Guess the Bulls players in this quiz and it's not going to be easy!
