By: Brandon Davis
Failure and injuries are two things no team wants to deal with. Ever. The Houston Rockets, however, have drawn strength from their failures and their injuries. Indeed, these two things have actually managed to help sort out some major questions about the Rockets roster. Specifically the Rockets have found three key revelations after dealing with failure and injuries. First, the Omer Asik situation has been colored by failure. The power-forward situation has become clearer due to failure. Injuries have revealed the depth of this roster.
The Failure of the Twin Towers
Omer Asik began the season starting next to Dwight Howard. On paper this looked like an ironclad defensive front and an adequate offensive attack in the frontcourt. On paper a lot of things look great. Unfortunately for the Rockets this duo failed to produce. Asik’s production took a steep nosedive that also managed to derail his initiative. Coincidentally, it was also this failure that forced Kevin McHale to quit putting an overmatched unit on the court. Dwight Howard’s presence on the Houston Rockets made Omer Asik’s presence in the starting lineup wholly obsolete. Asik’s presence was never going to be a productive one next to Dwight. Every productive team featuring Dwight Howard featured a stretch power forward. Asik, then, had to adjust to being a bench presence.
That’s the obvious development in the Asik situation. Beyond that, however, we see that the situation created control on the trade market. How? The Washington Wizards reportedly engaged the Rockets in talks with the Rockets. Yes, it’s common knowledge that Omer Asik needs to be traded. It’s also common knowledge that Asik is under contract for another year, is an elite defensive center, and will command a great deal of money on the open-market. Houston rebuffed any attempts to send Emeka Okafor back to the team and the Wizards opted to acquire Marcin Gortat. Now, the Rockets are rumored to be seeking an impact player for Asik. Despite his lack of happiness, the Big Turk commands a great deal on the trade market and his status as a highly valuable and definite commodity places Houston in the driver’s seat for all trade conversations. This is considerably more attractive when you consider that the Rockets can now demand what they want for Asik and place their team in the best position to succeed.
Failure Lead to Success
Necessity is the mother of all invention, yes? This cliché gets to be cliché because it’s true. Though it’s hard to call Kevin McHale playing a stretch four next to Dwight Howard “invention.” The failure of Asik next to Howard, however, created success. Terrence Jones was given the starting power forward spot and has produced right out of the gate. As a started Terrence Jones is averaging roughly 15 points and 8 rebounds a game. In the preseason many writers assumed Dwight’s natural running mate in the frontcourt would be Jones. The emergence of Jones has further gifted the Rockets with the position of power in Asik negotiations. Any rumors of Ryan Anderson for Omer Asik are mitigated when you consider how productive the Rockets own “in-house” forward has been. There’s no need to ship out an asset to obtain a power forward now that a solution has been found. Even Donatas Motiejunas has found new purpose gaining back up power forward and center minutes. Granted, Motiejunas has a long way to go before he’s a viable option for consistent minutes, but the evolution of the Rockets roster is enticing.
Pain Is Just Weakness Leaving the Body
The most notable injury issue facing the Rockets is the bearded wonder, James Harden. Harden’s foot has been an issue for most the year. The benefit of the situation, however, has been the re-emergence of Jeremy Lin, among other things. Jeremy has showcased the fact that he’s a shooting guard at the point guard position. While Jeremy has been the focal point of the offense he has averaged over 20 points a game and shown aggression. That aggression translated to top five in the league in drives to the hoop. This time has been a major boon for the Rockets. Not only has this time showcased Jeremy and, no doubt, bolstered his confidence, but it also shows what Jeremy can produce as a featured player. Specifically, his role as a spark off the bench is perfectly modeled by his starting line up performance. This assertive and dominant Jeremy is one that needs to come off the bench.
The bench itself has shown a great deal of improvement due to injuries. In separate games the Rockets have gotten major production from Aaron Brooks, Omri Casspi, and even Donatas Motiejunas has produced in this time. The next-man up mentality is taking effect in Houston.
Conclusion
Out of the ashes of our hopes and production comes the fire of a new team. The Rockets have had to deal with early season adversity. This team, in many ways, really needed to. The Rockets entered the season with great expectations. The Rockets have struggled to find an identity and to make good on these expectations. In losing James Harden, jostling for roles, and attempting to solve their own lineup inefficiencies the Rockets, more than any other team so far, has had the most to gain from failure and injuries. If the Rockets hope to enjoy a productive season they will have to capitalize upon, learn from, and take advantage of these early season challenges and galvanize into the team we know they can be.
