Should Houston blow it up in the offseason?

At best its looking like they'll finish in 6th and worse case is they possibly miss the playoffs which is now that out of the question. Even if they do make the playoffs, are they really going to beat GSW, SAS, or OKC in round 1?

Yes. The combination of Howard and Harden succeeded as much as everyone outside of Houston expected. Personally I think they should trade both and load up on picks. But Harden is pretty talented and is entering his prime. The reason I mention Harden is because he doesn't seem like the guy that'll ever win you a title.

bksballer89 said:

At best its looking like they'll finish in 6th and worse case is they possibly miss the playoffs which is now that out of the question. Even if they do make the playoffs, are they really going to beat GSW, SAS, or OKC in round 1?

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Well, If they don't have a good Post Season, Howard might leave.

Unless they sign Horford or Whiteside along with Durant, they will be blown up.

For their fans, yes, they should blow it up. They are stuck in NBA hell. They are a 6-9 seed (although if Dwight and Harden had any brains or maturity, they'd be contenders) with no real way of improving the roster.

From a perspective of watching a couple of guys who think they don't have anything more to learn fail, it's pretty entertaining.

I think they are a more dangerous playoff team than a regular season team.
As dysfunctional as their overall roster might seem in the regular grind, the shortened nature of a playoff roster might help them win a round or two.

A short roster will help them.
The top two guys are doing well. It is the guys #3 to #12 who are simply horrible.

The blustering loudmouth Morey saddled Harden/Howard with nothing whatsoever.
Even a top heavy OKC has a few more reasonably good pieces to go with the top 2.

Look no further than the Boxscore of the Portland game for a perfect example.

Hornsstampede2.0 said:

I think they are a more dangerous playoff team than a regular season team.
As dysfunctional as their overall roster might seem in the regular grind, the shortened nature of a playoff roster might help them win a round or two.

A short roster will help them.
The top two guys are doing well. It is the guys #3 to #12 who are simply horrible.

The blustering loudmouth Morey saddled Harden/Howard with nothing whatsoever.
Even a top heavy OKC has a few more reasonably good pieces to go with the top 2.

Look no further than the Boxscore of the Portland game for a perfect example.

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I agree with this but issue is if they end up 6th or lower as it looks like they're almost a lock to do, there is now way they're beating OKC, GSW, or SAS in a series. They need that 5th seed to face the Clippers.

The Rockets are likely for a big turnover in the off-season anyways. DMo, Terrance Jones, Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Marcus Thorton, will all be free agents.

The Rockets are not going to make it over the hump if James Harden doesn't step it up on the defensive end of the court. His brilliance on offense is overshadowed by his attention on the defensive end. If you're a teammate of his, why would you want to play with him. On offense he usually has the ball in his hands with isolation plays and on defense you have to cover up for his deficiencies. It's always going to affect chemistry on the team.

The Rockets should try to trade Howard now and get either some young talent or draft picks. I really like Capela and think he can be very good. Beverly is a perfect fit next to Harden in the back court. Ariza is still productive.

The problem with the Rockets hasn't been talent this year. It's been chemistry. You can't fix that unless an overhaul is done.

HARDEN is 28.0/7.0/6.3

That is an incredible MVP line.
He might not be the best defender, but neither was many other MVP type players.
You can live with sub-par defense when the offense is at those gaudy levels.

You just need defense from roleplayers.
The problem is that his role-players are even worse at defense than Harden....this year especially.
If you are not going to contribute anything offensively, you better hustle and play defense.

Guys like Ariza, Beverly, Lawson, and Terry are absolutely dreadful on defense this season.
And for some reason, Beverly and Ariza are actually lauded for defense despite the on court play not supporting it.

I think Harden and Howard are fine, the roster around them not so much. If you have a chance to let Howard go, it won't be the worst thing though. It really doesn't help when you have more talented teams in the West like OKC, GS, SA, LAC. They need to trash the rest of the roster, keep a couple pieces and go out and get some big players in free agency. Surround those guys with good, solid role players. That is going to be a tough task bc how many players really want to play with Howard. I think this team can still be dangerous but they have to start playing better as a team, especially defensively. Just don't think they have enough to beat the top teams even if they play ridiculous.

They need to add shooters around Harden to spread the floor. A point guard, a decent power forward, and… well that's "it".

trojanfan12 said:

For their fans, yes, they should blow it up. They are stuck in NBA hell. They are a 6-9 seed (although if Dwight and Harden had any brains or maturity, they'd be contenders) with no real way of improving the roster.

From a perspective of watching a couple of guys who think they don't have anything more to learn fail, it's pretty entertaining.

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I know what you're talking about, and yeah, Howard's a riot. He's indirectly admitted that although there's nothing in his game that can be improved upon, he's essentially not good enough to lead a team to an NBA title.

Dwight = cancer

Hornsstampede2.0 said:

HARDEN is 28.0/7.0/6.3

That is an incredible MVP line.
He might not be the best defender, but neither was many other MVP type players.
You can live with sub-par defense when the offense is at those gaudy levels.

You just need defense from roleplayers.
The problem is that his role-players are even worse at defense than Harden....this year especially.
If you are not going to contribute anything offensively, you better hustle and play defense.

Guys like Ariza, Beverly, Lawson, and Terry are absolutely dreadful on defense this season.
And for some reason, Beverly and Ariza are actually lauded for defense despite the on court play not supporting it.

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its strange because Beverly i thought was one of the better defenders in the league at the guard position- and Ariza has always had a decent rep as a 3 and D gu......Lawson and Terry i am sure are dreadful defensively.

i dont know how you blow up a win-now team with Harden on it- a guy who was what? 2nd in the MVP last year?---

they screwed up when they were trying to court Bosh and let Parsons go etc......Morey treated the roster like a video game roster- and after you do that for too long- all the chemistry goes- and when you have a few malcontents and babys on the roster it can get bad quick...

this is a team that would GREATLY benefit from some high character role players that just have a role and perform it


and as much as people want to criticize Dwight - Dwight is getting a contract of OVER 25 million a year this offseason- and teams will be FIGHTING over the chance to offer him that.

HammerDown said:

Dwight = cancer

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i dont think he is a cancer as much as he is kind of a clown and not a leader...hes mostly harmless, but its hard to have a goof as your 2nd best player. I would call him more of a goofball than a cancer or someone who is destructive.

like i said- tons of teams will be falling overthemselves to offer this guy big money- which is- i mean- whatever.

WiggyRuss said:

i dont think he is a cancer as much as he is kind of a clown and not a leader...hes mostly harmless, but its hard to have a goof as your 2nd best player. I would call him more of a goofball than a cancer or someone who is destructive.

like i said- tons of teams will be falling overthemselves to offer this guy big money- which is- i mean- whatever.

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He's not so innocent!

They're looking to blow it up now, think Harden and Dwight will be moved. I think Dwight is moved by next week. That team is a mess

Yes, they're not a good team.

My money is on Charlotte to acquire Dwight

Sounds like they are serious about trading Dwight. Once again he has a problem playing with a dominant 2-guard. I saw this coming when he chose Houston over L.A. He basically left for a similar situation. This guy so wants to be the man but doesn't realize he's incapable of it at this point in his career. His next contract could be pushing $150mil territory. Yikes!

who is even in the running to trade for Dwight? i think we can safely cross the Lakers and Magic off the list, lol....

I would think:

Boston- i think Boston has to be the favorite to trade for him. They have plenty of pieces...Olnyk, Boston 1st rounder, David Lee?
Miami- def think thats a decent possibility- Whiteside, Deng, - and what else?

maybe:
Charlotte - someone suggested that above i think it would be a lot better possibility if freaking MKG didnt just get hurt again...sucks.....give up what? like Zeller and Jeffersons and Lamb (to match salary)

no one in the Pacific divison makes sense at all...no one really in the whole Western Conference makes a lot of sense besides maybe

who in the East would make any sense? the Bulls? they are already really injured....i could maybe see that though i guess- trade Noahs contract, Porter, McDermont and a 1st rounder or something....and try and win the East with Dwight/Butler/Rose/Dunleavy/Gibson/Snell etc..

the bucks are too far out of it to make a move like that and dwight wouldnt stay there anyway...but a monroe/mayo for dwight wouldnt be a bad deal...

pacers- bird never makes those kinda moves- and wouldnt trade for a knucklehead like howard

Wizards?--- If Beale was healthy i could see it.....but its not like WAll and Howard and whatever else they would have left after a trade would be good enough to do anything...but a deal would have to be like Gortat, Porter, Webster or something....

it doesnt make a whole ton of sense if they are jsut getting rid of horford- but dwight is from atlanta and if the hawks felt better about committing to dwight a horford for dwight deal (hawks would have to match some more salary obviously) would prob work...but like i said- i dont see how atlanta would want to pay dwight all that money if they are already looking to blow it up.


i dunno...what do you guys think? who would actually give up something just to rent Dwight for a few months? unless- its a team that thinks they can resign him...