The Houston Rockets made it to the Western Conference Finals without two key contributors. Although that run included an unlikely seven-game comeback against the Clippers in the second round, it's no real surprise that the Rockets mainly stayed the same this offseason, choosing to bolster their roster without losing any key pieces.
Houston Rockets 2015 roster: James Harden and Dwight Howard have a lot of help
With the addition of Ty Lawson, the Rockets look to improve on their Western Conference Finals appearance.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The one big move -- a gamble, no doubt, given his off-court issues -- was bringing in Ty Lawson in trade from the Nuggets. For an almost-nonexistent price tag, Lawson is a small risk that makes a lot of sense if he's healthy. He's not a perfect fit given his ball dominance and mediocre defense, but if he's mentally ready for the season, then he can give Houston the secondary ballhandler they were missing last year.
The Rockets can also hope for a full season out of Terrence Jones and expect Donatas Motiejunas and Patrick Beverley to be healthy for a playoff run. The top of the West improved once again and a repeat trip to the Conference Finals is anything but guaranteed, but the Rockets are certainly in position to label themselves as contenders once again.
LAST YEAR
RECORD: 56-26 (2nd in Western Conference)
PLAYOFFS: Lost 4-1 to Golden State in the Western Conference Finals
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 104.2 (12th)
DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 100.5 (6th)
ROSTER
No. | PLAYER | POS | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | AGE | COLLEGE |
| 1 | Trevor Ariza | SF | 6-8 | 215 | 30 | UCLA |
| 2 | Patrick Beverley | PG | 6-1 | 210 | 27 | Arkansas |
| 6 | Terrence Jones | PF | 6-9 | 255 | 23 | Kentucky |
| 7 | Sam Dekker | SF | 6-9 | 230 | 21 | Wisconsin |
| 12 | Dwight Howard | C | 6-11 | 275 | 29 | |
| 13 | James Harden | SG | 6-5 | 225 | 26 | Arizona State |
| 15 | Clint Capela | C | 6-10 | 240 | 21 | |
| 20 | Donatas Motiejunas | PF | 7-0 | 255 | 25 | |
| 31 | Jason Terry | SG | 6-2 | 185 | 38 | Arizona |
| 32 | K.J. McDaniels | SG | 6-6 | 205 | 22 | Clemson |
| 33 | Corey Brewer | SG | 6-9 | 186 | 29 | Florida |
| 35 | Montrezl Harrell | PF | 6-8 | 240 | 21 | Louisville |
| 99 | Ty Lawson | PG | 5-11 | 195 | 27 | North Carolina |
| Marcus Thornton | SG | 6-4 | 205 | 28 | LSU | |
Coach: Kevin McHale
Assistant coaches: J.B. Bickerstaff, Chris Finch, Greg Buckner
OFFSEASON CHANGES
IN: Ty Lawson, Sam Dekker, Marcus Thornton, Montrezl Harrell
OUT: Joey Dorsey, Francisco Garcia, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, Josh Smith
The Rockets gave up next to nothing to pick up Lawson this summer. The only major departure is Josh Smith, who arrived in Houston and rejuvenated his career after a horrendous run in Detroit. Besides him and the addition of Lawson, the roster is virtually identical to the team that made the Western Conference Finals last season -- plus the players who were injured and missed it.
DEPTH CHART
POINT GUARD | SHOOTING GUARD | SMALL FORWARD | POWER FORWARD | CENTER | |
STARTER | Patrick Beverley | James Harden | Trevor Ariza | Terrence Jones | Dwight Howard |
RESERVE | Ty Lawson | K.J. McDaniels | Corey Brewer | Donatas Motiejunas | Clint Capela |
RESERVE | Jason Terry | Marcus Thornton | Sam Dekker | Montrezl Harrell | |
RESERVE |
THE KEY QUESTION
How can the Rockets come out of the West?
The West is undeniably brutal, and probably even more brutal than last year. But how quickly people forget that the Rockets were the No. 2 seed and a conference finalist last year, and they are a demonstrably better team. Sure, the Spurs appear to be better with LaMarcus Aldridge joining the fray and everyone else returning (save for Tiago Splitter and Cory Joseph). And the Clippers won’t be quite as shallow. And Golden State didn’t lose anyone (besides unloading non-contributor David Lee) from their juggernaut championship run. And Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are healthy. Oh, good lord.
On paper, this Rockets team is as good as anyone else. They were bitten by the injury bug last year. It’s not the Houston way for luck to turn around like that (the city’s sports teams have historically stayed on one side of the luck spectrum, it seems), but it’s a possibility. Who knows? Stephen Curry used to have glass ankles. Tim Duncan’s cyborg motor might be approaching obsolescence and the Clippers might be too emotionally shell-shocked to recover and beat the Rockets in a seven-game series. In a race this crazy, anything can happen, and the Rockets are better equipped than just about anyone to come out on top when the dust settles.
-Ethan Rothstein, The Dream Shake. Read the full Dream Shake preview here.
PREDICTIONS
BEST-CASE: Lawson is the perfect backcourt running mate for Harden, and Dwight Howard is able to stay healthy and dominant enough on the defensive end of the court for the Rockets to make it through the gauntlet that is the Western Conference. Houston wins the NBA title, their first since the Hakeem Olajuwon-led teams of the 1990s.
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