Has the Rockets' Championship window closed?
The Houston Rockets are an interesting team. They were second best in the West in the 2017-18 season, and have the reigning MVP. They also have arguably one of the best guards of all time, as well as a string of good players around them.
It may seem like the Rockets are in a good spot, but has their championship window closed?
James Harden is currently one of the best players in the NBA. He had an awesome season, averaging 30.4 points per game, but not only is he a great scorer, he is also a great playmaker.
Teaming him up with one of the league's other great playmakers, Chris Paul, seemed like one of the best things the Rockets could do. Add in a slew of solid supporting players like Trevor Ariza, Clint Capella and Luc Mbah a Moute, and you end up with the top team in the West, finishing with 65 wins.
The Rockets made it all the way to the Western Conference finals, but were beaten by the eventual champions Golden State. Usually when a team gets so close, and has the MVP as well as everything seemingly going for it, you would expect it to come back the next season and be even hungrier and better.
But that does not seem to be the case.
Now, there are a few reasons that I believe the Rockets will be worse off this season. Some are through no fault of their own, while others are completely their own doing.
Here are a few things they need to consider if they are attempting to beat the Warriors and get to the Finals, before they can even think about taking home the Championship.
LeBron James is now in the West
This automatically throws a spanner in the works. We just saw that LeBron can single-handedly take a team to the Finals, as he did it with a mediocre Cleveland team. And now he is in the same conference as the Rockets.
Yes, it seems that the Lakers have made some odd signings, but they also still have a lot of young talent for LeBron to work with. For the Rockets, it would prove to be a tough matchup to come up against LeBron with Ingram, Lonzo, Hart and Kuzma all having another season under their belt.
Chris Paul isn't getting any younger
Chris Paul will be 34 next May, and he has already started to show signs of injuries slowing him down. Paul pulled his hamstring in Game 5 against the Warriors, and the Rockets went from being up 3-2 to losing the last two games and going down 4-3.
If his injuries get any worse, it will affect the dynamics of the team, and also the Rockets will need to think about how that plays into their future as they just signed 4 year, $160 million contract extension that will see him through until he is 38.
Signings are important
The Rockets have lost two players that were really good for them last season. Mbah a Moute and Ariza are gone, luckily they were able to keep Capella, and reports are currently surfacing that Carmelo Anthony is going to sign with the Rockets.
What happens as the season goes on and as we get closer to the trade deadline will determine how the second half of the season will go for Houston. Melo had his statistically worst season last year, averaging only 16.2 PPG.
He did not fit well at OKC, and refused to come off the bench. If Melo is added to the team, Houston will need to monitor how much of the ball he is using, and how well he is using it. Since there are already two other ball dominant players on the team.
If it does not seem to be working, Houston may need to think about dealing him to try and salvage something.
Finally, the Warriors just got stronger
This point still remains to be seen, but the reality is Golden State just signed arguably the best center in the league, Demarcus Cousins.
Boogie could come back from his achilles and be a shell of who he once was, or he could come back and be a bad influence on the team in the locker room, but if he comes back and is anywhere near how good he was prior to going down with his injury, Golden State just got a whole lot better.
Imagine coming up against a starting line up of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Boogie Cousins. That could scare anybody in the association! Even if Boogie is not as good as he was, I still don't see Houston beating Golden State if they meet in the finals.