Houston Rockets To Evaluate Morey, Bickerstaff After Season
After the Houston Rockets made the NBA’s Western Conference Finals last year, the team was supposed to, once again, be a force in the league again this year. In the off-season, the Rockets picked up Ty Lawson, who was supposed to provide the bench with a capable offensive threat and playmaking weapon. However, Lawson never produced and was bought out by Houston in early March.
The Rockets’ ugly season was observable early in the year. With Houston sitting at 4-7 to start the season, the Rockets fired Kevin McHale. Despite the rough beginning to an important season, this was a surprising move considering how deep McHale led the team in the playoffs last year. It may very well be the case that McHale’s overperformance last year led to his firing in the current NBA season.
ICYMI @HoustonRockets coach JB Bickerstaff talks on the loss to the Suns & the final 3 gms https://t.co/GAzmMgNkSD pic.twitter.com/Et9FywmSWr
— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) April 9, 2016
After McHale’s dismissal, JB Bickerstaff was brought in to finish the season. Bickerstaff’s team has gone 35-34 since, although he still has some of the same problems that McHale’s team had at the beginning of the year.
Namely, Houston is 22nd in defensive efficiency, a far cry from their No. 6 mark from last season. The main culprit for their lack of effectiveness on that end of the floor has been their incompetence in defending in transition. As Zach Harper from CBS Sports notes, the Rockets are not only struggling at defending in the transition game, but Houston also finds themselves in transition more than nearly every other team.
Along with the team’s lack of engagement in transition, Houston’s philosophy of going for offensive rebounds has affected their transition defense in a negative way. As Harper notes, this has led to many more opportunities for opponents in transition.
“Some of it seems to happen from poor design. The Rockets are crashing the offensive boards with a couple of players and it’s leaving the gates wide open for a track meet going the other way.”
With Houston sending several players to the offensive boards, opposing players are able to leak out behind the Rockets and score in the fast break. However, the Rockets are sixth in the NBA in offensive rebound percentage according to TeamRankings.com, so this philosophy has its reward as well. However, it is possible that this strength may very well be a key component of their biggest weakness.
These defensive problems have put the job security of both Daryl Morey and Bickerstaff in question. With Houston on the edge of the playoffs and problems with roster construction evident, ESPN reports that Bickerstaff and Morey will be evaluated at the end of the season.
Co-scribed with @calvinwatkins: Sources say Daryl Morey not exempt from offseason review Rockets are planning –> https://t.co/fL5eIBI8dp
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 9, 2016
With a vital off-season nearing, the Rockets need to make sure that Houston has the right personnel in their front office. One of their biggest assets, Dwight Howard, becomes a free agent this summer. His stay with the Rockets has been hotly contested, and his fit next to Harden remains questionable at best. Furthermore, Howard’s usage under Bickerstaff and McHale has been another question mark, making it possible that the Rockets will look to go in a different direction in the summer.
Ultimately, Morey’s philosophy in choosing players, which is centered around analytics, makes him a hot topic in NBA circles. With that being said, the Rockets will need to soon figure out if Morey’s polarizing style is an asset or a liability to the organization as a whole.
[Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images]
