Mar 11, 2014
When Dwight Howard signed with the Houston Rockets last year we were cautious to call them title contenders because of the off year he had with Los Angeles Lakers. As the season began Howard and the Rockets played well but only seemed like middle of the pack, second round exit team in thew Western Conference. Now when I look at the Houston Rockets I see a title contender team.
When I look at this Rockets team, I see a team with many weapons. They have their two superstars in James Harden (25 points and 5 assists per game) and Dwight Howard (19 points and 12 rebounds per game ) as well some top notch complementary players in Chandler Parsons (17 points and 5 rebounds per game), Terrence Jones (12 points and 7 rebounds per game) and Jeremy Lin (12 points and 4 assists per game). With all those players in the lineup, there is never a question of where the offense is coming from as any of these guys can explode at any time. Harden simply just gets buckets (jumpers, drives, and free throws, he does it all). Howard is a guy that you can give it to down low in the post or hit him on a pick and roll. These two give the Rockets the perfect inside outside duo.
Then when Harden is off, Parsons can step up for some perimeter play, and I am a firm believer that Jeremy Lin can have a classic Linsanity game at any time. Jones can pick up any slack for Howard on offense as well.
Then the Rockets have a pretty decent defensive team as well. While Harden might not be known for his defense (he’s probably below average defensively) Dwight Howard is. Howard is a defensive player of the year candidate year in and year out. He’s a top notch rim protector, with great size and athleticism to stop almost anyone at the rim. Also now it looks like the Rockets have mended things over with Omer Asik as he is now back in the lineup. With him backing up Dwight, the Rockets have rim protection at all times. It also doesn’t hurt to have Terrence Jones rotating over to help as well. Oh yeah and then they have Patrick Beverly harassing opposing point guards most of the game. Beverly is one of those guys who guards opponents full court and gets under their skin from his trash talk and aggressive defense.
Oh yeah, and there’s a pretty decent bench in Houston as well. For starters the Rockets have shooters (Francisco Garcia, Omri Cassipi and Dontas Motiejunas) ready whenever their needed. Then the Rockets added Jordan Hamilton on the wing as well, who can shoot and is pretty athletic.
Overall I think this Houston team will be very dangerous for anybody that faces them in the playoffs. This team has everything needed to make a serious Finals push. All the other contenders should be cautious, because the Houston Rockets are serious.
Everick Davis Jr.
Was good though, it's me Everick Davis Jr. Born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia, I'm currently a senior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I watch every sport (not so much golf) but I am huge on the NBA. My favorite players right now are J.R. Smith, Russell Westbrook & Nick Young. Drinking beer and watching sports is my favorite past time and I do it year round! I used to play basketball on the regular until everyone else kept growing and I still stood at 5'6. So that's when I channeled my efforts into becoming the next Stephen A Smith or anything close to that. I currently write for "The Carolinian" newspaper in Greensboro, NC and intern for http://theurbantwist.com/ Random Fact about me, I love anime, my favorite one is One Piece! Second random fact, I got beatz! check me out http://www.reverbnation.com/ielabs
