Warriors Contender Scouting Report: Houston Rockets
By Andrew Ites
The Houston Rockets took the Warriors to the brink last season. Will they be as tough of a matchup for Golden State next year?
The Warriors and Rockets went toe-to-toe in last year’s Western Conference Finals, and Houston even took a 3-2 lead before Golden State came back to win Games 6 and 7.
If Chris Paul wouldn’t have gotten hurt in Game 5, the Warriors may have gone down. Especially considering Golden State was down at halftime of both elimination games with CP3 on the bench.
Both of these squads will look a bit different next season, but it’s very possible they meet up in the Conference Finals again in 2019.
The Rockets lost a key piece of their roster in free agency when Trevor Ariza signed with the Suns.
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Ariza was a valuable three-and-D player for Houston last season, and he will likely be replaced by Carmelo Anthony.
Melo had career lows in points and assists per game as well as field goal percentage last season. He has never been a great defender, but Anthony was one of the worst defenders in the league at age 33 last year which could prevent Houston from being a high-level defense like they were last season.
The Rockets lost another good wing defender from their sixth-ranked defense when Luc Mbah a Moute signed with the Clippers.
Houston still has a fantastic big three in Chris Paul, James Harden and Clint Capela, but CP3 is a year older and is coming off of a year full of hamstring trouble.
I expect the Rockets to be the second-best team in the Western Conference again this season, but they’ve taken a clear step back this offseason.
Next. Best Free Agent Signings in Golden State History. dark
Houston may meet the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year, but they missed out on their opportunity to take down Golden State when they went 7-for-44 from three in Game 7.
Here are our scouting reports of some other possible contenders next season: