Houston Rockets: Analyzing the trade for Chris Paul
With the Houston Rockets reportedly completing a trade for star Chris Paul, where does this put the team moving forward in contention for a NBA title?
To say that the 2017 NBA offseason has gotten off to a crazy, rapid start would be an understatement at this point.
As teams, players, and fans were preparing for the start of free agency at midnight (ET) on July 1, The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a bombshell on the league: The Houston Rockets were trading for Chris Paul.
There had been rumblings over the past couple of weeks that the Rockets and San Antonio Spurs presented real threats to lure Paul away from the Los Angeles Clippers, but few expected Paul to pass up on the more lucrative contract the Clippers could offer him.
However, in the end Paul was heavily recruited by James Harden, and saw Houston as a better opportunity to compete for a championship. Luckily for the Clippers, Paul notified them of his plans, allowing them to complete a trade with Houston in order to get a decent return on their All-Star point guard.
The details of the trade are fairly complicated (and involved Houston making several side trades to obtain players with non-guaranteed contracts in order to match salaries), but the important pieces of the trade include:
The Clippers did well to get several rotation pieces, intriguing young players, and a first round pick (top-three protected) for a player that was leaving regardless. Patrick Beverley is playing on one of the best contracts in the league, Lou Williams is an excellent sixth man and Sam Dekker could blossom into a starter-quality combo forward. Montrezl Harrell showed some offensive prowess this past season as a spot starter and quality backup center.
For the Rockets though, they landed a second star to pair with Harden. As is the case in today's NBA, a team needs multiple stars in order to truly compete for a championship. Of course there are questions surrounding the fit of Paul next to Harden, but as I have written about previously, there are plenty of reasons to believe the two can fit well together.
It is also important to note that Harden worked hard to recruit Paul to Houston, meaning Harden knows he needs another star next to him to improve the Rockets' chances of winning a championship. Paul could be open to playing off the ball more if he and Harden worked together to make this happen, which is good, because it's something that will surely happen alongside the Beard.
Plus, with Paul taking some ball-handling and playmaking duties, Harden will have more energy to compete on the defensive end. Mike D'Antoni has already said there won't be a moment in any game in which both Harden and Paul are on the bench, revealing that he will stagger the minutes of the two star guards, allowing them each ample time to run the offense.
The trade leaves Houston's thin when it comes to depth. Their current depth chart would look something like this:
Nene is certainly still in Houston's plans, and bringing him back would shore up the depth at center. However, the Rockets need to add backups at both forward positions, and would benefit from adding another capable guard to the rotation.
The good news is that by going over the cap to acquire Paul in this trade, Houston has a $8.2 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception and the $3.3 million biannual exception to use to shore up the bench. Plus, with Paul in the fold alongside Harden (and in a Mike D'Antoni system), it's certainly possible that veteran free agents look to Houston as a place to contend for a title.
In the end, the Rockets now have Paul officially on the roster as they both continue to trade for another star and set out to meet with free agents. It has been long known that Daryl Morey goes after stars every summer, and this year he was able to land one of the biggest available in Chris Paul.
Paul and Harden are now one of the best — and certainly most intriguing — backcourts in the entire NBA. The two seem motivated to play with each other and contend for a championship, and this trade is the first step in doing so. Now Houston looks to add another star and bolster its depth in the hope of competing for a championship. After all, Daryl Morey did say he had a "trick up his sleeve." Bravo, Daryl. Bravo.
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