The Rockets have added Eric Gordon (4yrs/$53m), Ryan Anderson (4yrs/$80m), Nene Hilario (1yr/$2.9m) and I assume they'll pick up the very affordable team option on Michael Beasley. On draft night they picked up the intriguing Zhou Qi and Chinanu Onuaku (isn't he playing for someone else in Summer League?). And they brought in the great Mike D'antoni to coach. They've let Dwight Howard skitter away to the Hawks and it feels like Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas, Josh Smith and Jason Terry are not coming back. Are the Rockets better? Hard to tell because their last coupla seasons have been so erratic, no one's actually sure how good the Rockets ever were.
Right now the Rockets are something like: PG Beverley, SG Gordon, SF Harden, PF Anderson, C Capela with Ariza, Brewer, McDaniels, Zhou, Dekker, Harrell and Nene off the bench. Surrounding Harden with scorers is an interesting move (one I'm surprised they haven't tried yet) and gives them a legit shot to outscore opponents. The Rockets should've been better last year (but they shouldn't have been as good as they were the year before), so saying they should be better next year seems like a no-brainer. If Harden has the ultra-efficient scoring season that he is capable of, the Rockets will easily be a playoff team. But I'm not sure they're any better than the Mavs at the moment.
They've still got money to spend and roster spots to fill but the core of the team is clearly already in place. Wouldn't be surprised to see them add a veteran forward like JJ Hickson or Chris Kaman.
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