Following another season that fell short of their goals, a recent report suggested the Houston Rockets are looking to do a complete overhaul of their current roster. This has been spurred on by some reported tension between James Harden and Chris Paul, specifically in regards to playing style.
Now, it seems the team is considering revamping their style of play in the hopes of becoming a more formidable side next year and smoothing out some of the differences. As detailed by The Athletic's Kelly Iko, Houston is reportedly going back to the drawing board when it comes to its preferred system of choice:
The report cited Paul’s frustration with the offense and a push for more ball movement and off-ball actions, a la Golden State. But Paul isn’t the only one. Several members of the team expressed similar opinions throughout the year and into the offseason, including Eric Gordon’s frustration after a blowout loss in Utah, and continuing with Austin Rivers’ appearance recently on First Take.
Per team sources, those complaints have been heard and management has discussed a system that involves less isolation basketball and more ball movement heading into next season. Speeding the game up and looking for easier baskets was also brought up in conversations, per a team source.
The biggest takeaway here is that it seems that there are a fair amount of Rockets players who have been unhappy with the team's current style of play, especially with all the isolation plays drawn up for cornerstone superstar James Harden. More importantly, Houston's management team appears to have heeded their call, and have now shown a desire to make the necessary changes.
The big question is this: how will Harden react to these changes and what type of effect, if any, will these have on his game? We all know the reigning MVP's strengths, and he'll have to adjust a bit to make this work.
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