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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Houston Rockets: 4 Burning Questions Heading into Next Season - Bleacher Report

Earlier this season the Rockets were in the thick of the playoff race before faltering down the stretch.

With this failure, the Rockets have many question marks heading into the offseason centered around both their players and their direction. 

Here are four questions that the Rockets will have to answer heading forward.

Is Kevin McHale the Coach of the Future?

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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Kevin McHale ended up being one of the surprise coaches of this season. He had the Rockets in the playoffs for virtually the whole season until the epic meltdown at the end.

However, that's the problem: The Rockets absolutely collapsed at the end of the season, losing seven of their last eight games and falling from the six seed to the 10th spotâ€"an unacceptable drop for a team of the Rockets' aptitude. 

McHale has been a very good coach for the Rockets; the team will need to figure out if he is the right coach for this franchise moving forward. 

Are the Rockets in Win-Now Mode?

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Harry How/Getty Images

At the beginning of the season, the Rockets thought they had completed a trade to acquire Pau Gasol from the Lakers for Kevin Martin and Luis Scola. However, at the last minute the league denied the trade for unknown reasons and forced the Hornets to instead trade Chris Paul to the Clippers. 

At the time, I thought that Houston was a winner in the rescinded trade since I thought they were looking to the future instead of acquiring a 30-plus year old former star. However, in the last season it looks as if the Rockets want to win now instead of build for the future. 

With two players on their team in Kevin Martin and Luis Scola who may be nearing the wrong side of their careers, the Rockets have to determine whether they want to win now or look to the future. 

Should They Trade Martin or Scola?

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Like I said in the last slide, the Rockets have to make a decision whether they want to win now or if they want to build to the future. The biggest issue they have here is that arguably their two best players are 29 or older in Kevin Martin and Luis Scola. However, their third best player, Kyle Lowry, is only 26 and many of their key role players are young as well. 

Should the Rockets try to build for the future and trade either Martin or Scola?

Both of these players are guys who would have incredible value around the league. Scola is one of the most skilled offensive big men that we have in the league today. I remember seeing him for the first time at the 2007 FIBA Americas championship game against the United States and at times he looked like the best player on the floor, even against the Redeem Team. He is also on a very reasonable contract, so he should be easy to trade. 

Martin is in much of the same situation. He is not a player who you want being the best player on your team, but could be one of the best complimentary scorers in the whole NBA if given the opportunity. He is also on a reasonable contract, so Houston may want to look at trading him. 

Dragic or Lowry?

Rox

Luckily for Goran Dragic, he has evolved from "that guy who Derrick Rose dunked on" into a starting caliber point guard in this league. This season, he has raised his points per game, assists per game and steals per game by 50 percent and has started 27 games this season. 

On the other hand, Kyle Lowry was playing like an All-Star to start this season. He is averaging higher numbers across the board, albeit in higher minutes. 

Both players are 26 years old, so age is not a factor. However, Dragic is poised to become a free agent at the end of the season, and the Rockets will need to determine what direction they want to go in the future. 

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