Mark Travis plans to attend the School of Journalism and Communication at the University or Oregon in the fall of 2012. Travis was born and raised in Corpus Christi and graduated with honors from Flour Bluff High School. He says he is one of the few Lakers fans who recognizes that LeBron James is better than Kobe Bryant. Travis started writing back in 2008, when Michael Crabtree and the Texas Tech Red Raiders inspired him to start But The Game Is On Sports Network, which features websites dedicated to covering the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL as well as college basketball and football. Travis contributes to all sites across his network. You can read the rest of his NBA writing at The Chase-Down Block. You can follow him on Twitter @Mark_Travis.
CORPUS CHRISTI â€" When the Rockets take the floor tonight against the New Orleans Hornets, they will be playing for nothing. Two weeks ago, this would have been a good thing, as one could assume Houston would be resting their starters for the post-season. Unfortunately, that's not the case. After a brutal eight-game stretch that took them out of the playoff picture, the only thing the Rockets can accomplish tomorrow is finishing the season with an above .500 record for the sixth straight year.
Houston's defense, which was average all season long, floundered down the stretch. The Rockets posted horrid defensive efficiencies (points per 100 possesions) of 110.8 (vs Utah), 112.0 (vs Phoenix), 108.2 (vs Denver), 128.6 (vs Dallas), 102.9 (vs New Orleans), 106.7 (vs Golden State) and 104.3 (vs Miami) while their offense sputtered as well (97.8 offensive efficiency vs Utah, 85.1 vs Denver, 97.1 vs New Orleans, 94.6 vs Miami).
Not so coincidentally, Houston's poor stretch, which included a six-game losing streak and seven losses in eight games, came just as Kyle Lowry returned to the lineup after missing almost a month of action with a virus. That's not to knock Lowry as a player, but he just wasn't himself upon his return. Known for his bulldog defense, Lowry was noticeably thinner and he didn't have any rhythm on the offensive end (which is understandable).
I think the hard working Lowry pushed himself too hard to return and came back too soon, throwing off the rotation that had beaten several playoff teams without him. Houston would have been better off waiting to bring Lowry back, keeping the team's groove alive while they played in their most important stretch of the season. Assuming that unit could have clinched a win or two against Phoenix and Utah (their competition for the eighth seed), Houston could have started to ease Lowry back in in their final five games of the year with better hopes of making the playoffs.
Instead, Lowry was forced back into to action and the Rockets got into a funk at the worst possible time. It's hard to blame anyone for Lowry's premature return although someone in the coaching staff should have tried to talk him out of it. Kevin McHale does deserve some criticism for the team's overall performance, as their defense this season was largely unacceptable for a team competing for the post-season, but some of that blame belongs to Luis Scola, who was unable to defend his position effectively in the biggest games of the season.
Despite missing out on the playoffs for the third straight year, I think this was a successful season for the Rockets. The emergence of Lowry has presented Houston with either a point guard of the future or an enormous trade chip for the off-season. The emergence of Goran Dragic, while it may be negated if Dragic walks to another team in free agency, could end up convincing the Rockets to trade Lowry. The emergence of Chandler Parsons was, perhaps, the biggest headline of the season for the team, as it became clear that the second-round pick is going to be a vital piece of this organization going forward. The acquisition of Marcus Camby not only helped Houston in their pursuit of a playoff spot but should also help Daryl Morey cut down on his crowded frontcourt and capsheet by declining the second option on Samuel Dalembert's contract and re-signing Camby. Courtney Lee (qualifying offer) and Chase Budinger (cheap team option) can both leave this off-season but their good outside shooting and, at least in the case of Lee, quality defense should garner offers from Houston to stick around.
The most disappointing aspect of the season was undoubtedly the two veterans on this team that are making big money: Kevin Martin and Scola. Martin's late season injury was out of anyone's control, but he wasn't playing good basketball even when he was healthy. Scola had a couple of nice offensive stretches here and there, but his terrible rebounding and defense combined with a decline in true shooting percentage and an uptick in turnover rate made for the worst season of Scola's NBA career. You can chalk this up to old legs having trouble with the lockout shortened season or two players that were comfortable in Rick Adelman's offense being uncomfortable with change, and those are reasonable theories, but you won't convince me that these two weren't playing at 100% once they were informed that they were traded to the New Orleans Hornets before the season.
The only marquee players, which Dragic was not at the time, that were involved in the initial Chris Paul trade that didn't get traded after that deal fell apart were Scola, Martin and Pau Gasol, which set up a season's worth of trade rumors involving Gasol going to Houston in exchange for Scola and/or Martin. Scola and Martin never had any stability. When Gasol started getting pounded with trade rumors, Kobe Bryant came out and made a strong statement in his favor. No such statement was made by the Rockets, at least publicly. Scola and Martin didn't completely flop the season because they of the trade like Lamar Odom, but there was a noticeable dip in their production and I think this had a lot to do with it.
The Rockets have a lot to think about during the off-season. It's become fairly obvious that this team needs a star presence and despite Morey's best efforts, they haven't been able to acquire one via trade. Now that they've traded almost all of the the trade chips he was stocking up on, Houston may be forced to pair Kyle Lowry with one of their two top 16 draft pick (their own and New York's) in order to move up into the top part of the lottery in hopes of drafting that star. I love Lowry as much as anyone but if they can get a top five pick in this draft for him and can manage to re-sign Goran Dragic, I think that's a good move.
There's also the issue of amnestying Luis Scola. Scola has three years and $30,673,866 left on his contract and his recent performance is very concerning. Given that this is the last year teams can use the amnesty clause, I think Houston has to cut ties with Scola if they can't find a trade partner willing to take him. Freeing up that cap space will allow the Rockets to make a run at some of the key free agents this summer like Eric Gordon, Roy Hibbert, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Houston has the young pieces and the right people in charge to make a run at the post-season for the next few years in the Western Conference and they made some progress this season. But improvements must be made this off-season in order to further their journey to the post-season. And while those improvements may come at the cost at some of the players Rockets fans have grown to love, remember:
"The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy." - Jim Rohn
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