When the Tracy McGrady-Yao Ming combination for the Houston Rockets spent more time on the trainer's table than the court, the Houston Rockets were forced to regroup. As the NBA started to evolve into an era of teams trying to construct a Big Three like Pat Riley and the Miami Heat did, having the superstar combination like we saw during the Shaq and Kobe era in Los Angeles changed to the superstar trio. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey knew he had to acquire assets in order to acquire the flexibility to be in position to swing deals and attract free agent targets.


Lawson under George Karl in 2012-13 was probably his most effective season. While his stats weren't the best we've seen, his accuracy in the way he scored was top-notch and he was a constant threat with the ball in his hands. Under Brian Shaw and then Melvin Hunt, his numbers improved but his efficiency wavered a bit. In putting him next to James Harden and finding ways to help him control the offense, the Rockets could have one of the deadliest backcourts in the NBA.

After being a treadmill team in the Western Conference for a few years, the Rockets struck gold in their acquisition of James Harden right before the 2012-13 season. A year later, Morey convinced Dwight Howard to leave the Los Angeles Lakers and join up with Harden in H-Town. The Rockets chased trying to sign Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Carmelo Anthony since signing Howard -- hoping to grab that third star to complete the triumvirate. With the trade of Ty Lawson from the Denver Nuggets to the Rockets, Morey has presumably found his third star.
All of this will be contingent on how quickly and well Ty Lawson's off the court problems are addressed, but if he can fix that aspect of his life, the on-court fit with Lawson and what the Rockets like to do is pretty much perfect. The three big takeaways from where the Rockets try to attack the most are in transition, from the 3-point line, and in pick-and-roll sets.

This is a similar attack the Rockets tried to employ with the Jeremy Lin-James Harden combo back in 2013-14. Lin is a decent 3-point shooter, who also thrives in pick-and-roll situations. Lin did well as a spot-up shooter next to Harden and he ran pick-and-roll plays extremely well. The problem was he was a disaster in transition opportunities. Of the 41 players who had at least 200 transition scoring possessions, only rookie Michael Carter-Williams and Evan Turner had a lower points per possession than Lin.

The Rockets were actually quite good with the pairing of Lin and Harden on the floor together. They had a net rating of plus-7.6 points per 100 possessions -- higher than their 5.5 for the entire season. They put up a pretty stellar 109.9 points per 100 possessions with those two on the floor and the defense was solid. But Lin's shortcomings in transition and defensively (along with his big salary number in the final year of his contract) opened the door for Patrick Beverley to end up as the starting point guard last season.
Houston retained Beverley in free agency this summer, but potentially moving him to the bench or using Lawson as the primary point guard next to Harden for the majority of the minutes could turn the Rockets into an elite offensive team. For all of the star power, record-setting 3-point shooting, and pace pushing the Rockets did last season, they still only ranked 12th in offensive rating. That's not bad by any means, but it's also not elite. The previous season they were fourth in offense but hadn't made the leap defensively we saw in 2014-15.
Lawson struggles defensively because of his smaller stature compared to most NBA point guards. Stephen Curry infamously used him as a human ball rack during the 2013 first round. But his advantages on offense may make up for it and the Rockets will still have Beverley to employ for stretches to get key stops.