Rockets "clear winners" of NBA offseason

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Houston Rockets

Over the last two years, Dwight Howard has embarrassed himself. He has become known for almost unbelievable indecision, excessive flatulence, and his fascination with candy. On the court, he wasn't nearly himself for the bulk of last season in Los Angeles. Justifiable criticism of Howard's professionalism has bled into misguided criticism of his game — some fans have delighted in his health-related regression and wrongly screamed about his alleged lack of a post-up game.1

Before a spate of shoulder and back injuries, Howard was the best two-way big man in the league by a considerable margin. He showed semi-sustained flashes of his peak defensive form during his last 30 games with the Lakers, he'll be in better health this season, he has an excellent backup (Omer Asik), and he should play with supercharged motivation. Even 90 percent of 2010-12 Howard is worth more than what Houston will pay him. So congrats, Rockets, on tricking Howard into missing that last season Houston played almost exactly the style of offense Howard — perhaps the NBA player least aware of how to maximize his abilities — professed to hate under Mike D'Antoni.

Houston will have to adjust its offense, and likely its pace, to fit Howard's preferences, but the James Harden–Howard pick-and-roll should instantly become one of the most powerful offensive staples in the NBA. Houston wisely filled out the roster with one-year minimum deals for wing shooters who either helped last season (Francisco Garcia) or who once showed promise before being traded and flopping with their new teams (Omri Casspi, Reggie Williams). The Rockets should have access to the full midlevel exception next summer to go after another solid veteran, and they own all their first-round picks. The Rockets really stand alone as the team that helped themselves dramatically in the present without sacrificing any future assets.

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New Orleans Pelicans

Covered at length here. Executives are both curious about the team's new six-man nucleus and skeptical that this group can take New Orleans over the mountaintop. The Pellies are betting on a lot of things, but the most important big-picture wager is on a 20-year-old Anthony Davis developing into one of the league's five best players. Most executives agree that is a good bet. But will he get to that level at the right time for this group?

The rest of the Pelicans' core is 25 or younger, so they can grow together to some degree, even though the age gap between Davis and the rest of them is meaningful. And the Pellies will surely explore moving both Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon — anyone but Davis, really — if they decide this core won't be good enough to compete for a ring.

One caveat that has become a bit clearer over the last couple of weeks: It's possible the Pelicans could have nabbed their "good starting point guard" type by aggressively chasing Teague or Jennings in free agency (essentially using the Tyreke Evans salary slot) instead of trading two picks for Holiday. Holiday is a better two-way player than those guys, but he came at a very high price.

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