On late Sunday night, the Houston Rockets released Jeff Adrien. While not on par with news like LeBron James heading back to Cleveland, Adrien’s release brought attention to the strange dynamics in the Houston frontcourt. Prior to being waived, you could make the case that Adrien was Houston’s third best big, behind incumbent starters Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones. Yet due to contracts, Adrien finds himself looking for a new team. The leftovers - Donatas Motiejunas, undrafted rookie Tarik Black and Joey Dorsey -- are now left to fill out the crucial rotation spots behind Howard and Jones.
Coming off an underwhelming FIBA tournament, Motiejunas was a mess this October. He posted a preseason PER of 7.88 and was also at fault for more than his fair share of defensive lapses. Part of the struggles could be attributed to the Rockets using Motiejunas as a backup 5 and encouraging more post ups than he will likely see in the regular season. But combined with his 4-of-13 showing on three-pointers, Motiejunas didn’t do anything to justify a rotation spot come Houston’s regular season gams.
Dorsey, signed this offseason after a three years in Europe, didn’t look much better. At 6’7”, Dorsey is something of a Ben Wallace-lite and the Rockets are surely hoping he can fill such a role in the minutes behind Howard. Upon returning from an ankle injury that cost him the first three preseason games, the 30-year-old Dorsey struggled to finish, rebound or impact the game defensively. The ankle injury did keep Dorsey out for the beginning of camp, so with some time to adjust to Houston’s scheme and regain his fitness, Dorsey should be better, but the question is how much?
If Dorsey’s preseason performance doesn’t drastically improve, the next option the Rockets will turn to is likely Black. Coming from out of nowhere, Black impressed with his energy, rebounding and toughness all preseason long. On a younger team with less lofty expectations, Black would be a no-brainer for minutes in an attempt to accelerate the refinement of his game. But this Rockets team is coming off a 54-win season in a loaded West and though Black brings some positive attributes, he’s only 6’8” (though he possesses a wingspan that’s just shy of 7’3”, according to DraftExpress), has an offensive game that’s limited to garbage buckets and is still feeling out the nuances of NBA defense. Black is a potentially a great find for Houston in the long-term, but right now he’s a rookie that’s still trying to find his way in the world’s most competitive league.
There are a few other options the Rockets can possibly sort through as the season wears on. The first being rookie center Clint Capela, who is a virtual unknown at this level because he’s missed all of preseason with a groin injury. The second is shifting rookie small forward Kostas Papanikolaou to the 4, like Houston did with Chandler Parsons at times. But Papanikolaou has also been adjusting to the power and pace of the NBA game and may not be physically capable of holding his own at that spot until a full offseason spent working on his body.
It seems as though with all their roster shuffling hoping to land a third superstar, the Rockets find themselves now with more questions than answers when it comes to an increasingly important part of NBA team-building: depth.
http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/23535 ... t-Tweeners
Can't argue with that. Beyond Howard and the inconsistent Tjones, Rockets bigs are arguably the worst in the nba.
the waiting is over --> it is never going to happen for him as a Rocket. Would you consider him a serviceable player? Is there any trade value?
