Time to face facts Rockets fans. Despite what almost every one of the Local media columnists are writing, Jenny Dial Creech, Jerome Solomon, and Brian T Smith as three examples, The chances of Lebron James wearing a Rockets jersey for the 2018-2019 season are slim to none, and slim just left town with today's news that James is opting out of his player option with Cleveland to become and unrestricted free agent.
His most likely landing spot is the Lakers, which makes sense because he's already got a second home in LA, and visions himself a movie mogul and mover and shaker in the NBA when his playing career is done. Few teams have been more willing to let former players take the reigns than have the Lakers.
Sure, some dominoes have to fall. Kawhi Leonard being traded from the Spurs to the Lakers would help, as would Paul George signing a free agent deal with them. Once that happens it's a fair bet that Lonzo Ball gets dealt away, no way Mr. James wants to be attached to the Lavar clown show. But the odds on money is LA.
What this likely means for the Rockets is that next year is going to be a mirror image of last year. A team that wins a ton of games but whose playoff hopes rely on the health of an aging player (Chris Paul) with a troubling history of soft-tissue injuries. That's assuming Paul doesn't take a discount himself to play with the Lakers and join up with his friend LeBron. Stranger things have happened in the NBA. At least Daryl Morey didn't show up at LeBron's front door begging this time around.
It's hard to fault Morey though, he's working with limited resources in a city that's generally unattractive to many of the league's best players. Houston is hot, humid, has little in the way of actual attractions and is a great place to work, but an increasingly crime-riddled and expensive place to LIVE. It doesn't have the best schools for LeBron's kids, and his wife would most probably be bored out of her mind.
But Morey, for all of his brilliance, has not been able to push this Rockets team over the top. They get close, achingly close, before falling just short. There was the Dwight Howard mess, then the San Antonio dud, then last year the 0-27 historical run of 3-point shooting futility. James Harden has proven himself one of the better, regular season players in the NBA, when it comes to the playoffs however he's returning Houston to Choke City more than reviving the Clutch City vibes. He's the Dan Marino of the NBA. Not that Marino is a bad person to be compared to but he never won any championships, which appears to be the fate of Harden unless he changes the results.
He'll have to do so in 2018-2019 with, presumably, almost the same supporting cast.
Whatever voodoo Tillman Fertitta can bring over from Lake Charles to bless Chris Paul's muscles, tendons and ligaments had better be shipped in now. Otherwise we'll be writing the same eulogy for next year's team that we did for this year's:
So close, yet so far away.
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