NBA Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets Need More Frontcourt Help

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By @DSchultz89

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The Houston Rockets got another win minus Dwight Howard, after beating the New York Knicks 91-86 in impressive fashion on Monday night. The Rockets also defeated the Dallas Mavericks without Howard on Saturday night.

It appeared after their loss to the struggling Los Angeles Lakers last week that they were too dependent on Howard’s dominance down low. However, the Rockets have remained a winning team thanks mainly to the Herculean efforts of James Harden, who is proving once again why he might be the best offensive player in the NBA.

Harden has continued to put his team on his back during Howard’s absence, which has been crucial considering how thin the Rockets are at the center and power forward positions. The Rockets’ depth is still a huge question mark, with some relatively unknown players like Isaiah Cannon, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Tarik Black being allowed to get some playing time this season.

It is quite clear that this team is Harden and Howard’s, and that if Howard will be out for considerable time that the Rockets still might be able to pull out some wins during the regular season, but how deep are they really? Harden’s 36-point effort might be enough to lead the way some nights, but the Rockets depth still might need some work, especially at the backup center position where Black is an average replacement at best. This is where trading Omer Asik for a draft pick might come back to bite them.

This is not to say that Rockets recent success is not impressive, but it is also unfair to expect Harden to do all the scoring for his team every night if Howard continues to battle injury problems. The Rockets might have been victorious tonight, but I expect General Manager Daryl Morey to be on the lookout for possible trades to improve their frontcourt for the future.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.

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