The Rockets' playoff exit should mark the end of Moreyball in Houston
The Houston Rockets, the NBA's biggest mess, were excused from the playoffs Wednesday night by the Golden State Warriors, who, even without league MVP Stephen Curry, ran roughshod over James Harden and company in a 114-81 series-clinching win.
It was an embarrassing performance by the Rockets, and one that should make the organization question its overall direction — if it has one.
Last season, the Rockets were Western Conference finalists, and in that final four series, they gave Stephen Curry and Warriors four tough games in the five-game series.
This year, the Rockets had to claw their way into the playoffs and they barely saw Curry in their first-round matchup against Golden State. The Rockets were again taken out in five games, but this year, the Warriors posted blowout wins with margins of 26, 27, and finally 33 points in their gentleman's sweep.
"It kind of feels like playing a scrimmage," Warriors forward Andre Iguodala said at halftime of Game 2.
In reality, Houston's postseason was just a concentrated sample of its regular season, where chaos and dysfunction were the only constants.
The team fired its well-respected coach, Kevin McHale, after 11 games, reportedly at the behest of Harden, who, once he eliminated the Hall of Famer, directed his frustrations at teammate Dwight Howard. Stories about the duo's lack of chemistry leaked all season, and Wednesday, ESPN reported that the two have a "cordially bad" relationship. The on-court product reflected that.
This is a team that was so off-the-rails by March that it added Michael Beasley and he — Michael Beasley (!!!!!) — was considered a calming force.
Yeah, changes need to be made in Houston, but there is nothing close to a quick fix for this squad.
You can't necessarily blow it all up, because Harden, who was runner-up for the 2015 MVP award, isn't going anywhere. But the Rockets will have attrition, as Howard will in all likelihood become a free agent this summer.
The Rockets are also entering the offseason without a head coach. They'll have a hard time finding one too. Who, other than interim head coach JB Bickerstaff, would want to take over this mess?
Q: "How much do you talk to your teammates regarding your future?"
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) April 28, 2016
*pause*
*interview ends* pic.twitter.com/ScBqJdmPj9
Howard might be a case of addition by subtraction, but the Rockets are going to find it difficult to add another star to the roster, as recruiting scorers to play with Harden will be a tough task and big men could easily be scared off by Howard's precipitous drop off over the last two years.
When a team goes from a title contender to a squad that appears poised to pick in the 2017 NBA Draft lottery, all while keeping its best player, it's time to look beyond coaching and chemistry — it's time to take a hard look at how the team was built.
Dwight Howard asked if chemistry was an issue with Rockets pic.twitter.com/uqnXs9j6Uv
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) April 28, 2016
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey moonlights as a self-appointed iconoclast. His "Moreyball" system, which eschews the mid-range offensive game in favor of high effective-field-goal percentage shots, could be effective in the 3-point happy, pace-and-space NBA, but the concept is so overarching and rigid that it has only proven to hold the Rockets back.
Outside of Harden, the Rockets lack offensive creativity. For every other player, it's 3-pointers or dunks, and that makes a defensive gameplan really easy to install. (Let Harden get his, and force everyone else to the mid-range, where they'll pass up even open looks.)
McHale was never a fan of the extreme nature of Moreyball, but he did his best to follow his boss' orders. Once it was obvious the rest of the league figured out how to stop the system, it was McHale, not the system or the players recruited to play specifically in it, who was blamed.
Bickerstaff walked into a no-win scenario, and that was before Howard and Harden started showing open disdain for each other.
Yet it appears Morey, who has been Houston's GM since 2007, will, like Harden, survive this offseason and be with the Rockets next year.
"There is no uncertainty," team owner Les Alexander said earlier this month. "Daryl is with the team. We evaluate everybody, but right now things aren't changing."
But unless Morey has another concept of how to revolutionize basketball — another way to exploit the inefficiencies of the NBA marketplace — up his sleeve, he should be held accountable for this disaster of a season.
If nothing else, the failures of the 2015-16 Rockets should bring about the end of the first iteration of Moreyball in Houston.
