Just like you can count on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival being exceptional, you can be assured of one thing every summer in the NBA:
Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey is going big game hunting.
The Dwight Howard experiment didn’t exactly work out (to put it kindly), but that is not stopping Morey’s quest to find the right star to go next to James Harden, reports Calvin Watkins of ESPN.
The Rockets can’t even get a seat at the table with Durant, so that’s out.
Whiteside would be a good fit — particularly with Mike D’Antoni running the show — but he also is in serious demand, and the expectation is the Heat will keep him by maxing him out. Pat Riley can’t afford to lose him.
Ryan Anderson would be a good fit at the four, but he will be in serious demand once free agency opens.
Morey has a lot of work to do this summer — he has a nice roster, but not one that can play the way Mike D’Antoni wants. James Harden can. Trevor Ariza can. Guys like Corey Brewer, Clint Capela, and Patrick Beverley can be role players, but much of this roster needs to be changed over. A star certainly helps that, but it’s going to be the depth and fit of role players that needs to be addressed.