Since J.B. Bickerstaff took over the Houston Rockets they have one overtime win and two losses — but they are losing by less, so that’s improvement, right?
One thing that might help is more Dwight Howard, the Rockets’ defense is 1.9 points per 100 possessions better this season when he is on the court (the offense is much worse, for the record). The Rockets’ rebounding is better with him on the court.
Howard hasn’t played in one-half of every back-to-back the Rockets have had this season as they try to keep him healthy following all the back problems he had last season. But the struggling Rockets are going to reconsider that policy, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Bickerstaff said Dwight Howard is scheduled to be evaluated this week in hopes he will be cleared to play back-to-backs.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 22, 2015
The plan was always to have Howard start playing back-to-backs at some point during the season, but the ugly start to the season apparently has upped the timeline.
Which isn’t the worst idea, but like swapping Bickerstaff for McHale, it’s not enough on its own. Houston has a lot of things that need to improve for them to turn the season around.