Houston Rockets Press Conference.
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:56 am
Hello everyone.
Last season was bittersweet for us. We had our first winning record since 2005, but also missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The season started off well and also ended strong, but we were inconsistent in between. Our defense was very good, but very inconsistent offensively. Unfortunately with an improved Western Conference, we were left out of the playoffs.
The offseason started with the draft. With our pick, we selected Gorgui Dieng who we felt was the best player available on our board. We were hoping he would bring us quality depth for years to come, but unfortunately he had a bad training camp which made him available for a later trade.
In restricted Free Agency, we re-signed Ty Lawson to a four year max contract. He's improved every season and we feel he will be among the elite PGs in the league. In unrestricted free agency we thought we had an agreement with both Danny Granger and Alonzo Gee, but unfortunately those deals fell through. We were left to sign veterans Stephen Jackson and Rip Hamilton as well as re-signing veteran starter SF Ronnie Brewer who's improved every season since we drafted him in the first round in 2006.
Training camp was a mixed back with our older players taking a hit while all of over players under 30 improving with the exception of Dieng. Horford, Biyombo, Stephenson, Beverly and Lawson had really good camps while Brewer had a modest improvement. Beverly had the best camp with improvement in potentials across the board similar to what Biyombo had last season.
Preseason went well going 4-2. Our defense was great as usual though our offense struggled. To improve the offense, we made a deal with the Knicks trading Dieng, Eddie Griffin, and a 2015 first for Brandon Bass and 7 points. We fell Bass can drastically improve our offense with his scoring and can maintain our presence defensively and rebounding.
With that, we go to the depth chart.
Al Horford will be our starting center again. He made his very first All-Star appearance last season and with the improvements he had in TC, we expect many more to come. Biyombo will be the backup.
Brandon Bass will be the starting PF. Biyombo will be his backup as well.
Ronnie Brewer will be our starting SF. He's become one of the best athletic defenders in the league and we're happy to have him back. Stephen Jackson will be his backup for now.
Patrick Beverly will be our starting SG. He had a great camp and we expect strong perimeter scoring and defense. Lance Stephenson will be the backup.
Ty Lawson will be our starting PG. We expect big things from him. Beverly will be the backup. We may look to acquire another backup PG later in the year.
C - Horforf, Biyombo
PF - Bass, Biyombo
SF - Brewer, SJax
SG - Beverly, Stephenson
PG - Lawson, Beverly
Thank you. Questions?
Last season was bittersweet for us. We had our first winning record since 2005, but also missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The season started off well and also ended strong, but we were inconsistent in between. Our defense was very good, but very inconsistent offensively. Unfortunately with an improved Western Conference, we were left out of the playoffs.
The offseason started with the draft. With our pick, we selected Gorgui Dieng who we felt was the best player available on our board. We were hoping he would bring us quality depth for years to come, but unfortunately he had a bad training camp which made him available for a later trade.
In restricted Free Agency, we re-signed Ty Lawson to a four year max contract. He's improved every season and we feel he will be among the elite PGs in the league. In unrestricted free agency we thought we had an agreement with both Danny Granger and Alonzo Gee, but unfortunately those deals fell through. We were left to sign veterans Stephen Jackson and Rip Hamilton as well as re-signing veteran starter SF Ronnie Brewer who's improved every season since we drafted him in the first round in 2006.
Training camp was a mixed back with our older players taking a hit while all of over players under 30 improving with the exception of Dieng. Horford, Biyombo, Stephenson, Beverly and Lawson had really good camps while Brewer had a modest improvement. Beverly had the best camp with improvement in potentials across the board similar to what Biyombo had last season.
Preseason went well going 4-2. Our defense was great as usual though our offense struggled. To improve the offense, we made a deal with the Knicks trading Dieng, Eddie Griffin, and a 2015 first for Brandon Bass and 7 points. We fell Bass can drastically improve our offense with his scoring and can maintain our presence defensively and rebounding.
With that, we go to the depth chart.
Al Horford will be our starting center again. He made his very first All-Star appearance last season and with the improvements he had in TC, we expect many more to come. Biyombo will be the backup.
Brandon Bass will be the starting PF. Biyombo will be his backup as well.
Ronnie Brewer will be our starting SF. He's become one of the best athletic defenders in the league and we're happy to have him back. Stephen Jackson will be his backup for now.
Patrick Beverly will be our starting SG. He had a great camp and we expect strong perimeter scoring and defense. Lance Stephenson will be the backup.
Ty Lawson will be our starting PG. We expect big things from him. Beverly will be the backup. We may look to acquire another backup PG later in the year.
C - Horforf, Biyombo
PF - Bass, Biyombo
SF - Brewer, SJax
SG - Beverly, Stephenson
PG - Lawson, Beverly
Thank you. Questions?