Rockets Pre-Season Presser
Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:37 am
Hello everyone. Before I move onto this season, I want to remember the great Al Horford who retired right before the draft. 18 out of his 19 seasons in this league were with the Houston Rockets and he cannot be replaced as a leader, an All-Star, and a Hall of Famer. We want to think him all he did not only for this franchise, but what he continues to do as a leader in this community. Thank you Al. You will not be forgotten!
Last season was a disappointing season for the most part. Yes, we did win 53 games and make the playoffs, but we dropped off from the previous season where we won 57 games and made it to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. We just couldn't find the right chemistry. Our cohesion was average most of the season until right before we made the big trade for Keith Pfeffer which again dropped our cohesion and then in the midst of a 10 game winning streak, we lost Desus Mero to a severe concussion for the rest of the season. That put a dent into our postseason plans and we really didn't recover.
Onto the season, we didn't have a 1st round pick from the Pfeffer trade so we selected PF Clemente Torres in the second round from Fresno State who we like after a great TC.
Next was restricted free agency where we made several bids and landed James Christner from the Heat and Nathaniel Anderson from the Thunder. The Heat matched Christner right away, and though we did have some talks with the Thunder, nothing really serious materialized so they ended up matching Anderson as well.
In unrestricted free agency we wanted to sign starting frontcourt players and we landed future Hall of Famer Kevin Love and brought back James McCormick to fill the void left by Horford and now Aaron Gordon who we hoped to bring back as well, but he chose more salary with Dallas. In the next round we focused on filling our salary cap with a quality player and we ended up bringing back SG Jason Fisher on a one year deal. In the final round we wanted to fill the rest of the roster and signed guys like Jonathan Treat, Delmar Lillard, Joseph Sims, Ted Adams, and Timothy Kilmer.
After free agency ended, we had training camp, where nothing really substantial happened except Love taking a little hit of 45 points, and Clement Torres gained 40 points with increase in potentials. Our other main guys maintained.
With the waiver wire we brought back PG Linwood Yamamato who filled in admirably for Mero last season and also found athletic SF/SG James Pratt who can give us quality minutes.
Our depth chart looks like this:
At center, we're gonna start James McCormick who gives us inside scoring, rebounding and shot blocking, but Kevin Love will play the majority of minutes coming off the bench keeping him fresh during the season.
At power forward, we're gonna start Frank Garden where we think he will thrive after starting the previous seasons at SG and SF. McCormick will also get minutes as well when Love comes in at center.
At small forward we will start Keith Pfeffer who can also play SG and PG. We want to get quicker and more explosive offensively. Garden and James Pratt will get minutes as well at this position.
At shooting guard, we're going with explosive Jonathan Treat to start the game with his scoring at a very efficient level, but also will see Pfeffer and veteran Jason Fisher.
At point guard, Desus Mero is back healthy and will get the majority of minutes, and backup Linwood Yamamato will clean up the rest of the minutes.
Thank you everyone, we're now taking questions.
Last season was a disappointing season for the most part. Yes, we did win 53 games and make the playoffs, but we dropped off from the previous season where we won 57 games and made it to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. We just couldn't find the right chemistry. Our cohesion was average most of the season until right before we made the big trade for Keith Pfeffer which again dropped our cohesion and then in the midst of a 10 game winning streak, we lost Desus Mero to a severe concussion for the rest of the season. That put a dent into our postseason plans and we really didn't recover.
Onto the season, we didn't have a 1st round pick from the Pfeffer trade so we selected PF Clemente Torres in the second round from Fresno State who we like after a great TC.
Next was restricted free agency where we made several bids and landed James Christner from the Heat and Nathaniel Anderson from the Thunder. The Heat matched Christner right away, and though we did have some talks with the Thunder, nothing really serious materialized so they ended up matching Anderson as well.
In unrestricted free agency we wanted to sign starting frontcourt players and we landed future Hall of Famer Kevin Love and brought back James McCormick to fill the void left by Horford and now Aaron Gordon who we hoped to bring back as well, but he chose more salary with Dallas. In the next round we focused on filling our salary cap with a quality player and we ended up bringing back SG Jason Fisher on a one year deal. In the final round we wanted to fill the rest of the roster and signed guys like Jonathan Treat, Delmar Lillard, Joseph Sims, Ted Adams, and Timothy Kilmer.
After free agency ended, we had training camp, where nothing really substantial happened except Love taking a little hit of 45 points, and Clement Torres gained 40 points with increase in potentials. Our other main guys maintained.
With the waiver wire we brought back PG Linwood Yamamato who filled in admirably for Mero last season and also found athletic SF/SG James Pratt who can give us quality minutes.
Our depth chart looks like this:
At center, we're gonna start James McCormick who gives us inside scoring, rebounding and shot blocking, but Kevin Love will play the majority of minutes coming off the bench keeping him fresh during the season.
At power forward, we're gonna start Frank Garden where we think he will thrive after starting the previous seasons at SG and SF. McCormick will also get minutes as well when Love comes in at center.
At small forward we will start Keith Pfeffer who can also play SG and PG. We want to get quicker and more explosive offensively. Garden and James Pratt will get minutes as well at this position.
At shooting guard, we're going with explosive Jonathan Treat to start the game with his scoring at a very efficient level, but also will see Pfeffer and veteran Jason Fisher.
At point guard, Desus Mero is back healthy and will get the majority of minutes, and backup Linwood Yamamato will clean up the rest of the minutes.
Thank you everyone, we're now taking questions.