Houston Rockets Need Fixing: How To Return To the Hakeem Era in 4 Easy Steps

I became a Rockets fan in the late 80's.  The mid-nineties teams were a dream and one that I would love to see again as soon as possible.  After watching last night's game, I came to one glaring conclusion: Houston is not a BAD team. 

To be honest, Morey's acquisition of talent should be admired.  The problems on this team were inevitable, and not his fault, and the amount of quality role players (Martin, Brooks, Lowry, Patterson, etc.) without a superstar talent to lure free agents is something to be admired.  The problem with the team as it's currently designed is that the league has a new model for success.  The '04 Pistons' model of success (a ton of complimentary pieces) won't even make you a playoff team in the very competitive Western Conference.  I don't think the Rockets need three superstars (e.g. the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics) if they can keep the core intact.

What I'd propose is this:

Step 1:  Trade for Demarcus Cousins or Derrick Favors.  Granted, young athletic big men are at a premium in the NBA and it would not be easy to pry either one of those guys away.  With that said, Cousins has been a headache for the Kings since day one. 

Putting a headcase on a bad team is not a recipe for long term success (e.g. Ron Artest pre-Lakers) and if you put together a package of Brooks, Scola, and Battier (all very good players that would immensely help a locker room; Battier also offers a bit of cap relief for a team with financial issues) for Cousins, Landry, and cap filler, that would have to be considered by the Kings.  (Side note:  I'd put Scola at the top of the list of trade-able assets.  He's not a franchise player, Patterson is emerging as a force, and he's older)

The reason Favors is included is that he has been on the table in the Anthony deal for a while.  Obviously he's movable, so a package similar to the one mentioned above with a draft pick or two thrown in may be enough to make Jersey listen.  They'd go from horrible to respectable with Battier and Scola starting and Brooks coming off the bench.

Step 2:  Acquire as many draft picks as you can.  If you can turn Yao's contract into cap relief for a bad team that parlays us a couple draft picks, then you've done a good job.  (If the organization is worried about Yao's marketing dollars, they shouldn't.  Also, he'd be a free agent this summer anyway, so sign him for a reasonable contract this summer to get those dollars back if you're so inclined.)

Step 3: Run a starting lineup of Lowry, Martin, Budinger, Patterson, and Hill (or Cousins if you can finagle that trade) for the rest of the season, I'd also run Terrence Williams more.  I think that lineup will be entertaining, competitive most nights, and (hopefully) lose enough games to get us a top 10 pick.  You give what I would view as the "core" players playing time to get better and develop in preparation for step four.

Step 4:  DRAFT PERRY JONES.  Trade up if necessary, but the kid is athletic, tall, a play maker and has plenty room for growth.  He's a highlight reel guy, so he will instantly bring more national attention to the team and he'd simply be a great addition.  And remember, the last time we drafted a nearly seven-foot, homegrown product (Jones is a native Texan and currently plays at Baylor), it turned out pretty well. 

A lineup of Lowry, Martin, Jones, Patterson, and Cousins with Ish Smith, Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger, Terrence Williams, Miller/Jefferies/Hill would be ridiculously entertaining and, given a couple years to gel and mature (barring major injury setbacks), ready to compete for a title in the next three to five years. 

Get it done Morey.  In RED we trust.