NBA Rumors: Why the Houston Rockets Must Sign Nene Hilario

The end of the NBA lockout means that Kevin McHale can finally begin to coach the Houston Rockets.

Hopefully, for his sake, he can begin the season with a new man in the middle. After making an unsuccessful run at him during last season's trade deadline, the Rockets must do what it takes to sign Nene Hilario.

From the looks of things, they are going to give it a serious shot.

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle reports that the club is going to go all out to land the center.

It's the right move and realistically the only move for the Rockets at this time.

Hilario is coming off a solid season in Denver in which he averaged 14.5 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Those numbers would likely increase in Houston.

McHale is a guy that knows post play, and with Hilario likely to be more of a focal point than he was in Denver, he could be a huge step toward getting the Rockets back into contention in the Western Conference.

Paired with Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin, Hilario would give the Rockets three nice pieces to build around for the future. By signing him, Houston could become one of the surprise teams in the west.

Failing to sign Hilario, though, leaves the Rockets in a tough spot.

First of all, there's a huge void in the middle with Hasheem Thabeet currently the only center under contract. Chuck Hayes is also an unrestricted free agent and is likely to test the market.

Another thing to think about if the Rockets fail to land Hilario, or any other big-name free agent for that matter, is where exactly does that leave this team for the 2011-12 season?

On paper, it looks as if the Rockets would have a fight on their hands just to sneak into the playoffs as the seven or eight seed. That's likely not where owner Leslie Alexander and general manager Daryl Morey want to see this team.

Would failure to land Hilario lead to another complete rebuild of the Rockets?

I'm sure McHale wouldn't have stepped into that situation, so I would expect Houston to make a very serious run at Hilario.

It won't be the only one, though.

ESPN Insider's Ryan Corazza reports that the Golden State Warriors, New Jersey Nets and Indiana Pacers are all expected to make serious runs at the 29-year-old center.

All three of those teams are expected to have the necessary cap room to make Hilario a more than attractive offer.

The Rockets have a big hole in the middle, and in order to compete, they need to be aggressive and land Hilario.

Will signing him lead to an NBA championship?

No, but it gets them one big step closer.