The Houston Rockets are coming into the season with championship expectations after signing Dwight Howard in the offseason to a free agent deal and with a core of Howard, Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik and James Harden as well as Chandler Parsons, the team feels it can make a title run against the Miami Heat and LeBron James.
Howard has put high expectations on himself after signing from the Lakers and he will have pressure on him after making the high profile move away from Los Angeles. Last season Howard averaged a double-double with 17.1 points and 12.4 rebounds and the team is expecting him to put up numbers like that again. Adding Howard to a frontcourt that already include Omer Asik could be a deadly combo, as he also averaged double digit averages in points and rebounds last season and played like an all-star.
The team is coming into the season with very big expectations for Lin as well in his second season and he has commented that he is excited to play with Howard, especially in the pick and roll. Lin broke out with the New York Knicks and now will have even more responsibility as the point guard for the Rockets and for Howard. Last season Lin and Harden played well together and adding Howard to the mix should only make the other two more productive and could open up some more long range shots for Parsons.
The team won 45 games last season and Lin played in all 82 games before getting hurt in the playoffs. Losing him hurt the team against the Thunder and last year he averaged over 10 points and six assists. The team added a number of players to the bench, including Omri Casspi, Marcus Camby and Ronnie Brewer, adding depth to the roster. The team brought in Brewer to help with the outside scoring and he could be a nice option for the team going down the stretch after he averaged 3.0 points and 2.3 rebounds while playing for OKC and the Knicks last year.
The team has high expectations and could be the best team in the West after adding Howard. The team ranked second in the league in scoring average and with Harden only getting better, that should continue. The team ranked 28th in defense, but adding a player like Howard will only help bring that ranking down after they allowed 102 points per game.
While James and the Heat are back to back champs, the Rockets could be the ones to knock them off.
