Eight is Enough: Rockets Logjam at Power Forward Dissected

By Jeff Balke Wed., Jul. 11 2012 at 7:00 AM

Rockets power forwards meets 1970s TV dramedy!

As the Rockets head into summer league play with their ultra-young roster, a question has arisen among fans: what exactly are they going to do with eight power forwards? It's a valid question. They currently have eight guys who play the position -- some can split time at other spots, but more on that in a minute -- and the vast majority are very young.

With a 15-man roster, obviously the Rockets cannot keep this many players at a single position. Daryl Morey has said that they don't think about the makeup of their roster in July, but I certainly can. Here's a breakdown of who they have and where they fit in, if at all.

Photo by groovehouse

Scola has been great, could still be gone.

Luis Scola

Let's start with last year's starter and this year's presumed starter, Luis Scola. Since he was acquired from the San Antonio Spurs for a sack of magic beans and fairy dust, Scola has been a hard worker and consistent offensive threat. He's a good rebounder despite his lack of athleticism and he's a team first guy who is great in the locker room. He's also one of the few commodities the team has and could be valuable to a team looking for veteran help at the position. And given the Rockets' obvious youth movement, I'd be surprised if that doesn't happen.

Percentage Chance He Will Be on the Roster: 20 percent

Patrick Patterson

Patterson has been the second best power forward on the roster since he was drafted two years ago. He had a bit of a downturn last season after a bright rookie campaign, but he also had some injury issues that held him back. Patterson is, like quite a few of the guys at this position, undersized. Morey seems to have a fetish for power forwards who are under 6'9". There has been talk Patterson could be a piece in a trade and he could yet be.

Percentage Chance He Will Be on the Roster: 60 percent

Marcus Morris

The Rockets' first round draft pick last year spent the vast majority of the season in the developmental league, so that should tell you a lot. Like Patterson, he is undersized and the Rockets tried to use some of his athleticism to convert him to a small forward to no avail. Still, he has some upside and he'll get plenty of time to prove himself this year.

Percentage Chance He Will Be on the Roster: 75 percent

Dontas Montejunas

The Rockets picked up "Monte" in a trade with Minnesota last year after he was drafted by them in the first round. He spent last season in Europe and has used the time to get substantially stronger. Despite the European label, Montejunas is a fiery guy with a lot of swagger and some serious skills to back it up. He's even been compared to Dirk Nowitzki, though that is a stretch. He has a chance to be one of the more intriguing young players on this roster.

Percentage Chance He Will Be on the Roster: 100 percent

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Dontas Montejunas, Houston Rockets, Luis Scola, Marcus Morris, NBA, Patrick Patterson, Royce White, Terrence Jones

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Corey

Looks as though Scola's being tossed out too, the Rockets are makinking some foolish decisions. I blame Morey.

Corey

You know your game, excellent observations -- couldn't agree more. I'd like to see a better balance with Morey he's a numbers guy but I don't see good things in store for us this season -- hopefully Les will wise up because as I'm merely one of thousands of people in Houston calling for Morey's dismissal/blood.

Julian Bajsel

We'll get a center before it's all said and done, whether it's Asik, Howard, Bynum or someone else. Dalembert was very inconsistent anyhow so I'm not really too worried about that. That whole ORL/HOU/LAL trade scenario is looking more and more likely by the day. I thought the money Dragic wanted was reasonable, but his insistence on a player option was apparently a no-go for the Rockets. It serves no benefit whatsoever to the organization and makes them far less flexible going forward. Personally, I would have signed him anyway, then traded him at the deadline for a draft pick but I'm guessing it was decided against because they need the cap room to make moves in the off-season. They probably didn't think they had a good chance of keeping Lin but it doesn't hurt to try. How they structured the poison pill RFA offer sheets was pretty smart though. Scola is older, and while still a good player, just doesn't really fit on this young team anymore with the logjam at the 4. Expect him to be moved soon for more tradeable assets. Gasol is last year's news. I don't think they're targeting him anymore. It made sense at the time though, to trade for him and sign Nene to form the front court. At the very least, acquiring those two players could have been parlayed into something better via more trades. As for Lowry, they're swinging for the fences trying to get a Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum deal done. He wanted out, and they flipped him for a pick with higher trade value, simple as that. The plan right now seems to be to turn our vets into draft picks and to either trade up for a franchise player or inevitably tank for a high pick if we don't get our guy. People clamoring for team direction should get their wish pretty soon. I will agree with you on the coaching change. It seemed rather bizarre to let a hall of fame coach of Adelman's caliber go, only to replace him with McHale. Hopefully it works out, and at very worst we can use him to attract some decent free agents before he gets fired. If we can land a high potential big center, watch out. He was the guy that coached up Kevin Garnett and Kevin Love.

Corey

We have no center to speak of, trades Dalembert in some futile hope for Howard which failed outright. Let Dragic go, then offers Lin (an unproven but wholly over hyped guard) the same amount of money, only to lose him back to the Knicks. Has several good forwards already (Scola for one) but drafts even more, trades Lowry for a song, lusts after any and all things Lakers (Gasol) who likely will be as much of a bust as Odum in Dallas, and then there is Howard (world class primadonna) who whines as much as he plays -- when he feels like it. Lets Addleman go to Minnesota where he has a pretty good team assembled this year, and takes a proven loser like McHale who has yet to win aside from our mediocre season last year +2 over 500 is hardly an accomplishment. Morey may have gone to MIT, but in the real world he is an idiot.

Julian Bajsel

I assume you mean 'mince' words? Let's not get too hasty now. While the off-season has been rather crazy, there is definitely method to his madness. Preseason is still a very long way off so I expect this logjam to have been worked out by then. Regardless, there is probably no one out there better than Morey available anyway. I'm curious as to what your major complaints are though.