Rockets need Daryl Morey to be right about James Harden

Daryl Morey says James Harden can take another step forward this offseason, and the Rockets will need their star to improve to catch Golden State.

The Houston Rockets’ failure to top Golden State at home in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals will probably haunt the team’s players all summer long. GM Daryl Morey doesn’t have the luxury to wallow in defeat. Correctly, he’s already trying to figure out how to improve his roster this summer.

Unfortunately for Morey and the Rockets front office, they don’t have a ton of financial flexibility. Rockets fans have vivid dreams of landing LeBron James in free agency, but that would require Morey to gut the team’s roster. Never say never when it comes to Houston’s ability to secure a big free agent, but they’ll likely need to look for options outside of LeBron.

In terms of free agents, that likely means the Rockets will need to work on the outer margins of the roster. Players like Gerald Green and Luc Mbah a Moute played significant roles for Mike D’Antoni’s team in the playoffs. Morey will be asked to conjure up some more magical signings like those this summer.

That isn’t the best way Houston can improve, though. Instead, the team needs to hope that Morey is dead on with his belief that James Harden can make significant improvements to his game this offseason. The analytical GM specifically highlights Harden’s addition of a step-back three to his offensive arsenal this summer as proof that substantial improvement is possible.

The interesting question is what Harden might choose to work on this summer. He’s got more than enough tricks in his offensive bag. Perhaps he can spend the summer grinding in the gym to become a better defender. He showed tangible improvements on that end of the floor during the regular season, but his defense was inconsistent at best during the playoffs.

Perhaps the better area for Harden’s focus would be his physical stamina. He enjoyed a spectacular regular season that will almost certainly earn him an MVP award, but it must be said that he looked tired late in games against the Warriors. Chasing around Golden State’s guards can make a lot of players look fatigued, but it really hurt Harden’s ability to carry the Houston offense.

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Rockets fans can dream big about massive roster changes this summer, but the odds are stacked against Morey being able to pull off any massive deals. That means he better be right about Harden’s ability to improve this summer. If he’s wrong, the Golden State Warriors will remain out of the Rockets’ reach.