After their heart-breaking loss to the Portland Trailblazers in the first round of the playoffs, the one glaring weakness that you could see in the Houston Rockets, aside from their poor defense, is the power forward position. LaMarcus Aldridge was torching the 22 year old Terrence Jones every time he touched the ball.
Aldridge scored 46 points and 18 rebounds in game 1 and 43 points and 8 rebounds in game 2, while averaging 29.8 points and over 2.5 blocks per game in the entire series. Needless to say, the Rockets were defeated by the Blazers in just six games.
One can make the case that Aldridge's dominance against the Rockets was due to his greatness but he struggled significantly against the Spurs in the second round of the playoffs. One reason for this is because the Spurs had enough big bodies in Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter to cover Aldridge and make life difficult for him in the post.
With that being said, the Rockets top priority this coming offseason should be on acquiring a power forward that they can pair with Dwight Howard.
The offseason features several elite power forwards that can significantly improve the Rockets chances of contending for a championship. Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Bosh, Pao Gasol, Zach Randolph and Borris Diaw are just some of the the big names in the power forward position this coming 2014 free agency.
Duncan, Nowitzki, Randolph, and Diaw, are most likely going to resign with their respective teams so this leaves the Rockets with two options: Bosh and Gasol.
Bosh and Gasol are perfect complements to Howard because of their versatile game and their ability to stretch the ball with their shooting - allowing Howard to operate down low without the opposing power forward coming down to help.
The Rockets are rumored to have a strong interest in Bosh but it remains to be seen on whether or not Bosh exercises his ETO with the Heat. Gasol meanwhile has yet to reveal his plans for the Lakers but his decision to stay or leave L.A should be based on whether or not the Lakers can build a contender type of roster this season.
The Rockets are widely considered as one of the front runners in the LeBron, Melo sweepstakes. But instead of making a run for the two super star small forwards, they should instead focus on finding an elite power forward this offseason. We ought to remind the Rockets also that they have a young talent in the small forward position in Chandler Parsons who could be a star someday in the league.
The Western Conference is loaded with elite power forwards and if the Rockets are planning to move past the first round of the playoffs next season, they need to fill the power forward position this offseason.
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