With or Without Carmelo Anthony, The Houston Rockets are Built to Win

Daryl Morey and the Rockets have had an incredible offseason so far, and that may be an understatement.

The story of the offseason for the Houston Rockets has been the pursuit of All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony. With two stars in Houston already, adding a third could give the Rockets a serious chance to compete with the Warriors. With that said, is the team good enough to compete even without Melo?

Carmelo Anthony would certainly be a good addition to the squad, but not a necessary one. The Rockets have the talent to hold off on a deal as long as needed until the Knicks are willing to comply. And if they do not ever make a deal, Houston should still be considered the second best in the West with a shot at beating the champs.

The Offense Will Be Historical

The Rockets last season had the tenth best offense of all time by offensive rating. To that historical team, they are ADDING more shooting and defense as well as a Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul. The Rockets could always score with the best of them, the real question is whether they can defend the Warriors or not.

Carmelo Anthony is an all-time great offensive player. However, he tends to slack off on the defensive side of the court. Do the Rockets need another great offensive player to truly bolster their play on that side of the court? Admittedly, Melo would actually be an upgrade defensively from Ryan Anderson and could be a truly great stretch-four for the Rockets. However, the Rockets are in good shape with or without him.

A counter argument to this point would be that Melo would help come playoff time. And he would. Having a player that can isolate as well as Carmelo would be key in a late, close game. However, the Rockets did add CP3 to relieve some pressure off of James Harden in late game situations, who can be pretty clutch on his own:

Do the Rockets really need Carmelo to join the squad? No, but he would certainly be a welcomed addition should the trade go down. Thanks to Daryl Morey, the Rockets are built to win even if the trade does not happen. The additions of P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and Chris Paul to this team make them dangerous offensively and defensively. The Rockets face their biggest opponent on the first day of the season in Oakland. Will the team include Carmelo Anthony at that point? We will have to wait and see.

Next: The Rockets are Suddenly a Defensive Team

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*All stats via Basketball-Reference*

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