Houston Rockets: Chris Paul’s only goal is to win a championship

Chris Paul signed with the Houston Rockets because he had one goal in mind: to win an NBA championship.

The Houston Rockets created a lot of buzz early in the offseason when they traded for Chris Paul back in June.

Paul decided to leave the Los Angeles Clippers after six successful, but disappointing seasons.

The Clippers routinely won 50 games and qualified for the postseason in every year, but they never made one conference finals appearance. Between blowing 3-1 series leads and untimely injuries to both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, luck never seemed to be on the Clippers’ side.

After the Clippers fell to the Utah Jazz in another first-round playoff defeat, Paul seemed to come to an awakening. He realized that the Clippers were not capable of standing atop the western conference. He realized that at 32 years old, his basketball career was ticking away.

Paul is obviously a first ballot Hall of Famer, and he is one of the best point guards of all time. Paul has won most of the individual accolades, but he still hasn’t captured the game’s most elusive trophy. The Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

One purpose and one goal.

That is the biggest reason that Paul came to Houston. He wanted to cap off his career with basketball’s biggest accomplishment, as he told reporters during media day, via Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

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“If I was fine with everything else, I would have probably just stayed where I was. ‘I’ll just keep playing, and it is what it is.’ I came here with one purpose and one goal in mind, and that’s to win a championship. The cool part is being here with a guy like James, who has those same aspirations. And a guy like Coach (Mike D’Antoni). Coach has done everything in this league. I know how badly he wants to win a championship.”

The Rockets general manager Daryl Morey went as far as to say that this is the best team he’s ever assembled, via Jonathan Feigen.

“This is the best team I’ve been involved with since I’ve been in the NBA. This is my 15th year overall. You can’t ask more than that: to have a real shot at winning the championship.”

Of course, this is the same over optimism that we hear from every team at the start of training camp. Guys are feeling healthy, the team got some new additions, and chemistry problems have yet to fester.

Next: Houston Rockets: 5 Goals for Ryan Anderson This Season

But the Rockets over achieved last year, winning 55 games with a team that relied heavily on one player to create most of the offense. Now add in the addition of possibly the best two-way point guard in the NBA and a revitalized bench unit, and the Rockets’ high hopes start to look more realistic.