Houston Rockets: 3 things to love about signing Michael Carter-Williams

3. Carter-Williams is a play maker

With Chris Paul and James Harden on the same team, Houston has a Hall-of-Fame point guard on the floor for 48 minutes in every game. With that being said, Houston could use a third point guard to alleviate some of their pressure.

In games when either Harden or Paul were hurt, Houston really missed having another point guard. Last season the Rockets were just 6-4 (.600 win percentage) without Harden and 15-9 (.625 win percentage) without Paul. When both Harden and Paul were healthy, the Rockets went a staggering 44-5 (.898 win percentage).

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Obviously, its difficult for any team to win when one of their two best players are missing. But Houston’s ability to generate open looks consistently really suffered when either Paul or Harden were hurt.

Remember how bad Houston’s offense was in the Western Conference Finals in Games 6 and 7 after Paul got injured? In Games 1 through 5, the Rockets averaged 102.2 points per game and were up 3-2 in the series. In Games 6 and 7, the Rockets scored just 86 and 92 points and they lost both games.

Can Carter-Williams replace the production of Harden or Paul? Of course not. But as a point guard, he has the ball-handling skills and quickness to penetrate the defense, which creates open looks for others. Outside of Harden, Paul and perhaps Eric Gordon, no other player on Houston has that skill set. Michael Carter-Williams won’t play big minutes, but he is great injury insurance.

Next: No. 2