Last Year's Record: 41-41
1. What significant moves were made during the off-season?
The biggest additions were the Rockets’ double-dip into the New Orleans Pelicans starting lineup, signing Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon to four-year deals totaling $133 million. After dropping the war chest on that pair, they signed Nene, still a capable backup center, to a one-year deal worth $2.9 million. We’re going to go ahead and say the Rockets signed three capable, yet injury-prone, rotation players for $136 million, which sounds a lot better than parsing it out.
Most notably, the Rockets probably breathed a sigh of relief when Dwight Howard opted out, and by all appearances, made no effort to re-sign him, even when it became apparent he wasn’t going to get close to the maximum contract he sought.