The Rockets are in a rut right now. They have lost seven of their last 11 games, given several unconvincing performances against lottery teams, and have dropped out of the playoff picture for the moment. To quote Daryl Morey, they are "not a playoff team [without] change."
So, what is that change going to be?
Morey has made it clear he was not necessarily speaking specifically about changing the roster. The player's performances must change and perhaps the rotation must as well.
When looking at the ways to improve the Rockets, a couple ideas come to mind.
Trading McGrady for contributing players who would infuse new energy into a team that is clearly stalling. While this move has been written about endlessly, to put it simply, trading McGrady would be helpful to the Rockets, but is also a move that would most likely sacrifice their crucial cap room for the summer of 2010.
Another way to jump start this team is a little less costly. Insert Chase Budinger into the starting lineup in order to instill a more offensive mentality into a unit deprived of offense.
Drafted after 43 players in the 2009, Budinger, has developed into a deadly shooter off the bench, a role that needed to be filled with the loss of fan favorite Von Wafer.
To quote an earlier article I wrote:
"[Budinger] plays well without the ball, can shoot off screens, slashes equally well, and has the strong basketball IQ required for Adelman's offense. All of these qualities sound like qualities found in a lottery pick..."
So why take a player thriving with the second unit, place him against first-team defenses and put the added pressure on him of starting in the NBA? The answer is simple; the starting lineup is not working.
The current starting lineup is consistently putting the Rockets behind early, with an unadjusted +/- of -43 points on the year. Inserting Budinger into the starting lineup would help remedy this deficit, as the current starting lineup has only one player, Aaron Brooks who is truly offensive minded.
While the Rocket's offense has a tendency to stagnate when the first unit's shots are not falling, Budinger's amazing ability to come off of screens and hit jumpshots or slash to the basket makes him a double threat in the offense and creates plays when the team is unable to score.
Additionally, the inclusion of Budinger into the starting lineup would move the struggling Trevor Ariza into the high flying second unit, improving both the second unit's defense and Trevor Ariza's shot selection.
While Ariza is currently the second or third option in the starting lineup on offense, in the second unit he would be surrounded by more offensively minded players. Putting Carl Landry, David Andersen, Aaron Brooks, and Kyle Lowry around Ariza would take pressure off him to create his own shot and allow him to relax and find his shot within the offense.
Furthermore, because most of the aforementioned players are not defensive weapons, Ariza would counteract their faults, much like the second unit would compensate for Ariza's offensive woes.
This new balance created is the key to the Ariza-Budinger lineup swap. Budinger would have freedom on a defensively minded unit to take shots but also have his defensive shortcomings compensated for, while Ariza would help strengthen the second unit's defense and return to the role of the fourth option in the offense, where he was so successful in Los Angeles.
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