Trade Talk: Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets

Written by Taylor Odenat 

As of July 19, 2015, Ty Lawson is now a member of the high scoring, three-point shooting Houston Rockets. They enjoy collecting talent for their roster, and Ty Lawson is one of the more talented point guards in the NBA. Formerly playing for the Denver Nuggets his whole career, after several seasons of losing he pushed his way out of Denver and he recently got into some DUI problems. Denver planned for Ty’s inevitable departure from the Nuggets by drafting prospect 19-year-old guard Emmanuel Mudiay and now have shipped him off to Coach McHale, James Harden, and Dwight Howard. However, whether or not this was a good move for Ty to join the Rockets is a completely different story.

Ty Lawson will presumably start for the Rockets leading to a starting lineup of Lawson, Harden, Ariza, Jones, and Howard. However, what does this mean for Patrick Beverley moving forward. He was their lock-down defender and fit the criteria for a guard playing alongside James Harden. Harden is a ball dominant combo guard who can handle the ball, distribute, and of course score at will. He basically played the point and the off guard for Houston last season leaving them without the use of a point guard that needed the ball to orchestrate the offense. Patrick Beverley was a perfect fit for their lineup because he would defend full court, which James Harden has struggles with in general, he would knock down an open three without once demanding for the ball. On the other hand, Ty Lawson does his best work heading the offense and making decisions. Houston already has their floor general in James Harden, so why trade for another one.

On paper, this team looks like a championship contender. The imminent Lawson to Dwight lobs off pick and roll situations will certainly be fantastic and exciting to watch, but in the long run this trade won’t make Houston much better. It will of course make them a more talented squad, but talent doesn’t always win. Any front office can stack a roster with talent, but if that talent doesn’t play well together or work off each other; they will finish behind the organizations that now how produce with one another.

In the trade, Denver received a lottery-protected 2016 first round draft pick, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, and Joey Dorsey. Don’t be fooled, the Nuggets didn’t lose in the two teams exchange. Denver acquired young talent with talent and potential, a lottery pick in a promising 2016 draft, and most of all allowed Mudiay to take the reigns of star point guard of the Nuggets. Additionally, Denver has a successful history of trading away superstar and improving without him; most recently Carmelo Anthony.

While this does have the chance to work for Houston and finally push them over that hump to get to the NBA Finals, two ball dominant guards spells for trouble in paradise. Both Harden and Ty struggle on defense, so there will be problems on both sides of the floor. Ty will have to prove that he doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective and that he can make a high percentage amount of spot up threes, but if he can’t he will just become a shell of his former self and Houston won’t be championship contenders.