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Rockets acquired Brandon Knight, Michael Carter-Williams in case of Chris Paul injury

chris paul, brandon knight

The Houston Rockets have revamped their roster since last year’s heartbreaking exit in the Western Conference Finals by acquiring Brandon Knight in a trade with the Phoenix Suns earlier this offseason and adding Michael Carter-Williams through free agency.

Knight is a talented guard who is more than capable of running point and also provides another shooter to space the floor for Harden as he is a career 36 percent 3-point shooter.

Carter-Williams is not a knockdown shooter, but he is a lengthy guard that can help Harden on defense and provide bursts of energy off the bench.

As David Aldridge wrote in his article for NBA.com, the team has prepared for the worst case scenario.

These two additions will play a large part even if Paul remains healthy, as they can spell him off the bench for stretches in order to preserve him for the playoffs.

The team is built around superstar guards Chris Paul and James Harden and in order to have a shot at knocking off the defending champion Golden State Warriors, the Rockets will need both to be healthy.

Last year, Paul missed the last two games of the series with the Warriors, and the Rockets choked away a 3-2 lead. With Paul out, ball handling duties fell solely in the hands of Harden, who became fatigued and shot a woeful 22-of-53 from the field in the two losses.

Paul has a long history of injuries and is already 33 years old, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him miss some games next year as well.

The Rockets knew that they couldn’t be stuck in the same situation as last season, so they acquired two ball handlers to ease the load off Harden in case of an emergency injury to Paul.

Ideally, Paul dodges the injury bug and we get a full season to witness his greatness.

The post Rockets acquired Brandon Knight, Michael Carter-Williams in case of Chris Paul injury appeared first on ClutchPoints.

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