Rockets' McHale: Lawson no guarantee to start over Beverley
After an acrimonious end to a troubled tenure with the Denver Nuggets, point guard Ty Lawson is getting a clean slate with the Houston Rockets.
That may, however, have to come in a reserve role. With incumbent starting point guard and former All-Defensive second teamer Patrick Beverley returning from a wrist fracture, Lawson will have competition for the starting gig.
Head coach Kevin McHale is a long way from deciding which one will get the nod.
"They'll determine that," McHale said Tuesday, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. "We'll find out. Can we play them together? Maybe. We'll put them out there. We had 28 days of camp. We'll decide who will get the lion's share of the minutes. One will and one will be a backup."
Lawson, among the league's fastest players with the ball, averaged a career high in assists (9.6) last season. But his scoring average (15.2) was his lowest in four years, and his 3-point shooting (34.1 percent), free-throw shooting (73), and true shooting (52.6) were all the lowest marks of his career.
"Ty last year had a very average year in Denver compared to what he had done before," McHale said. "(Former Nuggets coach) George Karl runs a little bit more of an open offense like we run here, get up and down, attack. We want Ty to do what he does best, get in the paint, make plays for others, scoring."
That Lawson is a better offensive player than Beverley - who averaged 10.1 points on 38.3 percent shooting last season - is undisputed. But Beverley's made his bones with hounding, half-crazed perimeter defense, helping the Rockets to the league's 12th- and sixth-ranked defensive ratings in the past two seasons.
The Nuggets, meanwhile, gave up 3.3 fewer points per 100 possessions with Lawson on the bench last season. McHale believes he can be better.
"He can make all the passes," McHale said. "And he's got to get back to playing better defense. He's got to be the head of the snake defensively. He can. I've seen him.
"If he just does what he does well, he'll be a fit for us."