Christmas in July came in the form of a midsummer NBA draft. Due to last season’s winter holiday start, the typical schedule was pushed back about six weeks with the goal of getting back to traditional timeframes. The Houston Rockets got four first round Christmas presents and were able to take them out for a spin in August. Now with the season fast approaching, let’s do a quick evaluation of the newcomers and see where the Rockets stand with their upcoming regular season schedule.
Rookies:
Jalen Green – 2nd overall pick – NBA G League
Jalen Green showed that he needed very little adjustment to playing the NBA game. This is a feather in the G League’s cap considering the competition with the competitive Australian basketball league, the upstart Overtime Elite high school league, and the newly incentive laden NCAA (among others). The G League has prospects playing against borderline NBA players with NBA coaches and trainers at your side during a crucial development stage in a player’s career. Green was in the mix for the #1 pick all the way up to the last week of the draft. Sidenote: Based on the summer league play of the other rookies, Green looks like he was the correct pick at his selection. He needs no adjustment to the game speed and his athletic and offensive abilities are exhibited smoothly and with a sense a maturity on that side of the ball.
A few things he needs to work on include his aggressiveness establishing a paint presence. He appears all too willing to take some of the shots that the defense intentionally gives him. That makes you susceptible to statistical based defensive strategies that only leave certain areas of the floor available for offensive attack He also should work on his handle in the event he has to be the primary ball handler for parts of the game. His defense should improve naturally once he gets repetitions with his teammates.
Player Compares to: Zach Lavine
Alperen Sengun- 16th overall pick- Besiktas and the Turkish national team- Turkey
Alperen Sengun was the Turkish league MVP and he showed it with mature game he displayed on. He has great instincts. A few things he needs to work on include his free throw shooting as whatever words he is saying to the ball on each attempt is leading to a summer league average of 60% and a current preseason average of 50%. He also needs to avoid foul trouble as offensive players will test his foot speed and ability to defend. With that being said, I love and appreciate his motor and he will be a fan favorite this season.
In related news, I do appreciate the presence of Barbera Turner, a black woman hired by the Rockets as a Turkish translator, on the bench. It’s always refreshing and definitely beneficial to have women representation working with the players in some capacity.
Player Compares to: Al Jefferson
Usman Garuba- 23rd overall pick- Real Madrid and the Spanish National Team
Usman Garuba has extensive experience for a 19 year old. Four years with perennial powerhouse and some minutes with the Spanish National Team in the Olympics. He has great length and range which screams 3 and D type wing. Defense is supposedly his calling card but it was difficult to tell other than the occasional summer league highlight. He joined the summer league team late as he was playing with the National Team this summer so the Rockets should expect a steady progression as he gets more comfortable. His offensive game needs a complete revamp.
Sidenote: I did some research into the difficulty concerning his Real Madrid contract buyout. I found it interesting how many international leagues structure contracts in a way that makes it progressively more cost prohibitive to get out of each year. In this structure, the teams get to keep many of the players they spent years developing because the buyouts begin to outweigh what NBA rookie contracts provide and what NBA teams can contribute. This may be why many international stars choose to forgo the NBA until way later in their careers. Needless to say, I am not exactly sure how much Garuba will be taking home in pay for himself (the napkin math I did says not that much) but he will be hungry for that second contract certainly.
Player compares to: Robert Covington
Josh Christopher- 24th overall pick Arizona State
Josh Christopher is my personal favorite draft pick out of the bunch. He shows a tenacity on defense which will earn him minutes throughout his career. He is not shy with paint attacks on offense and he is a terror in the open court. I’m not convinced that he can shoot the ball yet but he certainly takes his share of shots. He must really work on reducing his turnovers.
Player compares to: Bruce Brown
Acquired Free Agents:
Daniel Theis- Most notable as a former Boston Celtic. He is a great defender with length and will mesh will as a front court partner for Christian Woods. He has a plethora of NBA experience at the highest levels and this should come in handy in a mentorship role for the young guys.
Other Notable News:
John Wall is on the block and reportedly is ok with the plan of sitting him for games while the team searches for a trade partner. Although a healthy scratch, he can still help the young guys in practice and during timeouts in games.
Kevin Porter Jr. will be playing in hopes of a contract extension this summer so he will be motivated to show more growth from last year’s successes. He has a team option next year before becoming a restricted free agent.
Eric Gordon appears to be a starter in this year’s rotation and the hope is that he can stay healthy in order to limit the young player’s minutes and avoid them hitting the rookie wall.
Christian Wood and team-friendly deal are words that Wood would not like to be synonymous with each other in the future as his game appears to command more money. I am not convinced there is much difference between him and John Collins, for instance, and Collins just signed a 5-year 125-million-dollar contract. Expect Wood to be aggressive in getting his this season.
So far in the preseason, the team looks energetic and seems to be developing chemistry. The young guys especially seem to play to the crowd and are eager to get out into open court. The defensive rotations are very slow, however, as everyone seems to be processing slower than the play is occurring. They will certainly struggle against established teams that have been playing together for awhile but should hold their own against younger teams and recently put together rosters.
Looking ahead at the season schedule, one thing that stands out to me is that Houston has only four division games in 2021 and half of their road games. So that tells me if the Rockets start out hot, then just winning many of the division games in the 2022 portion of the schedule and splitting victories against the rest of the league will likely get them to the play in tournament. Houston has an incredibly brutal 9 out 10 road games in December in some cold weather cities. The Rockets have the fewest nationally televised games scheduled (four) so they will be under the radar (so to speak) when it comes to a national audience.
Health will be very important for this roster to maximize it’s potential. As with any roster certainly, but this team has playoff hungry veterans mixed in with the young guys (nearly all of which also have professional experience). You can reasonably expect a sell off of some of the vets if the first quarter of the season does not get off on the right track.
My prediction: Record of 35-47. 11th seed that falls just short of the play in tournament
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