The Houston Rockets … have potential?
The Rockets are in a fierce fight for last place. Things have not gone well for them this year.
The Houston Rockets did not enter the 2021-22 season expecting anything other than losing. They’re one of a handful of pure tank teams in the NBA, the ones that are bad now in order to be good later. They have lived up: they’re 16-48 on the season, just about even with the Orlando Magic for last place in the league.
They had lost 12 straight heading into last night’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies. They displayed something like the best version of themselves in that win, putting up 123 points against one of the best defensive teams in the league.
So, today, we’re going to check in on the ongoing Rockets Tank.
Let’s start with the enigmatic Christian Wood. He’s a 26-year-old who is probably the best player on this team, a 6’10 slick-shooting, athletic center. He oozes potential, a double-double machine who can do everything, with a long wingspan and ample mobility to dominate on the roll and in the paint.
But he drifts in and out of games. He alternates between promising defensive game-wrecker and nonexistent presence. His scoring has inexplicably dropped by four points after he averaged 21 last season. He averages as many turnovers as assists. Supposed to be the veteran leader, there have been multiple reports of locker room problems, including an incident in which he was suspended for a game for violating team rules.
When he’s on, he looks like an All-Star. He was on last night. He looked like Karl Anthony-Towns coming off of screens to get three-point looks:
That’s your 6’10 big man sprinting off a screen to shoot a three. Not normal! He has the handles and speed to cook slower centers off the dribble:
That is impressive craft. He dribbles at the perimeter, teasing a shot and forcing Steven Adams to honor the possibility of a stepback. Then he leans in on the drive calmly finishes close to the hoop, oblivious to the help.
His speed and shooting has often induced teams to put smaller power forwards on him, because they know that Wood will overwhelm centers, like he does above. His next step is punishing those smaller players with post-ups and physicality.
Next to Wood are guards Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. Both have had their struggles this season, especially with turnovers; the Rockets are dead last in the NBA in giveaways. Porter commits 3.4 turnovers per game, 12th-most in the league. Green has an effective field goal percentage of 47 percent, one of the worst in the NBA.
They are intriguing in the sense that they can both make impressive shots. They have stepbacks and difficult three-pointers in their bags, even though they do not make them at a consistent rate yet. Green’s athleticism is through the roof. He can get to the rim, but he struggles mightily to finish once he’s there. That’s normal for rookies.
Porter Jr. has to become a more willing playmaker. He settles too often for bricky two-pointers, without probing for more:
It hasn’t helped Porter and Green (and Wood, for that matter) that there is little structure to the Rockets’ offense. They don’t run many good sets, and they haven’t established much of an identity. Aside from simple Wood pick-and-pops (like the one above), they don’t really do anything on offense. A lack of structure leads to shots like that.
A spread pick-and-roll based around Wood’s gravity, both as a roller and as a shooter, and multiple ball-handlers could be legitimately threatening. Wood can finish at the hoop. Here’s Green making a great bounce pass to Wood on the roll:
We’ve seen other teams (like Dallas) show how valuable it can be to have multiple players who can drive and run pick-and-roll. The Rockets have Porter, Green, Eric Gordon, Dennis Schroder, and the promising Josh Christopher, a rookie first-round pick who throws sharp skip passes and gets to the rim. (I can’t wait to see more of Christopher.) Play at least two at a time and run a ton of pick-and-rolls all over the court.
A big variable for them is the shooting of Jae’Sean Tate. He’s their best perimeter defender, and he has shown the ability to bowling ball his way to the rim, but he’s a non-shooter and teams treat him as such. Teams put their big centers on him and their more athletic forwards on Wood. If Tate can figure out how to shoot (and stop turning the ball over), the Rockets suddenly have a threatening offense.
Defense is another story. Wood sometimes doesn’t want to defend, and Green might always be below-average on that end. One step at a time.
What else is happening in the NBA?
A lot! There have been a lot of scoring outbursts lately. LeBron James, in case you haven’t heard, put up 56 points on 31 shots on Saturday in a win over Golden State. Karl Anthony-Towns hung 36 the same night on Portland (on 13-17 from the field!).
Yesterday, Jayson Tatum put together an absurd performance against the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving Nets. He finished with 54 points on 16-30 shooting, carrying the Celtics down the stretch. He did an outstanding job of defending both Durant and Irving, too. Durant, for his part, was automatic, putting up 37-6-8 on 12-21 shooting. The Celtics won 126-120.
The Suns played without Devin Booker and Chris Paul against the Bucks and almost managed to won. Milwaukee ultimately pulled it out, 132-122, on the back of a magisterial Khris Middleton performance: 44 points, eight rebounds, five assists on 16-27 shooting.
Kristaps Porzingis debuted for the Wizards, scoring 25 points on 7-12 from the field in a win over the Pacers.
We haven’t even gotten to the main event: Nikola Jokic. Jokic finished with 46 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and four blocks on 16-22 from the field in an overtime win over the Pelicans. He was a plus-22 in an eight-point victory. He had 30 points on 10-11 shooting in the fourth quarter and OT. Simply ridiculous.
Cavs center Jarrett Allen is out indefinitely with a finger injury. That’s a big loss as the Cavs fight for playoff positioning in the competitive Eastern Conference.