After a thousand teasers of trades involving C Dedric Lawson and SG MJ Walker, and even a couple surprise blurbs about defensive stalwart Kaiser Gates, the Rockets officially did nothing at the trade deadline. Sources confirmed that the Rockets were big game hunting on the trade front, coveting Bulls big man Jaren Jackson Jr, Wizard turned Bull Jayson Tatum, as well as former Rockets Michael Porter Jr and Malik Monk, Spurs guard Trae Young, among others, but nothing serious ever materialized.
The Rockets have been looking to balance the front-court heavy roster all season, and JaKeenan Gant's success closer to the basket moving Dedric Lawson to the bench really kicked off a flurry of potential activity, but led nowhere. The Rockets are as versatile defensively as any team in the league, but the emergence of both Kenny Lofton and Nathan Knight have caused the Rockets to be extremely interior-focused.
Without adding a "true PG", the Rockets will continue to play mega-ball in the backcourt and small-ball in the frontcourt, as 7 of the 9 regular rotation players were drafted as SF or PFs (backups Juzang and Vrenz as SGs).
The conundrum this team has, is that all four of Lofton, Knight, Gant, and Gates have performed their best at PF. Gant has massively struggled at SF/SG/PG since coming to Houston but has found offensive success moving to part-time center in certain matchups, though foul trouble has been a major issue. Leading scorer Nathan Knight has seen a significant amount of minutes at SF lately, despite tipping the scales at 272lb, but is a complete defensive liability on the perimeter. Gates has played SF/SG minutes almost exclusively this season, and his defense is great as always, and has been quiet offensively. There will be more experimentation with Lofton's role, which has wavered in recent weeks, but Lawson stands in the way of a chunk of center minutes.
With those 5 eating the vast majority of the SF/PF/C minutes, guard minutes have been soaked up by Cam Reddish in the midst of a career year running PG exclusively, MJ Walker enjoying a solid but modest bounce back year in which he's shooting 45/40/75, although nowhere near the volume you'd hope for, supersized backup PG Vrenz Bleijenbergh, and rookie shooter Johnny Juzang who has gone down to Rio Grande a couple times. All four have been efficient, and played within their roles well.
What's next for this 37-17 Rockets team? General manager KW insists the lack of a move stems from their belief in their ability to win it all. "I like what we're building," says KW. "I had to poke around the trade market and see if we can do even better with a couple new pieces, but I think we've got a chance anyway. This is the same group as last year, except we have two young guys that can beat you up in the paint, which we weren't really doing last year. They've changed the dynamic a bit, but that versatility that made us good last year is still there in everyone else. We have 7 guys that can take over a game offensively, and 5 of them defend their hearts out. I think we have as good a chance as anyone."
It'll be interesting to see what this team can do. Really balanced and a lot of good efficient young players. Our days of meeting in the playoffs is probably over for now lol
Golden State Warriors Stephon Castle | Cason Wallace | Sam Hauser | Scottie Barnes | Dedric Lawson Jason Preston | Kris Wilkes | David Roddy | Trentyn Flowers | Colin Castleton | Yves Missi Mac McClung | Bronny James | Shareef O'Neal
Doesn't seem like a team that needs to make a trade. As cool as it could've been to see you guys go all in for a star like Luka, or even bring in a Trae Young to be a Monk-lite, you clearly have a winning formula in Houston and have a real shot at a Finals run this season. No idea how Cam Reddish is able to play PG, but I understanding little about DDS
Kyrus has the magic touch when it comes to playing guys in positions they have no business being in. I still have nightmares about our playoff matchup when James Harden was houdini-ing all over the place and in the post where none of my massive bigs could destroy his tiny 6-4/6-5 ass and the opposite somehow happened
sacramento kings
dyson daniels | yuki togashi | blake wesley | brendan adams
matisse thybulle | jaylen wells
jalen johnson | darius bazely |
kofi cockburn | antun maricevic | kyle filipowski
laurynas birutis | norvel pelle | charles bediako | James Nnaji
PG Reddish works because of the handles, IQ, overall scoring ability, and the fact most of the rest of my team can create their own offense. I don't necessarily need him to facilitate a lot or command a huge amount of touches. I wish his passing rating was 5-10 points higher, but he survives at that spot. The biggest one for me is his defense, has size advantages on almost all guards, and gets steals and blocks. Does get himself into foul trouble though
Team is playing very well, so I can see what you guys didn't make a move at the deadline. When it comes to Playoff time, it will become an interesting experiment for a PG less team like yours.
Unlikely that we meet Houston in the playoffs, but yeah, I would not like to see this team there. The talent is so wide spread you can only hope that they forget how to shoot for a series.
2020, 2023, 2027, 2035
