The Rockets continue on their merry way, generally off the radar. Forced to embark on a reconstruction project following the departure of James Harden in January 2021, the Texans showed patience and their “process” ultimately lasted around four years, before returning to the first part of the ranking, and possibly the playoffs. . A goal more than within their reach this season.
Little by little, Houston was able to place its pawns around the young people Jalen Green, Then Alperen Sengun, Then Jabari Smith before moving up a gear with the arrival of the coach Ime Udoka and the first big maneuvers to bring Fred VanVleet And Dillon Brooks.
Enough to form a solid major five and explain this gradual rise in power, which brought the Rockets up to third place in the Western Conference today, with one game less on the Grizzlies, second.
At this stage of the “process”, the front office could be tempted to move the lines again to move to the next stage. Rumors around a possible interest in Jimmy Butler, for example, leaked on Tuesday, and would allow the Texans to take another step forward. Making a big trade would also mean risking upsetting the balance currently in place. For Rafael Stone, the GM of Houston, the choice was quickly made. Even if he assures that he is looking at everything that is likely to improve his roster, the manager does not see himself shaking up everything at this stage.
No reason to change formula
“Of course my job is to be open to everything, so I'm going to continue to do my job. But we love this team. And clearly, we have no intention of changing anything. And I would be shocked if anything changed this season. You know, we're happy with where we are. We want to continue to develop our guys, and that’s it”, he told NBA Radio on SiriusXM.
Rafael Stone is sticking to his plan and it has worked quite well so far, with a linear progression of the Rockets to end up playing spoilsport in the West. A direct qualification for the playoffs would already be a big success. The remainder will make it possible to assess possible shortcomings. For now, in any case, everything seems homogeneous and above all competitive, building on the momentum of the end of last season.
“Would I listen to other teams? Of course, it's my job. But again, there is nothing on my side or in our decision-making process that suggests we would be on the lookout for anything significant now, or in the near future.” he added. “We want this group to be the best it can be this year, and then we’ll re-evaluate things at the end of the season. But the hope we have today is to see how far this group can go, and if it can take us as far as we want. From a “transactional” point of view, we are largely done.”
Without forgetting that there is possibly something to do in the NBA Cup this week, to mark a new stage in the development of these Rockets. To do this, we will have to beat the Warriors then OKC in order to see the final.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Jalen Green | 24 | 32.6 | 39.9 | 32.8 | 87.2 | 0.5 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 19.5 |
| Alperen Sengun | 24 | 31.0 | 47.3 | 25.0 | 76.7 | 3.4 | 7.2 | 10.6 | 5.3 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 18.5 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 22 | 35.1 | 39.1 | 32.1 | 83.1 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 5.9 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 16.0 |
| Dillon Brooks | 24 | 31.0 | 42.2 | 38.6 | 82.9 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 12.8 |
| Amen Thompson | 24 | 26.9 | 54.6 | 30.0 | 69.9 | 2.3 | 4.8 | 7.0 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 11.9 |
| Jabari Smith, Jr. | 24 | 30.0 | 43.1 | 35.1 | 85.7 | 1.8 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 11.5 |
| Tari Eason | 22 | 22.9 | 47.6 | 30.3 | 76.7 | 2.3 | 4.2 | 6.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 11.3 |
| Cam Whitmore | 8 | 9.9 | 37.5 | 4.8 | 62.5 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 5.9 |
| Aaron Holiday | 14 | 9.5 | 48.8 | 46.9 | 77.8 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 4.4 |
| Jock Landale | 14 | 11.1 | 44.7 | 50.0 | 52.6 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 3.9 |
| Reed Sheppard | 24 | 11.7 | 35.7 | 30.4 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Steven Adams | 13 | 11.1 | 59.1 | 0.0 | 40.0 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 2.6 |
| Jeff Green | 7 | 5.7 | 53.8 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.4 |
| Jae'sean Tate | 10 | 5.9 | 56.3 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.4 |
| Nate Williams, Jr. | 3 | 3.3 | 75.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| Jack McVeigh | 6 | 3.6 | 27.3 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.3 |
