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Looking at the roster for the Houston Rockets, it’s almost impossible to tell what the starting lineup will be. Particularly in the backcourt. Fred VanVleet could return and be a starter, limiting Amen Thompson’s ball-handling duties and pushing him back to a wing role.
Or VanVleet could be sidelined to start the season, as speculated on Roundtable. Even if he's healthy and ready to play, that doesn’t automatically mean he’ll be a starter. Especially if he’s not playing in back-to-backs, that could just throw a team's rhythm off too much.
It feels like the safer decision to bring him off the bench, but then we run into the same conundrum as last year. It seems clear Amen Thompson is a starter, with or without a contract extension. Who starts next to him, though?
Sometimes it was Reed Sheppard, other times it was Tari Eason. Josh Okogie is out of the equation now, per Roundtable, but he’s been replaced by Marcus Smart on a larger contract. An Ime Udoka disciple who will surely get minutes.
With Tari Eason’s extension, covered on Roundtable, he‘ll definitely be getting a lot of minutes too. While he’d probably like a more defined role as a full-time starter, he might be relegated to the bench with Houston’s most recent move.
After dumping Dorian Finney-Smith’s contract, covered on Roundtable, there’s a bigger hole at both backup forward positions. Eason slots in pretty well there any time Jabari Smith Jr. or Kevin Durant are out of the game.
Alperen Şengün has Steven Adams and Clint Capela in reserve, so the only real question on the roster has to do with the backcourt. I’m curious to see how that plays out.
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Or VanVleet could be sidelined to start the season, as speculated on Roundtable. Even if he's healthy and ready to play, that doesn’t automatically mean he’ll be a starter. Especially if he’s not playing in back-to-backs, that could just throw a team's rhythm off too much.
It feels like the safer decision to bring him off the bench, but then we run into the same conundrum as last year. It seems clear Amen Thompson is a starter, with or without a contract extension. Who starts next to him, though?
Sometimes it was Reed Sheppard, other times it was Tari Eason. Josh Okogie is out of the equation now, per Roundtable, but he’s been replaced by Marcus Smart on a larger contract. An Ime Udoka disciple who will surely get minutes.
With Tari Eason’s extension, covered on Roundtable, he‘ll definitely be getting a lot of minutes too. While he’d probably like a more defined role as a full-time starter, he might be relegated to the bench with Houston’s most recent move.
After dumping Dorian Finney-Smith’s contract, covered on Roundtable, there’s a bigger hole at both backup forward positions. Eason slots in pretty well there any time Jabari Smith Jr. or Kevin Durant are out of the game.
Alperen Şengün has Steven Adams and Clint Capela in reserve, so the only real question on the roster has to do with the backcourt. I’m curious to see how that plays out.
Continue reading...
