On January 20, Beijing time, just when the Blazers, Kings, Spurs and Pelicans were still competing for playoff qualifiers, the Houston Rockets may have given up the playoffs early this season. Look at the rockets' current lineup, Shen Jing, Jaylen Green, Christopher and other young players are not the absolute protagonists in the Rockets, and veterans such as Gordon, Nuwaba and Theis have also been trapped in trading rumors, and may leave the Rockets one day.
Porter Jr. and Wood are doing well, the Rockets have recently won the Spurs and Kings, and Porter Jr. and Wood are not bad. Maybe the tactical model of Porter Jr. and Wood will continue this season, and maybe Silas will have some adjustments in the second half, such as giving rookies more opportunities to perform.
Compared with the first half of the season, the Rockets often encounter strong teams, the Second Half of the Rockets' schedule is much easier, on the one hand, the number of strong teams encountered is reduced, on the other hand, the Rockets will not have such a dense schedule, back-to-back, which makes the team very uncomfortable Schedule mode will be greatly reduced, which is definitely good news for the young Rockets.
Even because of the easy schedule, Rockets coach Silas wanted to launch a new rookie development program. In the next month or so, the Rockets will have only 11 regular season games to play, which is very helpful for the Rockets to practice tactics, develop new people and experiment with new lineups. "It's good to have real training, you can feel it in multiple parts of training, and then stop teaching, learning and growing and continue the next day," Silas said. Don't worry about rushing, there's a race about to start. ”
Silas also said that the Rockets will use this advantage to learn and grow better, but also to bring more opportunities for players to rest, and the relaxed schedule can help the Rockets strengthen training and help the team to improve. The implication is that the Rockets will grind the roster and try more in the second half of the game, and will also use training to help young players grow, which is also Silas's commitment to less than 40 regular season games ahead.
To train the lineup to cultivate new people, the Rockets will naturally not participate in the playoffs competition, the Rockets have decided to give up the playoffs, the rest of the game this season, will be the Rockets' "training mode" and "cultivation mode" to sing the protagonist. For the Rockets' top 4 rookies Jaylen Green, Shen Jing, TOEFL and Garupa, the amount of playing time and opportunities they get will naturally increase compared to the first half of the season.
If the Rockets can trade veterans such as Nuwaba, Theis and Gordon, these newcomers will get more opportunities to play in the next game, and here you can congratulate the Rockets on their 4 rookies and more young players. Compared to playoff qualification, young players are the Rockets' most valuable asset.