Compared with last season, the Rockets' lineup has changed from the "double core" of Harden + Westbrook to the "single core" of Harden alone, although Wall is also a former All-Star player, but now his state is obviously not a grade compared with the peak state in the early years. Wall's speed has not dropped much since he recovered from injury, but his shooting ability is still a problem, but fortunately, Wall's three-point shooting is really much better than Westbrook' shooting, and he is also the Rockets' second ball carrier outside of Harden.
Unlike Wei Shao, who is good at scoring and killing the inside line, Wall positions himself as a "traditional point guard", even if the entire career, Wall's average score per game is not as phenomenal as Harden and Westbrook, but Wall's passing and dribbling skills can be called the top level of the NBA. It can be said that the Rockets replaced Wei Shao, a "fake point guard" who wants to score and brush data, in exchange for Wall, a "true point guard" who is bent on passing assists, although the paper strength has declined somewhat, but in the rockets' new offensive system, Wall still has a more critical role.
Harden is also changing his own style of play, when joining forces with Wall, Harden always likes to play without the ball, although sometimes the effect is not good, but Harden's transformation significance is positive, the role is also obvious, especially the Rockets in the first regular season showdown with the Kings, Harden accumulated physical strength in the 4th quarter of a wave of harvesting games, which is the most obvious performance of this "no-ball tactic".
So outside of Harden and Wall, who will be the Rockets' 3rd ball carrier? From last season' point of view, the Rockets have only 4 players with the ability to carry the ball - Harden, Westbrook, Rivers Jr. and Gordon, Rivers Jr. has joined the Knicks, Westbrook has also shot at the Wizards, and in addition to Harden and Wall, Gordon has also become the third ball holder hand-picked by Silas. In a previous interview, coach Silas also publicly raised the issue, saying: "I will use Harden, Wall and Gordon as the main ball carriers. ”
Obviously, Silas is well thought out, this season the Rockets can hold the ball no less than last season, such as double guard Sterling Brown, rookie Thomas, Jones have a certain ability to hold the ball, and even David Nwaba is still a good breakthrough player, but when it comes to the best combination of scoring and possession, passing, except for Harden Wall, Gordon is naturally the first choice.
Compared with the average score of only 14 points per game last season, This season's Gordon has emerged, and Gordon, who has won a 4-year and 76 million contract, is also using data and performance to prove that he is worth this big contract. In the three games gordon played, he averaged 19.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals in 28.3 minutes per game, shooting 42.9% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range, each of which was a certain improvement over last season.
This is also the "new role" that Silas arranged for Gordon, although he lost the main position, but Gordon can control more balls, the number of shots he gets has also increased, which is also the main reason for his data rise, if the Rockets can be better, I believe Gordon is capable of competing for the best sixth man this season, just like his peak state in the 2016-2017 season.