After Harden left the Nets, the Rockets haven't made the playoffs in two years. In fact, the Rockets have always been a strong team before, even when Harden did not come to the Rockets, the Rockets also insisted on refusing to spoil, and the lottery championship for 3 consecutive years (9th in the West) made the Houston Rockets get the reputation of "Texas Little Strong". But after Harden was sent to the Nets, the Rockets no longer had the heart to continue to be a "Texas strongman".
Seeing many former weak teams become now championship contenders, the Rockets will definitely be very red-eyed. The 76ers, Celtics, Heat or Suns have been the league's fishy brisket team for a long time, but now they have finally ushered in a harvest period after a few years of swinging.
The Rockets also want to be like these teams, through a few years of swing, not only to get some high-pick first-round draft picks, but also to free up a lot of salary space. It only takes a few years for the Rockets to go from a brisket team to a Western Conference powerhouse, so that the Rockets can re-engage in the championship competition as they did in the past.
The Rockets failed to make it to the playoffs this season, and the players were scattered, but in a few months, the Rockets players will gather to prepare for the regular season for the new season.
Although it did not enter the playoffs, the rocket team's official website still posted a well-made "photo collection" picture, in this picture, the rocket team put the core of the past generations of teams on it, from the rocket team core Sampson, to the "big dream" Hakim Olajuwon, and then to China's "little giant" Yao Ming, and now the rocket team's two young core porter + Jaylen Green, have been arranged on this photo.
It is worth noting that the Rockets' leader Jaylen Green is in the "C position" in this photo, which is the center position. Everyone knows that Jaylen Green's position is the most critical, and he has been used by the Rockets as the core and signature player of the future — just like Olajuwon and Yao Ming.
Unfortunately, the Rockets did not put James Harden, who led the team to the playoffs for 8 consecutive years, and replaced Harden with Kevin Porter Jr., who is known as "Harden Jr."
I don't know what the Rockets' intention is to do this, originally Olajuwon, Yao Ming and other stars are on the list, if you add Harden, it can perfectly reflect the appearance of the Rockets' signature players of various eras. But Harden's position was replaced by Porter Jr., perhaps last season Harden took the initiative to ask to leave the team, which made the Rockets management very unhappy, which did not put Harden's photo on this picture.
But in any case, the Rockets' supernova Jaylen Green has been identified by the Rockets as the cornerstone core of the future, and Jaylen Green's status is now equivalent to the Rockets' champion Yao Ming. With Jaylen Green's talent and performance in the first season, I believe he will inevitably lead the Rockets back to the rise. Green has averaged 32 minutes in 67 games this season, contributing 17.3 points, 2.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds.
In particular, his performance in the final half of the regular season was also the strongest level of any rookie player. As long as the Rockets still give Green so much tactical freedom next season, I believe that the 20-year-old rising star will definitely give the Rockets an excess return and live up to the Rockets' cultivation.