Since James Harden left Space City, the Houston Rockets have been in a state of rebuilding, and in the past two years, they have fallen from the original league powerhouse to the Western Fish Belly. But all this is in the rocket team's plan, they hope to sacrifice a season or two of record, get a good pick in the draft draw, and then be able to select a few excellent seedlings, through several seasons of training, so that the Rockets return to the ranks of the strong team, and then achieve the goal of championship.
The Houston Rockets have been regulars in the playoffs since I watched the NBA, and they can't lose more than fifty games in a season. Statistics also show that the last time the Rockets fell apart was in the 1980s, they became the bottom team in the West for two consecutive years. Of course, in the process of swinging, we can also see some changes in the players. People like Kevin Porter Jr., Jaylen Green, Shinkin, Ken Young Martin Jr. and Christie Wood jr. have all grown a lot over the course of the season.
And this season's Rockets, still choose to give up this season, and then prepare for this year's draft. This year's swing is effective, at least they can get the number five pick and above in the draft. If chosen correctly, this would certainly significantly shorten the rockets' time to complete their rebuilding.
Chapter 1: The Overall Situation within team Rockets
This year's Rockets management has two goals ahead of the start of this season. One is to train these rookies, help them find the rhythm of the NBA, and then grow into a qualified NBA player, or even an all-star level player; the second is that in the process of accumulating experience, you can also get a good pick, and you can choose a player who is the most suitable for the team at the draft conference to make up for the lack of all aspects of the team.
With the instructions of management, the rocket is naturally not afraid to swing rotten, and even the rhythm of swinging to the end. At the beginning of the season, the Rockets strictly followed the policy of winning and losing, and once lost 15 consecutive games, becoming the bottom team in the West. When you questioned whether the Rockets were going to challenge the league's worst record, the Rockets proved their strength by winning a seven-game winning streak. This wave of rocket winning streaks is to tell the league's teams that I can win but there is no need.
But for their ultimate goal, the Rockets still win and lose, and the record in the next 18 games is 3 wins and 15 losses, including 8 consecutive losses. In fact, too long losing streaks are likely to have an impact on the morale of the team, and the league does not allow the nature of the fake game, so the purpose of the record is achieved, the Rockets will still try to win some games that can be won.
In fact, the period from the beginning to the middle of the season is the most anxious day for the Rockets. They occasionally win a game or two, but the norm is 3 straight, 4 consecutive, or even more. This season's Rockets have experienced the league's most consecutive losses: a 15-game losing streak, a 12-game losing streak, and an 8-game losing streak. Failure is acceptable for management, but for rookies who are in college, life is not good. Too many failures, it is easy for rookies to have self-doubt, can our team really be called an NBA team?
In terms of age structure, the Rockets are the sixth youngest team in the league, this team also includes 8 new people under the age of 23, due to the lack of game experience, less accumulation of the field; so this kind of losing streak phenomenon is also normal, young people are through continuous failure, in order to go to long-term success.
Chapter 2: The Growth of Young People
While we see failures, we must also discover the successes that failures bring. For example, the core of the team, Jaylen Green, has scored 30+ points in 5 consecutive games, which has set the second-best record in the past 50 seasons, the first is the 96-year-old Aaron Iverson. From the slump at the beginning of the season to the second half of the season, Jaylen Green's growth is visible to the naked eye. From early February to the end of the season, Green averaged 20.1 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field: 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range.
That's a dramatic change from the beginning of the season to February, when shooting 37 percent from the field and 29 percent from three-point range. Second, Jaylen Green has increased the frequency of his quick stop jump shots, shooting 44% since February (only 28% before February).
In fact, Kevin Porter Jr. is also making progress little by little, and the biggest change is in the control of mistakes. From the beginning of the season to February 1, the average number of errors per game was 3.7, while from the beginning of February to the end of the season, the average number of errors per game was only 2.3, although there were still many mistakes, but it was always good to improve.
Chapter 3: Resolving Garbage Contracts
For the Rockets, the biggest trouble next season is how to solve John Wall's super big contract. The Wizards offered Wall a sky-high contract extension until next season, when Wall held the player option, with a contract amount of $47.1 million. There is no doubt that Wall is not an idiot, and the only way in front of him is to execute the player option. Next season's Rockets will either trade Wall or reach a buyout with him, but both options seem difficult to achieve.
We know the Rockets also took a first-round pick when they traded Wall, and they hope to be able to make a difference in the deal about Wall. But the reality is that Wall's deal not only can't make money, but also has to build a draft pick into it, so that the team is willing to take over, which is obviously not what the Rockets want to see. As for the buyout, the biggest question is how much Wall is willing to give up his salary in order to leave the Rockets.
Throughout the NBA's history, only four players have been willing to give up more than $20 million in salary to join a championship team: Beatson Delek, Larry Sanders, Derrick Fisher, and Kemba Walker last season. Unless there is a championship team willing to give Wall a contract above the middle class, I personally think that Wall will still be mainly money-
But what can match Wall's salary and ability, in addition to Russell Westbrook, I can't think of a second candidate for the time being. But the Lakers are not willing to build a draft pick, and the Rockets are not willing to suffer losses, and the deal will not be closed. In addition to Wall's contract, Wood and Gordon are also targets for the Rockets to clean up next season. Wood is a typical big brush, and his presence will affect Shin Kyung's growth, but it does not rule out the factor that the Rockets renewed his contract as a mentor for Gordon. In contrast, Gordon is a little better selling, and I don't know if the 76ers are willing to pay a price to accept Gordon's contract.