The league gradually transitioned from the traditional center era to the small ball era, and the landmark event was that the Warriors took the Splash Brothers as the core and led the Warriors to win championships consecutively.
The pioneer officer of the small-ball era is D'Antoni, from the Sun period when D'Antoni coached, he very forward-looking to show the essence of the small-ball era of shelling, to D'Antoni's coaching rocket period, which completely completed the metabolism of the era.
The most obvious sign of the small-ball era is the decline in the role and importance of the center, the role of the defender is infinitely magnified, the importance of space and the deterrent power of the defender complement each other, in the era of the defender as the core, the importance of the shooter is self-evident, especially the shooter who will defend, and at the same time has a certain three-point deterrent ability, becoming the standard for the championship team.
Such a defensive, three-point interior line, is the trend of the times of the inside line, the term of the space-type interior line came into being, and can shoot three points and will defend the front line, 3D wing players have become the new favorite of the league's high salary.
The top 3D wing players in the league are basically paid at the top, such as Leonard and George of the Clippers, and the general 3D wing of the league, the salary is tens of millions, such as Covington, Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Anunoby, etc. There are many low-paid but very obvious 3D players in the league, such as Batum, Wesley Matthews and other players.
For the rebuilt Rockets, especially for rookie coach Stephen Silas, this season, the impact and changes brought by this league trend have been deeply felt, prompting Silas to make a very thorough determination to transform the lineup this season.
This season, the rocket's first problem is that when the rockets put on the starting lineups of Green, Porter, Tate, Theth and Wood, the Rockets showed a disastrous performance on both offensive and defensive ends, and the plus or minus of this starting lineup was the first in the league.
Such a starting lineup, at the time, was very difficult to adjust, Jaylen Green as the Rockets' list of the show, is the Rockets focus on the training of the object, the Rockets can not not put it into the bench lineup, and Kevin Porter Jr. as the team's focus on the development of young players, the Rockets also had to give it a lot of playing time and starting opportunities, Wood as the Rockets' average scorer, had to enter the first start, Theiss is last offseason, the Rockets annual salary of 9 million salary heavy imported inside players, is as a complementary player with Wood, Having to put in the starter, the only variable was Tate, who beat House and Gordon in preseason to become the team's first striker.
In the case of the Rockets' starting lineup, poor offensive efficiency, and broken defense, Silas's final breaking point was to remove Theis directly from the starting lineup, let him fall directly from the starting lineup, swing Tate from the third position to the fourth position, and let Garrison Matthews enter the starting line.
When Matthews entered the first shot, the Rockets completely opened the second vein of Ren Dou at both ends of the attack and defense.
On the offensive end, Matthews brings projection ability, can open up space, prompting Wood and Tate's offensive space to become better, and when the offensive space becomes better, Tate and Wood face less defensive pressure and higher offensive efficiency, thus feeding Back Potter and Green's offensive environment and becoming better.
And when Blooms and Matthews were on the floor at the same time, the Rockets' space became surprisingly good, when brooks + Matthews' dual-space combination, Tate + Wood + Gordon's Rockets' self-propelled offensive strongest combination, the longest winning streak of the season, was achieved during this period.
Matthews' space bonus completely activated the whole team, prompting Silas to realize the importance of space and the huge role that space brings, and Matthews can reuse it.
On the defensive end, Matthews is also quite powerful, Matthews was once the rocket team to create the highest frequency of offensive fouls against the opponent, Matthews' enthusiasm and hard work on the scene is very obvious, Matthews's defensive enthusiasm is overflowing.
Matthews during the game, not only the single defense ability is very outstanding, the defense and co-defense are just right, often wipe the butts of teammates, especially Jaylen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. often have defensive leaks, or the defense is passed, Matthews' presence can make up for the shortcomings of the rocket's young players on the defensive end very well.
However, Matthews' defense is also limited, Matthews' strength confrontation ability is not a strong point, and it is difficult to meet players with internal strength.
Matthews was laid off by the Wizards before, the most important thing is that the defense is not good, this time it can be seen that Matthews after being laid off, after hard training, seized the opportunity and returned to the league's rotation lineup.
Because of Matthews's excellent performance, the Rockets reached a four-year, $8.2 million contract extension with Matthews during the season, although the last three years of this contract are non-guaranteed, the first three seasons are paid $2 million, and the final season salary is $2.2 million, which also represents the Rockets' recognition of Matthews, at least the amount of this contract is higher than the base salary, Matthews can stay in the Rockets, the Rockets need Matthews to maintain this performance in the Rockets highlight period.
As the season progressed, when Jaylen Green and Porter gradually returned, the competitive status of the two was continuously improved, and in comparison, Matthews' competitive status gradually declined.
On the offensive end, Matthews' three-point projection stability declined, the projection of multiple games fluctuated very much, the most critical thing is that Matthews lacked the ability to adjust the projection, always shooting in a rhythm and way, basically after receiving the ball, Matthews will not slow down, adjust the rhythm, and then shoot, although Matthews's three-point projection, many times many difficult shots can hit.
In addition to three-point projection, Matthews has no other skill display on the offensive end, once the offensive feel is not good, the lack of offensive efficiency maintenance, from this way, Matthews has a lot of room for improvement on the offensive end, at least the current way of playing, is the positioning of a pure pitcher, but such a pure pitcher, will not adjust the rhythm, there is only one rhythm, it seems that such a way of playing, there is a very large room for optimization.
From the defensive end, Matthews made a foul with the ball, after being familiar with and understood by the opponent, although Matthews still has such achievements, but the opponent's offensive foul rate has been greatly reduced, coupled with Matthews often appears to be a step by the opponent, and the defensive position is not good, Matthews's overall defensive quality, from the point of view, is declining.
From the current point of view, this season, Matthews averaged 10 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1 assist in 26.3 minutes per game for the Rockets, shooting 39.9% from the field and 36% from three-point range.
Matthews 24-year-old age, but also in line with the Rockets' rebuilding cycle line, Matthews's role is basically three-point projection + defense, while Matthews in the Rockets position is the flank, this season Matthews is an important player to change the Silas platoon, from this point of view, Matthews is very blue-collar play, do not eat the ball, very in line with the Rockets' team building ideas, from the current point of view, at least next season Matthews will definitely stay in the Rockets, at least Matthews' status and authority, all depends on matthews' training and progress in the offseason, Matthews' training and improvement, compared with young players, is not able to keep up with the Pace of the Rockets' team building, which directly determines Matthews' position on the team next season.