The most bizarre thing about the Rockets this season is that the team's forward-back swingman David Nuwaba has not been in the team's rotation lineup for an entire season.
If the coaching staff has the final say if the players can't enter the rotation, then what is even more bizarre is that the Rockets renewed Novaba's contract with a 3-year, $15 million contract last summer, and after the renewal, the Rockets coaching staff will not use Nouaba.
Did the Rockets' management and coaching staff disagree over Nuwaba's positioning and ability? Led to doing such a waste of resources!
From the perspective of rocket management, the rocket signed Novaba in the middle of the 2019-2020 season, because the new crown epidemic led to the suspension of the league, before the resumption of the game, the rocket signed Novaba with a 2-year salary contract, to know that Nouaba was laid off by the Nets because of the season reimbursement, the Rockets signed Novaba, more is a precaution, the personal ability of Nuwaba is optimistic.
In Nuwaba's first season with the Rockets, he showed excellent competitive status, positive attitude, never tiresome running, very brave and decisive to hold the ball to attack the frame, strong defense, in Nuwaba's first season with the Rockets, he played his own value, prompting Nuwaba to become one of the favorite players of Rockets fans.
At that time, the player who was very similar to Nuwaba in both function and characteristics, this player was called Tate, the functions and characteristics of the two were very similar, the playing style was also very similar, and the positioning was also very similar.
In the process of rocket reconstruction, the rocket management evaluated Nuwaba and felt that Nuwaba's vitality and attitude are very suitable for driving young players and becoming a role model for young players to learn, at the same time, Nuwaba, as a defensive toughman, can strengthen the resilience of the team, bring enthusiasm and vitality to the team, and finally the Rockets chose to renew Nuwaba's contract for 3 years and 15 million US dollars.
However, after the Rockets renewed Novaba, Silas chose to abandon Novaba, and Tate, who plays and functions the same as Novaba, becomes the team's ironclad starter and becomes part of the team's future trade-free, why is the status of the two in the Rockets, and the gap is so large?
What the two have in common: very positive, very energetic, very good defensive, defensively stronger than offense, good at breaking through with the ball, very tough in attacking the frame, doing a good job of supplementing and assisting defense, lacking stable three-point projection, very dragging offensive space, and lacking stable mid-range shooting ability.
The differences between the two are also very many, Tate has a lot of abilities that Nuwaba does not have, Tate can swing to the five small lineup of centers, big forwards and small forwards three positions, while Nuwaba can not, Nuwaba can only swing to the position of small forward and shooting guard, Tate's swing flexibility is better.
Tate's passing organization ability is better than Nuwaba's, and the Rockets once used Tate to organize the forward, indicating that Tate's passing organization ability was recognized by the whole team, and Nuwaba's passing has always been a weak underbelly.
Tate's small defensive ability is better than Nuwaba's, and Tate's defensive assistance and defensive communication with his teammates are better than Nuwaba.
Tate's stability on the offensive end and positional toughness are better than Nuwaba's.
Most importantly, Tate is only 27 years old, Nuwaba is already 29 years old, and Tate's youth is even lighter.
And Nuwaba compared to Tate's disadvantage, age is on the one hand, with the deepening of the season, the gap between Nuwaba and Tate gradually appeared, although the style of play is the same, but the team's positioning and configuration are different, resulting in a world of different status between the two.
So why did Nuwaba fall out of the squad's rotation?
From the perspective of the team's configuration, the Rockets in the guard line configuration of Porter, Green, Gordon, Christopher, Schroder, Knicks, from the characteristics of these players, Nuwaba can not compete with veterans such as Gordon and Schroeder, in the case of the team focus on cultivating Porter, Green and Christopher, Nuwaba is unlikely to compete with these players for playing time.
After the gap between Tate and Nuwaba widened, Nuwaba did not have the ability to squeeze out Tate and share a portion of the playing time.
From the perspective of Nuwaba's style of play and the needs of the Rockets, this season when Matthews and Blooms replaced Theis into the rotation, Silas has realized the importance of space, and Nuwaba's offensive three-point is very unstable, coupled with Nuwaba's offensive frame, more by chaotic fighting, relying on offensive and defensive conversions, lack of Tate's hard solution in position warfare, prompting Nuwaba to drag space on the offensive end, dragging offense, Nuwaba's projection, contrary to the Rockets' desire to open up space, which is one of the reasons why Nuwaba fell out of the rotation.
More importantly, Nuwaba's housekeeping skills have deteriorated to a certain extent this season, this season, Nuwaba's single defense ability is declining, many times, Nuwaba is often one step by the opponent, as a rookie Jaylen Green, such a situation is understandable, but as a defensive player, such a situation appears too much, it seems very bad.
Nuwaba's defensive scale has also declined to a certain extent, often appearing gambling-style defense, and the Rockets' defense is already poor, and Nuwaba's defense has made a very bad example for young players.
More importantly, Nuwaba's ability to supplement and assist in defense has declined significantly, and the former defensive toughsters have now been greatly degraded on the defensive end.
In particular, Nuwaba's enthusiasm and vitality have declined significantly compared with last season, and Nuwaba's game attitude has been widely questioned by American teams, and at the beginning of the season, the Rockets were most criticized by American fans not Wood and Porter, but Nuwaba.
With Christopher's defensive surge and Green and Porter becoming the cornerstones of the team, the team has no playing time for Nuwaba, and since the beginning of the season, Nuwaba has fallen out of rotation.
As Nuwaba fell out of the rotation at the beginning of the season, the value of Nuwaba's trade fell sharply, and it was not traded by the Rockets during the season.
Nuwaba and the Rockets still have a two-year contract, from the Rockets' main rotation of guards, Porter, Green and Christopher definitely occupy a lot of playing time and shots, regardless of this year's draft, the Rockets will choose a guard, the Rockets are difficult to give Nuwaba enough playing time.
From the current point of view, because Nuwaba's contract is not too big, nor too long, the probability of an offseason package trade for Nuwaba is extremely high, Nuwaba falls out of the rotation, there are reasons for the team configuration, there are reasons for the team's goal reconstruction, more reasons are still in Nuwaba itself, the attack is too single, the defense is declining, is the root of Nuwaba's fall out of the rotation, Nuwaba wants to survive in the league, its own vitality and enthusiasm is the foundation, is fundamental, the diversity of the attack, and the stability of the defense can bring a place for Nuwaba in the league.