From Capela, the "king of cakes" that year, to Wood, and now to Alperon Shenjing, the main center of the Rockets, the type of players in the center position of the Rockets has slowly changed from the main defense to the main offense. Whether it is Wood or Shenjing, they belong to the kind of big man who is strong and weak in attack and defense. It's just that Wood left the Rockets, and this season, the Rockets' European center picked the bar at No. 5.
But all along, Rockets coach Silas was not satisfied with Shin Kyung's defense, especially the defensive demolition. Even in some games, he took the initiative to put Shen Jing on the cold bench in the fourth quarter and did not let him play, the root cause is that Shen Jing's defensive ability is too poor, in Silas's opinion, Shen Jing's defense will drag down the Rockets. But now, in the last two matchups with the Pelicans, the Rockets have a one-win and one-loss record, and Shin Kyung has been praised by Silas after both games.
Sellars believes that Shin Kyung's defense has become better, especially in the second game loss to the Pelicans, don't watch Shin Kyung eat 6 fouls and leave, but Silas still gave Shen Jing as many as 31 minutes of playing time. If it is a past game, once Shen Jing fouls too much, his playing time is basically only concentrated in about 20 minutes, and it is impossible to get 31 minutes of playing time in a single game like now.
In this game, although Shen Jing's statistics are average, only 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block and 1 steal are recorded, but it has to be said that Shen Jing did not make a single mistake in this game, and he did not fall into the defensive end, especially in the interior against Pelicans star center Valanciunas. Although Varan cut 21 points and 12 rebounds, in the confrontation with Shenjing, Varan only maintained a certain advantage with his size.
In the previous Rockets win over the Pelicans, Shin Kyung performed much better than Varan . Rockets coach Silas saw it in his eyes and was overjoyed, and although his beloved left the game with six offenses, Silas still said: "Although he (Shin Kyung) left the game with six fouls, I still told him that this is his best game on the defensive end of the season." ”
In fact, after Shin Kyung's comeback in Porter Jr., his personal data has not been very beautiful, and he even feels like he was crushed by Jabari Smith. But Shen Jing used his solid basic skills to help the Rockets at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. Especially on the defensive end, the Rockets' 20-year-old center began to "make up for his shortcomings", before Shen Jing was slow and afraid of confrontation, now he takes the initiative to take the position under the basket and takes the initiative to confront the opposing center. And when defending and blocking, Shen Jing has also become much smarter.
Although the offensive end was a bit "robbed" by Smith and Porter Jr., Shenjing's defense has indeed improved considerably, otherwise Silas would not have specifically mentioned Shenjing and said that this was his best game on the defensive end. As long as Shin Kyung can continue to improve defensively, even if Wen Banyama joins the Rockets next season, Shin Kyung still has his own foothold in the No. 5 position, and can even compete for the starting position early in the season. How the defensive ability is is too important for Shen Jing.