This offseason, the Rockets lineup has not changed much, nothing more than the signing of AJ Griffin, then the selection of Shepard with the Tanhua pick, and the two-way contract given to Nfarly Dante, and now the Rockets' roster has been basically finalized. Last season, the Rockets ended up in 11th place in the West and missed the play-offs, which is a pity, but the Rockets' ranking in the new season should be even higher, because the Lakers have no gains in the offseason, and they have lost Prince, which is equivalent to weakening their strength, and if the Warriors can't get Markkanen, then the new season will also lose competitiveness, and obviously the Rockets' record is expected to surpass these two teams.
Point guards: VanVleet, Amen, Holiday
Quarterbacks: Jalen Green, Shepard, Nate Williams, Nate Hinton (Exhibit 10 contract)
Small Front: Dillon, Whitmore, Ethan, Tate, AJ Griffin, Samuels (Exhibit 10 contract)
Ohmae: Jabari, Jeff Green
Centres: Shin Kyung, Landale, Adams, Nfaridante (two-way contract)
The lineup is officially released, and the Rockets have only one problem left in the offseason, that is, how to renew the contract of Jalen Green and Shen Jing, theoretically both of them can sign a five-year contract of 225 million US dollars, but it has been reported that the Rockets do not plan to give them a contract with a maximum salary, in other words, Green and Shen Jing have to reduce their salaries to renew their contracts, and the Rockets management is very clear that neither Green nor Shen Jing is the future of the team, Green is extremely unstable as a scorer, he can hit 30+ in a row, or he can be in a slump for several consecutive games, unpredictable, Shen Jing's data is very good, but it's a pity that he killed 1,000 enemies and lost 800 of himself, and the interior line without defense can't be cultivated as the cornerstone of team building.
Focusing on the question of who is the future of the team, the Rockets now have two new development goals, the first is Amen Thompson, as the fourth overall pick last year, Amen's talent and potential are undoubted, and his option template is a higher Morant. Last season, Amen was not reused at the beginning and has been playing on the bench, and then Shen Jing was injured and fell, Amen began to appear in the starting No. 3 position, and as a result, he began to show his strength, such as 18 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks against the Clippers, becoming the first rookie to score a triple-double after the Rockets' Sfrancis, and then against the Thunder with 25 points, 15 rebounds and 4 assists, against the Wizards with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists, against the Pelicans with 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.
Amen is a good seedling, and Rockets fans also like him, because he integrates offense and defense, and the shortcoming may be poor projection, but it has been reported before that Amen has been practicing shooting hard in the offseason, and the Rockets have evolved again, and I believe he will surprise the Rockets next season. On the offensive end, Amen is good at hitting the inside, he is extremely explosive, his feet are also flexible, or grab the frontcourt board to launch a secondary attack, and he has become the rebounding king of the Rockets many times in his rookie season. It is no exaggeration to say that Amen's ceiling is higher than that of Jalen Green, the latter is at the most All-Star level, and the former has the potential to become a superstar.
The other is this year's Scout Shepard, who the Rockets also have high expectations for, Shepard is a precise No. 2 shooter, averaged 52% three-point shooting per game in college, he often shoots some difficult three-pointers, and the draft report shows that his template is White of the Green Army. Defensively, Shepard, despite not having a height advantage, is by no means a defensive hole, because Shepard has top-level steal awareness and is enough to defend most of the guards. Thinking about it now, it's no wonder that the Rockets refused to renew Green and Shen Jing with the highest salary, Stone obviously saw that Amen and Shepard were better and had a better future than the previous two, so they had to start cultivating Amen and Shepard, as for Green and Shen Jing, if they didn't make any progress, they would be traded.
Frankly speaking, Green's ceiling is like this, and as a comparison, in the same third season, Kobe Bryant has been selected to the All-Star and All-Defensive Team. Shen Jing didn't have much to improve, after all, his talent was limited. Udoka was interviewed some time ago, and he had this to say: "The core of this Rockets team is young players who will push the team forward, Shepard is in the same situation as our previous six first-round picks, which is competing with each other, and I hope Shepard can make it harder for other people, and I hope he makes it harder for me to make decisions with the coaching staff, and Amen Thompson, we will expect the same." It's easy to understand that Udoka will give the green light to focus on developing Amen and Shepard, and the importance of Green and Shin Kyung will be reduced.