Kevin Durant’s GAME-CHANGING Impact On Rockets | Will Houston’s Offense IMPROVE To Top-10 Status?

Kevin Durant’s GAME-CHANGING Impact On Rockets | Will Houston’s Offense IMPROVE To Top-10 Status?

On today’s show, how Kevin Durant’s gamechanging impact will elevate the Houston Rockets this upcoming season. What offensive and defensive changes can we expect? It’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets.
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Ignition sequence start. 6 5 4 3 2 1. What’s up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. As always, I’m your host Jackson Gatlin, native Houstononian and credentialed media member. I’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays. Be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcasts or on YouTube. Just search Locked on Rockets, where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. Now, today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off of your very first year. And as always, thanks so much for making Locked on Rockets part of your day every single day. Whether it’s on your way to work, on your lunch break, in the gym, thank you so much for being an everydayer. This is an episode that I’ve been wanting to get to for a minute now, but we’ve had so many Rockets have been so active this off season with signings and extensions and trades and so much other stuff that haven’t had a chance to get to it yet. and that is how does Kevin Durant fit the Houston Rockets? How do you slot in this two-time champion, future first Ballot Hall of Famer, one of the greatest scorers to ever touch the basketball? How does he fit into a team that just won 52 games this prior season? The easy answer is you just slot him in pretty seamlessly and and you should be really really really good and you might win 60 plus games next year. But we’re going to get into the actual nitty-gritty. Um, we’ll talk about some of the offensive stuff. We’ll talk about some of maybe the concerns with the lack of guard depth, maybe some concerns with the playmaking front for this Rockets team next season, as well as expectations for the defensive side of the basketball. Um, but where I want to start first here is just addressing the fact that look, the reason that I was so fervently championing a Kevin Durant trade in the first place, as were many others, was because the Rockets biggest weakness, their Achilles heel this past season was their lack of a go-to scorer, their lack of a true starlevel scorer who could put the team on his back and get them through the tough stretches, you know, when the team hits an offensive drought or at the end of a close game. They didn’t have that. They had their equal opportunity offense that Emodoka preached about. They had their mantra, sometimes you, sometimes me, always us. And that was cute and it was nice, but it was also frustrating to watch at times because on any given night, the Rockets really didn’t know who their best player was going to be. They really didn’t know who their first option was going to be. They didn’t even really know who their second and third options were going to be. They had like a rough idea that like Jaylen and Shingoon were going to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but on any given night, it could be Fred or Jabari or Dylan or whoever. And it worked sometimes. It also didn’t work sometimes. And it really didn’t work against the Warriors because in the playoffs when things slow down, when the defense ratchets up, you need a guy who can go get you a bucket. And that’s what the Rockets have added in Kevin Durant. One of the greatest scorers to ever touch a basketball. And so on the surface that is the Rockets have addressed quite arguably their biggest weakness from this past season. Their other biggest weakness by extension was just they were an atrocious half court offense and one of the worst shooting teams in all of basketball. um per cleaning the glass. The Rockets were a bottom 10 team in points per play last season in the half court. So points per play last season, the Rockets only averaged 93.2 points per play, which ranks in the bottom 10. That’s 2 22nd out of 30 NBA teams. Now, their halfcourt offense was actually a little bit better than that because it was propped up by their offensive rebounding. So, their actual offensive rating clocked in at 12th at 116.3 per cleaning the glass. Now, you go look at the Phoenix Suns last season. The Suns, despite all their struggles, all the the, you know, mess that is Phoenix right now, uh, or was Phoenix, still is kind of, uh, the Suns were a top 10 team in points per play in the half court, 108 points per play. and their offensive rating, uh, including offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities and everything, they were actually right behind the Houston Rockets at 13th per cleaning the glass at 116 points per 100 possessions. And a large reason for that is that tall, lanky dude the Rockets just traded for, Kevin Durant. The Rockets are effectively swapping out Jaylen Green, who was a 21 point per game scorer on really rough shooting splits, 42 35 81 for a 26 1/2 point per game scorer on 53 43 83 shooting splits. And that 83 the free throw shooting is like that was one of the I think it might have been the worst of Katie’s career actually. Um he’s usually more like a 90% free throw shooter. So they basically got a guy who’s been flirting for most of his career with being a member of the 5040 and 90 club. And so on the surface, one of the biggest changes, biggest adjustments that we can expect offensively from the Rockets this next season is the equal opportunity offense gone. KD is your be all end all. KD is the number one option. He is the best player on the floor. Everything the Rockets do is going to run through KD in some capacity. he’s going to be your number one option. And then that means that you’re going to have in some capacity, right, probably Alperin, Shingun, Amin Thompson as your two, three options offensively. Um maybe even mixing a little Fred Van Vleet there. Maybe Amin Thompson is still more of in kind of an ancillary role earlier on in the season. So maybe it’s like KD one, Shingun 2, Fred 3, and then Amin/Jabari four, five, whatever in some capacity. Um although I would I would hope that Amin Thompson would be given some more opportunity to really spread his wings and try to uh you know get some reps offensively. So I would hope that a man Thompson walks away with more overall offensive opportunities than Fred Van Vleet, but it might not be that way right from the jump. Um and so because of that clearly defined offensive hierarchy, I think it’ll help make everything easier for everybody else, right? because now it doesn’t have to be um you know Alper and Shingun commands a double team and then kicks it out and then he’s kicking it out to a poor three-point shooter. It’s it’s Alper and commands a double team and he gets to kick it out to Kevin Durant who’s a 40% plus three-point shooter or Fred Van Valet who’s coming off a down year shooting the basketball. But one of the reasons that I think Fred is going to actually thrive moving forward playing next to Kevin Durant is there’s less offensive pressure on Fred Van Vleet to create something out of nothing because the Rockets were so heavily reliant on Jaylen Green to be their offensive initiator, to be their leading scorer, to attract the double team, to collapse the defense, to do so much. And on the nights where Jaylen struggled, on the nights where Jaylen just didn’t have it, Fred had to try and step up and do something or the Rockets offense was kaput. They didn’t have anything. Now they have Kevin Durant who’s a certified walking bucket and is clearly the number one option. So there aren’t going to be nights where, you know, Fred Van Vleet has to start chucking and hoisting up shots and trying to take over a game because Jaylen Green just didn’t have it in his bag that night against a specific team or a coverage or just had an offshooting night. It’s not to say KD won’t have the occasional offshooting night, but he’s one of the most efficient players in basketball history for a reason. And now you have a better hierarchy where you get to go through KD for a lot of your offense. You still get to work through Alper and Shingun a considerable amount. You still get to run through Amin Thompson and have him be a terror in transition as well as letting him get downhill and attack. Um, give him some five out spacing and let him go to work. Um, and so you get Fred in a much more ancillary role offensively, which I think will ultimately bode well for him. And we should see a season where his three his three-point shooting rebounds and gets back up to, you know, the range that we’re more comfortable with it at, you know, that 37 38 39% range would be fantastic from Fred. And then you have Jabari as well offensively. So you reinsert Jabari’s shooting into the starting lineup. The Rockets offense is going to take a monumental step forward this next season and defensively they’re still going to be the same absolutely defensive stifling presence that they were this past year. In fact, I think the defense is also going to be taking a step forward this upcoming season. Coming up, I do want to continue to talk about some of the offensive stuff, and I want to address one of the biggest concerns that I think Rockets fans have right now, which is the lack of guard depth and potentially what the playmaking situation is going to look like for this Rockets team next year. We’re going to get there in just one moment. First, today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it absolutely can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than just a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building your wealth. Look, when I first started using Monarch, I’ll admit I was shocked and I was a little embarrassed at how much money I was spending on just food, like dining out at restaurants, fast food, food delivery services. It was honestly appalling. Now I budget smarter and save more. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your very first year. That’s monarchmoney.com, code locked on NBA for half off your first year. and continuing on here at Locked On Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right, so one thing that I want to kind of piggyback off of from the first segment before getting into some of the passing stuff here, the playmaking stuff, the guard stuff, um, is I mentioned, right? So clearly the Rockets biggest weakness was their lack of a go-to score, but one of their like their second biggest weakness, if you will, was just their their inability to knock down outside shots. Their three-point shooting was abysmal last season. And I do really think that with the additions of both Kevin Durant and Dorian Finny Smith who both shot over 40% on threes this past season. Then you also again you get Fred Van Vleet who’s in a better more ancillary role. So hopefully his three-point percentage goes back up. You get Jabari Smith Jr. who is actually shooting the lights out of the basketball after having the most atrocious shooting month of November ever to start the year. He was like literally the worst catch andoot player in the NBA. He was shooting like 15% on catch-and shoot opportunities in the month of November. After that stretch, he was on fire. Like he really picked it up. And I really like I I truly believe Jabari will be able to enter this next year and be, you know, above league average from long distance. If he’s hovering around 36 37 38%, that’s a massive win there. And then the last and and potentially maybe most important piece of the puzzle here will also be Alperin Shingun who reportedly and from what we’ve seen from his workout videos and stuff uh back home in Turkey, the dude is just he’s working on that three ball tirelessly. And for Shingun, he doesn’t ever need to become, you know, Nicola Joic with like an absolute burner from three. But if he can get that three ball to a consistent 33, 34, 35% just to keep defense as honest and to really space the floor, especially in some of those double big lineups that we’re that we’re bound to see with him and Adams and and likely Clint Capella down the line as well. Um that’ll really start to open things up for the offense. So that’s exciting stuff to consider as well. Um and even Am Thompson to a lesser degree, right? Pardon me. We saw Men Thompson really grow and develop as a corner three-point shooter this past season and I fully expect him to take another step forward as a shooter. Now, I don’t think a men’s going to suddenly start like knocking down like step back three-pointers or something, but as long as he can keep a defense honest and force them to guard him at the three-point line, that’ll open up so much for his game and so much for the Rockets offense. So, I want to address here and and talk about one of the kind of bigger concerns and this was a concern that I held you know for the most part uh throughout free agency and and that is the Rockets kind of playmaking dynamics for this upcoming season and and in specific right their guard play because on paper the Rockets you know after all these moves that they made and everything that they’ve accomplished this off seasonason they only have three, you know, primary initiators on paper or three pime I’ll say three primary ball handlers because they have two other primary initiators in Kevin Durant and Alpar and Shingun even if you don’t necessarily consider them primary ball handlers. So the primary ball handlers are Fred Van Vleet, Amen Thompson and Reed Shepard. And there’s a lot of pressure on Reed Shepard to be able to live up to the expectations that the Rockets have of him, you know, to be able to fulfill that role as the third playmaker on the roster. But I went back and I wanted to look at the Rockets playmaking numbers from this past season because a lot of there are there’s, you know, a lot of Rockets fans that are, you know, majorly concerned about losing Jaylen Green, who was one of the Rockets primary ball handlers and one of their primary offensive initiators and lead playmakers. What will the offense ultimately look like this upcoming year? So, first and foremost, again, a lot of the offense is going to run through one of Kevin Durant or Alpar and Shingun considerably, right? You’re you’re going to run plenty of different actions. You’ll run certain like screening actions with Katie as the primary screener and then have him like, you know, pop out to the three-point line with a flare screen being set for him. Like, you can do all sorts of creative stuff to get Katie open. Um, and that’s where you have, you know, one of Fred or Amen or Reed handling the basketball and distributing it and getting it to him. But I went back and I wanted to look at the just the sheer passing numbers from this past season and they were a little shocking and maybe they’ll be shocking for you as well. So in the regular season, Alpun Shingun was the number one playmaker for the Rockets and and that matches the eye test. So much of the Rockets offense ran through Alpin Shinkun. And that’s one of the most exciting things about getting Kevin Durant is imagining some of the creative stuff that Emodoku will be able to run utilizing the twoman game of Alpar and Shingun and Kevin Durant. Imagine Alp operating out of the elbow, you know, or or even, you know, out of the low post and then having Kevin Durant come flying off like a pin down and getting wide open for three or coming off a curl, you know, uh, you know, or curling off a screen at the at the free throw line, uh, or at the free throw line extended and then get like an easy mid-range bucket off a pass from Shingun because he’s commanding attention down low in the post. There’s so many different offensive opportunities there, but these are the numbers from this past season. Shingun led the team with 372 assists, 688 potential assists, and 960 assist points. So, those are points created off of his assists. Fred Van Vleet was second with 333 assists, 656 potential assists, and then 869 assist points. Jaylen Green was third with 282 assists, 549 potential assists, and then 722 assist points. And then Amen Thompson, despite the fact that Amin Thompson only played in 69 total games. Nice. U and only started 42 of them, Amin Thompson’s numbers are right there, neck andneck with Jaylen Greens. As far as playmaking goes, Amin Thompson had 265 assists, so only 17 less than Jaylen. 504 potential assists, so 45 less than Jaylen. And then 694 assist points created, which is 28 points created less than Jaylen. And again, he did that with 13 fewer games played and only starting 42 of the 69 games that he did actually play. So when you look at those numbers and you imagine what the Rockets are going to look like this next season, I have zero worries about their ability to manufacture offense to create opportunities for each other within the flow of the offense, especially now that they have an offensive weapon as deadly as Kevin Durant. Think about every single offensive possession for the Rockets last year that ended with Shingun or Amen or Fred creating an opportunity for Jaylen Green that unfortunately didn’t get converted or conversely and this is the the other side of the things is you know these guys are not perfect right Shingun needs to be a much better finisher around the rim he took a significant step back with his touch around the basket this past season that absolutely needs to improve And I think we’ve got the body of work from Shingun for his first three years in the NBA to believe that it will get back to where it needs to be. Um, for a men Thompson, he needs to become a more reliable outside shooter and a and a somewhat better decision maker because there are times where a men Thompson, you know, decides to to drive into traffic or make a poor decision with the ball and he’s still trying to learn and feel out his game offensively. And then for Fred, kind of already addressed this, but you know, Fred at times had to shoulder a much bigger offensive burden than I think he is, you know, equipped for or equipped to handle. And because of that, I think that, you know, he dealt with some rough shooting nights. He dealt with some stretches where he was essentially trying to do too much because there wasn’t anybody else that could do anything at times if Jaylen didn’t have it on the perimeter. So, I think that the Rockets are going to be in a really great great spot next season with those three guys as their primary facilitators with Shingun, Van Vleet, and Amin Thompson. And then you also factor in KD’s facilitating. KD is not bad as a facilitator. In just 62 games this past year, Kevin Durant had 263 assists, 470 potential assists, and 684 assist points. that clocks in at right about the numbers that Amin Thompson had and he did it in seven fewer games than Amin Thompson. So KD is by no stretch of the imagination going to be one of the team’s leading playmakers. Um, but he’s also not a slouch, you know, and the way that we saw Jaylen Green effectively blitzed and completely taken out of the series against the Warriors, that doesn’t happen against KD because the dude is like 7 feet tall and crazy long arms. And the moment he sees a double team coming, he’s tall enough that he can see over the top of the defense and find exactly where that outlet pass is to get the defense in rotation and create opportunities for his teammates. So you’ve got so much working here where the Rockets can play through Kevin Durant and create opportunities for Amin or Shingun or Fred or Jabari. They can play through Shingun and create easy cut and shoot opportunities for everybody else. They can space the floor with five out spacing and allow Amen Thompson to get downhill and get to his drive and kick game to involve everybody else. There’s so many different ways that the Rockets can initiate offense. They still and they still have Fred Van Vleet. Tried and true, right? Just run pick and roll with Fred Van Vleet and let him try to set something up. They have so many different ways they can initiate offense this upcoming season. I would be absolutely shocked if the Rockets were not a legitimate top 10 offense as well as being I’m going to say on paper probably a top three defense. And if you can be a top three defense and a top 10 offense, that is a legitimate championship caliber team bar none. Like like full stop, full-blown championship caliber squad. Coming up, I do want to talk about some of the defensive side of things and what we can expect on that side of the basketball. We’re going to get there in just one moment. And final segment here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast, home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right, let’s switch gears here and talk about the defensive side of things. And then if I can, I’ll get into some uh lineup expectations as well. But one thing that we talked about at a few different points last season is the fact that the Rockets, despite how effective they were defensively, they were one of the most undersized teams across the board when it came to their starting lineup. Fred Van Vleet undersized for his position. Jaylen Green undersized for his position. Dylan Brooks undersized for his position. Alurn Shenon slightly undersized for his position. The only player that they had as a plus size player at their respective position was Jabari Smith Jr. And then when they swapped out Jabari Smith Jr. for Amen Thompson, they then became downsized literally across the board. The Rockets were undersized at all five positions once that change happened. So, you take that look and then you flip it to the projected starting lineup this upcoming season where you have you still have Fred Vanite as your starting point guard, undersized. Although Fred plays a lot bigger than he actually is. Yes, he’s only 6 feet tall, but he’s much stronger than he looks. Not even much stronger than he looks. He He looks strong. He looks stocky, but he can switch. He can guard bigger players. Um he’s not a defensive liability, you know, at all on the on that side of the floor unless he gets like posted up by like legitimate big. Um so Fred Vanble still undersized, but now the Rockets will have plus size and length at three of their five starting positions because Amin Thompson is now a plus-size defender at that two guard spot. Kevin Durant, 7 feet tall, guarding on the wing, is a plus-size defender. Jabari Smith Jr. back in the starting lineup more than likely will be a plus-siz defender. And then Alpar Shingun, who is not necessarily who is still, you know, albeit a a slight bit undersized for his position, has grown tremendously as a defensive force and is absolutely the defensive backbone of this Rockets team. And so you look at that and you you to to put to put it in perspective, right? The Rockets basically they gave up Dylan Brooks and Jaylen Green. Dylan Brooks who was 6’6 with a 66 wingspan and Jaylen Green who was 6’4 with a 67 wingspan and they add Kevin Durant who is listed as 6’11 but let’s be real KD 7T tall with a 74 wingspan. They get Dorian Finny Smith who is 6’7 with a 7 foot wingspan. And then they have Jabari Smith Jr. who’s 6’11 with a 71 wingspan. Tari E who’s 6’7 with a 7 foot2 wingspan. and a men Thompson who is 6’7 with a 7 foot wingspan. The Rockets have an absurd amount of size and length across the board. Like if we thought it was going to be if we thought it was good this past season, like how great they were defensively, how elite they were at rebounding, how physical they were on the defensive side of the ball, it’s about to get dialed up to 11 this next season. And when you imagine all the different defensive lineup permutations that the Rockets can throw out there to really mess with opposing teams, their best defensive lineup is going to be Amin Thompson at the point guard slot, Dorian Finny Smith, Kevin Durant, Tari Een, Jabari Smith Jr. That is a first off that’s a five out lineup offensively which means you put the ball in A Thompson’s hands or you put the ball in Katie’s hands and let KD isolate or let Amin Thompson get downhill and if teams collapse on a min Thompson on the drive or if they try to double team KD you know while he’s isolating uh from the elbow or on the perimeter then it’s a wide openen shot from three for somebody else. So, very simple offense to run there with that lineup. And I’m sure we’ll see plenty of that lineup next season. But defensively, that is a that is a switch everything one through five. Your smallest player on your floor on the floor is 6′ 7 in. And you still aren’t giving up any any height because you’ve got two almost legitimate sevenfooters out there between KD and Jabari to soak up the rebounds and box out and and close out defensive possession strong. the Rockets are going to have like a crazy kind of like death ball lineup that they can throw at teams and I don’t know how teams are going to handle it. It’s going to be really brutal to witness cuz I I don’t I don’t see how you guard that and I don’t see how you beat that team while they’re playing defense. So, and I do think that, you know, as a good friend of the program, locked on Suns host Benjamin Garcia was so kind to illustrate in a couple of his different crossovers with us, KD is very much still a a plus level defender and the fact that at times he was the Sun’s best defender last season um on a team that was really bad defensively, I think that KD is going to fit in just fine here in Houston. And I know there are maybe some concerns on the surface about having 36-year-old KD out there guarding on the perimeter, you know, consistently on a night in night out basis, but it also really wouldn’t shock me, right? Because you’re going to have a men is going to check the opposing team’s best perimeter player. Then you’ll put Fred on the opposing team’s best guard. Then you’ll throw Jabari on whoever the third best perimeter wing scorer, whatever is. And then that leaves KD, you know, his role of guarding kind of whoever’s left over at that point. And you know, you can envision like hell, let’s use let’s use the I think let’s use the uh let’s use the Denver Nuggets as a matchup example here defensively, right? So they added Cam Johnson. So the Nuggets starting lineup is Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, and Nicola Joic. So obviously Shingunard’s Jokic. And then how would you match everybody up else up across the board? I think that you put Amen Thompson on Jamal Murray easily. You stick Fred Van Vleet on Christian Brown and then that leaves both KD and Jabari to decide who they want to guard between Cam Johnson and Aaron Gordon. Now, I would argue that you probably just put KD on Aaron Gordon simply because AG is not nearly the offensive threat that that Cam Johnson is, and you would much rather have Jabari having to chase Cam Johnson around screens and, you know, fight over picks and do all that dirty work. But KD is more than capable of guarding either of those guys. That’s the crazy part. And he’s going to be just fine on switches, too. Like defensively, I really don’t see the worry until you run into a team that might be willing to start like multiple guards. And that’s where you start to run into an issue is if you have one of KD or Jabari having to check an undersized player as you know from the from tip off. That’s where you might get into a situation where you could see Eme Odoka potentially elect to change up his starting lineup where maybe he elects to start Dorian Finny Smith instead of Jabari Smith Jr. or starting Tari Een instead of Jabari Smith Jr. potentially um to have a little bit more speed on the perimeter to keep up with some smaller players. Um, I think that’s certainly in EA’s wheelhouse to potentially switch up the the lineup as needed to match up, uh, you know, from a defensive perspective, but this Rockets team was a top five defense last season and they’re going to I think they’ll be top three. In fact, I think they’ll finish top two right there with the OKC Thunder. Um, assuming the Thunder have another phenomenal defensive season, I think the Rockets will be right there on their tails um, defensively. And this doesn’t even factor in like so many of the other ways that the Rockets can play defense. like now, you know, they they can effectively if they really want to, we might actually see the Rockets run some zone defense without the double big lineup because last season we saw the Rockets run double big. And when they ran double big, they would run zone defense with Steven Adams anchoring the middle and then Jabari Smith Jr. and Alper and Shingun on the two sides of that of the backside of that two-3 zone with any combination of Fred Vanble Vleet, Jaylen Green, Amin Thompson or Tari Een at the top of that two-3 zone. This upcoming season you can do the same thing. You can just have Shingun anchoring the middle and then you have two sevenfooters flanking him in KD and Jabari Smith Jr. And then you still have your point of attack guys at the front with Fred Van Vleet, Amin Thompson, Dorian Finny Smith, and Tari Een to guard out there on the perimeter at the top of the two-3 zone. So we might actually see more zone even outside even away away from the double big lineups this upcoming season for the Rockets. And yeah, the the double big lineup is is absolutely a thing that I think we’ll see a lot more of. In fact, shout out to uh good friend of the program, Paulo Alves, who suggested uh he he put on his his biggest tinfoil hat and he suggested that the reason that the Rockets went and got Clint Capella is that they fully intend on starting Steven Adams and Alpour and Shingun together and that the starting lineup for the Rockets would be Fred, Amin, KD, Shingun, and Adams. Honestly, I don’t hate it, but I don’t think that’s what that I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. Um, it might happen in a situ, it might happen in a situational matchup. I, again, I wouldn’t put it past Eay to tinker with that starting lineup and maybe, you know, sit Jabari one game and start Adams instead. Um, if the Rockets really want to go for that, you know, megaiz lineup and just be play outright bullyball with the opposing team. Um, but the double big lineup is going to have a huge focus this next season and all the different things that it’ll unlock for everybody else. Um, thinking about Steven Adams setting screens for KD once again. Two old teammates reunited. Um, and I know I mentioned it in another episode. I probably should have mentioned it when we were talking about the offensive side of things here a moment ago, but right, you know, Rockets fans are worried about, you know, only having three guard two guards on the team and they’re both undersized guards and Fred Van Vleet and Reed Shepard. The NBA is positionless now. Doesn’t matter that you don’t have guards on the team. What matters is do you have do you have ball handlers? Do you have wings? And do you have bigs and that’s it. And the Rockets have more wings and more bigs than they know what to do with. They’ve only got a couple guards, a couple ball handlers, you know, in Fred Reed and and Amen Thompson who is, you know, sized like a wing, but the Rockets treat him like a ball handler or they will be treating him like a ball handler next season. Um, those are the roles that you occupy on a basketball floor these days. And so, yes, the Rockets don’t have a combo guard or a true two guard on the roster. And no, Cam is not a true two guard. He’s a wing as well. Um, they don’t have that piece of the equation, but it kind of doesn’t matter because again, the Rockets view KD as their two guard. He’s going to be the guy taking the majority of shots for this team. He’s going to be the guy leading the team in scoring, in field goal attempts. He’s going to be the guy that’s your closer, taking the toughest shots at the end of the clock or at the end of a game. And when you look at historically what the two guard has done, that’s generally been the two guard’s role, unless you’re like a 3 and D2 guard, like a Contavius Caldwell Pope or something. So, Rockets are in a good spot, I think, with their roster construction, with what they’ll be able to achieve offensively and defensively this next season. KD is going to fit in seamlessly and he’s going to elevate this team to I’m not gonna I’m not I’m not ready to predict 60 plus wins, but health permitting, knock on wood, this team is going to win 60 plus games next year. I think it’s a pretty easy feat for them to achieve. They dropped some really easy winnable games this past season that they absolutely should have won. And the games that they lost this past season are games that if they had Kevin Durant in place of Jaylen Green, they would have absolutely won. So with that, those are my thoughts on how KD fits in with this Rockets team. I’m curious from all the KD fans who have joined us here over at Locked on Rockets, which again, welcome. We appreciate you guys for coming on board. Um, happy to have you on the hype train, but I want your thoughts. Have you guys been following KD his whole career, right? How do you think he fits into this Rockets team? Was I on point? Was I completely off base? Um, give me your thoughts in the YouTube comments, but remember the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. But as always, thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. We look forward to having you back right here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball.

Kevin Durant’s GAME-CHANGING Impact On Rockets | Will Houston’s Offense IMPROVE To Top-10 Status?

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) breaks down KD’s game-changing impact on the Rockets’ offense, highlighting improved shooting, spacing, and playmaking dynamics. The discussion covers defensive upgrades, potential “death ball” lineups, and how Ime Udoka might deploy Durant alongside Alperen Sengun, Fred VanVleet, and Jabari Smith Jr. Key topics include the Rockets’ evolving offensive hierarchy, three-point shooting improvements, and strategies to maximize Durant’s elite scoring efficiency.

Discover how Durant’s addition could transform the Rockets from a promising young team to a legitimate threat in the Western Conference. Will Houston’s revamped roster challenge the NBA’s elite?

#Rockets #NBA #KevinDurant

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#HoustonRockets #Rockets #NBA #KevinDurant #AlperenSengun #AmenThompson #JabariSmithJr #TariEason #CamWhitmore #ReedSheppard #FredVanVleet #DorianFinneySmith #StevenAdams #JaeSeanTate #AaronHoliday #JeffGreen #JockLandale #NateWilliams