Dorian Finney-Smith Is The IDEAL Fit For Ime Udoka’s Rockets (Part 2)
across the season, both with the Nets and after being traded mid-season to the Lakers, DFS ranked in the top 30% of all NBA players in ISO defense. And when we narrow the lens to just his time with the Lakers and compare his metrics to those of the Rockets top wing defenders, DFS holds his own. In fact, among that group, only the newly acquired Kevin Durant allowed fewer points per possession on ISOs. Of course, that stat doesn’t exactly account for matchup difficulty. DFS was consistently tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best offensive player night in and night out. And even though he came off the bench, he still logged nearly 30 minutes per game. Always the Lakers go-to perimeter stopper in second units. Now, when you add him to a Rockets team that already boasts elite wing defenders, the dynamic shifts entirely. DFS is no longer burdened with having to guard the opposing team’s best scorer on a nightly basis. Instead, he gets to focus on secondary or even tertiary scoring options.
Dorian Finney-Smith Is The IDEAL Fit For Ime Udoka’s Rockets!
Dorian Finney-Smith just put together one of the most quietly elite isolation defensive seasons in the entire NBA—despite rarely being mentioned among the league’s top defenders. Opposing stars like Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Ja Morant, Steph Curry, and Nikola Yokić shot a combined 3-for-21 against him in iso, just 14.3% from the field. That includes holding KD and Yokić to their lowest shooting percentages of the season among any defender who faced them 10+ times.
Yet, despite these eye-popping numbers, DFS flew under the radar for most of the year. He wasn’t a starter, and he wasn’t always guarding the league’s top scorers by design—but he was locking them up. And now, in Houston, he’ll no longer have to take on every top assignment. Surrounded by elite defenders like Ahmen Thompson and Tahri Eason, DFS can focus on the matchups that best suit his strengths—bigger wings, high-usage scorers, and late-game stops.
In this breakdown, we’ll dive into what makes DFS so effective as a one-on-one defender—his footwork, wingspan, defensive IQ, and nonstop motor. We’ll also explore how his offensive role has quietly evolved. From knocking down a career-high 40% of his threes to making high-level reads out of short rolls, DFS is much more than just a defensive specialist.
Now joining a Rockets team that thrives on grit, hustle, and help defense, DFS could be the perfect addition to Ime Udoka’s system. Could he be the glue guy that helps take Houston’s two-way identity to another level? Let’s break down the film and find out.
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