The Houston Rockets Can Play Any Style — And That’s Terrifying

The Houston Rockets Can Play Any Style — And That’s Terrifying

Looking at the Houston Rockets after an off season full of acquisitions, the one thing that’s really standing out to me about this roster is how versatile they’re going to be going into next season. And with having a head coach like Emanuela, a coach that’s shown he’s not afraid to take risks. He’s not afraid to switch things up and he’s not afraid to throw out different matchups. When I look at the Houston Rockets, I think they’re going to be able to put out a fiveman l a fiveman lineup for every type of basketball situation. And what I mean when I say basketball situation in the game of basketball, especially when we see it played and won at the highest levels, we see teams throw out certain type of lineups to try to take advantage of a weakness that a certain team has, try to confuse a team, or just to simply try to get the upper hand. And what I mean by those, you know, those situations, I’m talking about a time where a team might want to throw out a lineup, where they want to go big, where they want where they might want to go small, where they might put out a defensive lineup or an or an offensive lineup. We’ve seen so many times throughout NBA history where we’ve seen a team put together a lineup that’s, you know, oriented around one of those things in the game of basketball and it has worked wonders for them leading to them winning a game, winning a series, or even winning a championship. So, when I look at the Houston Rockets, I think they’re going to be able to put out a fiveman lineup for all of those situations. And not just any fiveman lineup, but a really good fiveman lineup that is going to be um good for whatever that situation is. And we going to get right, we going to talk about those lineups today. We can jump right into it. And this first one is kind of like a two for one because I think the Houston Rockets, I think their starting lineup is going to be their best offensive group that they can put on the floor. And I should say my predicted starting lineup because it’s so early. We don’t know. But what I think the starting lineup is going to be going into next season is Fred Man Fleet, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., and Al Princon man in the five spot. I think this is going to be the starting five for the Houston Rockets, but also their best offensive lineup. And what I’m looking at really is this combination of Kevin Durant and Alpine Singon. Two guys that um attract a lot of attention to themselves as individual talents. But I see two guys that also when they’re getting that twoman together, they’re also going to be um attracting a lot of gravity, making it easier for the other guys in this lineup, making it easier for a men Thompson who’s perfect for the starting five as a cutter and also a guy that’s going to keep the transition game alive for the Houston Rockets. We all know he’s a one-man fast break, whether it’s a rebound, whether it’s getting a steal, or whether it’s him catching the outlet pass. And then also you have a stretch for a player that can stretch the floor and Jabari Smith Jr. who’s also good at cutting, also good at offensive and defensive rebounding. He gets a lot of easy buckets, 10 to 15 points off plays not being drawn up for him. So he’s the perfect starter to have around Kevin Durant and Alpine Sangon. And then you also have a floor general at the point guard position in Fred Van Fleet, a guy that has won an NBA championship. um and a guy that has played really really solid since he’s been in a Houston Rockets uniform. So, I love I love I love this um I love this offensive group for the Houston Rockets. And also another big thing is Kevin Durant. And it’s not like the KD’s coming to the Rockets and he’s having to revive an offense from the ashes from the grave. No, the the Houston Rockets finished in the top half of the NBA and offensive efficiency last season. So, they just wanted to take another step forward in that category. And adding a guy like Kevin Durant, it definitely does that because from every spot on the floor, he’s going to be having multiple eyes on him. Whether it’s the low post, the mid post, the high post, if he’s coming off pin downs, if he’s coming off flare screens, if he’s handling the handling the ball in the pick and roll, so much attention is going to be on Kevin Durant. He’s an ecosystem because everybody eats off of him and he’s at the top of that food chain when it comes to that offensive ecosystem. So, that’s why I’m big on this offensive lineup and also the starting five for the Houston Rockets. And next, um let’s see what should what lineup should we look at next? Let’s look at a defensive lineup for the Houston Rockets because I actually think it’s two different type of defensive lineups that they could go with. I think they could go with a defensive lineup that they could have a big at their five spot and also they can throw out a defensive lineup to where um it’s just five, you know, hybrid defenders, five guys with size that can guard multiple positions on the defensive side of the ball. So, we can start with the one with with a with a big at the five spot. I’m looking at Amen Thompson. I’m looking at Dor um excuse me, I’m looking at Amen Thompson. I’m looking at Tari E. I’m looking at Kevin Durant. I’m looking at Jabari Smith Jr. And the five I would use out of the Houston Rockets for this lineup is Clint Capella. Now, I know what you guys might be thinking, Clint Capella, he’s not the, you know, he doesn’t have the athleticism that he had when he had his first stint with the Houston Rockets, but with these guys on the ball court with Amen Thompson and Tari E, those are two guys that can play terrific on ball defense and hawk around on ball screen. So, Clint Capella would be able to play in the drop position. And also, coach Eudoka, he does not let his players get taken advantage of on the defensive side of the ball. Every trip down the opposing team, they’re gonna have to score in the hardest way possible. So, um, and we didn’t really see the the the the Houston Rockets, they had a terrific defense last season, but they didn’t have a shot blocker at the level of the um even at the level this late in his career that Clint Capella can protect the rim at. So, we got Clint Capella at at our five spot. And then if we wanted to get small with this lineup, we can take out Clint Capella and we can insert Dorian Finley Smith. And then we have a lineup of him, Amen Thompson, um Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant, and Tyreek Een. And I have KD in this lineup because KD is 7 feet tall, elite wingspan. He can also rotate down, protect the rim, he can get steals in the passing lane. And then we want him in these lineups um in these in a defensive oriented lineup because like we said, he’s an offensive ecosystem. as long as he’s on the court, guys are going to be eating. So, that would be my defensive lineup for the Houston Rockets. And now we can look at a lineup if the Houston Rockets decided to go big. Now, what I’m looking at for this lineup, um, and this is definitely a bunch of different ways that you can freak this one. But for me personally, I want to go with Amen Thompson. I want to go with Dorian Finny Smith. I want to go with Kevin Durant. I want to go with Al Prince Goon. And then at our five spot, we can go with um at our five spot, we can go with um either um excuse me, Clint Capella or Steven Adams because both of those guys fit the scheme for what Ema Udoka wants to do um when he goes big, which is crash the glass. And we all know this was something that the Houston Rockets excelled at last season. So, we’re probably going to definitely see this some some sort of combination like this going into next season. They led the league in rebounding and they were um historically offensive they were rebounding the basketball uh offensive rebounding the basketball at a historic pace. So this is going to be one of their forte. Um they add Clint Capella who’s an outstanding offensive rebounder. And so that’s something that we can see. And then also um you could take out Dorian Finley Smith and Pentari East and another terrific offensive rebounder. Same thing with Jabari Smith Jr. because that’s what they like to do with these double big lineups. They like to get in there and they like to crash the boards really, really hard. So, it’s a bunch of different ways we can go big, but the main thing here is the front court. The front court of Kevin Durant and then two of those big guys. That would be really really cool to see. And then also, once again, it’s going to be hard to take advantage of them on the defensive side of the ball, especially if if if a man in, it’s going to be um he’s going to be able to steady that defense. But coach Eman Udoka, he goes to zones. He goes to different schemes. He piss the bigs on the worst shooters. He does whatever he can to keep those guys out of harm’s way in terms of having to defend in space. So, I’m not really worried about that. So, that would be my big lineup for the Houston Rockets. And last, but certainly not least. And then this is another lineup where you could freak it so many ways, but the small ball lineup. And this is how deep this team is. They can make multiple versions of all of these different basketball situations we’re talking about, but for me personally, I want to look at Amen Thompson at the one. And as you guys can notice, there’s a pattern. Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant. They’re in all of these lineups because they’re that good. They’re that versatile of basketball players and they can do that many different things on the court. So, we have um Amin Thompson, we have Tari E, we have Kevin Durant, we have Dorian Finny Smith, and we have Jabari Smith Jr. And you know, I just said it in any order. As long as Jabari Smith is at the five, you can really rerank those other guys in um any order because basketball has become so positionless in um in today’s NBA. The only really, you know, only really, you know, set in stone positions is the center position, maybe the point guard position, but different guys at different sizes nowadays do so many different things because we look at Nicole Joic. I just said, you know, he’s a center, but he’s really the point guard for the Denver Nuggets. So, you know, basketball has evolved in so many different ways, but those are the lineups that I think the Houston Rockets, we potentially could see some of those lineups going into next season. Um, they’re loaded at the wing position, they’re loaded at the big position. Um, they have Fred Van Fleet, um, at the guard, Ree Shepard, he’s supposed to take on a bigger role next season, potentially being the backup point guard for the Houston Rockets. It’s so much talent on this team and I just think I can see the Houston Rockets definitely going to these lineups at times in certain situations. If they down 10 points, okay, we need to get some buckets. If we um up 10 points and we want to um get some stops, we can put in a a defensive oriented lineup. If we want to take advantage of a team that can’t rebound, we can put all our rebounders in the game and still be sufficient on both sides of the basketball. So, um that’s what I was really looking at. That’s what I want to talk about with you guys today. You guys can definitely definitely let me know down in the comment section if you would switch these up in any way. If you would make any subs on my lineups and then subscribe subscribe for more weekly content. We do this all the time, man. And as curtains.

The Houston Rockets just became one of the most versatile teams in the entire NBA. With the addition of Kevin Durant and a deep, talented roster, they can go big, small, defensive, or offensive — and dominate in any style. In this video, I break down the lineup flexibility that makes the Rockets absolutely terrifying heading into next season. From Amen Thompson’s role to how Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith, and KD fit into multiple lineups, this team is built to adapt and overwhelm.
📈 Let me know in the comments: which lineup do YOU want to see the most?

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The Houston Rockets Can Play Any Style — And That’s Terrifying