3 Reasons To Be EXCITED About The Houston Rockets This Seasonš
Here are three reasons for Houston Rockets fans to be extremely excited about what’s to come this upcoming season. I’ll start out here with an obvious pick, and that is their addition of none other than Kevin Durant. It is simple. The Rockets did not have a good offense last season. There is no other player who can provide a better offensive boost to your team than Kevin Durant. It’s that simple. You essentially moved away Jaylen Green as your number one primary offensive shot creator on the perimeter and swapped him out with one of the greatest offensive players in the history of the game of basketball in Kevin Durant. It is a winwin situation. Just last season, Durant was putting up 26.6 points per game on 53% shooting and 43% from three through 62 games. And this was a bit under the threshold for him to be considered for any major award, but Kevin Durant generally has been a lot better with his health and availability over the last couple of seasons. And also, while the Suns weren’t good between this season and the one prior to that, one thing you can never say was that Durant wasn’t productive. That’s one thing with the entire Phoenix Suns dynamic over the course of time. Even with them underperforming, you can never blame Kevin Durant for it. he has still been a consistent and efficient offensive player. And also, one thing I love about Durant that we give LeBron a ton of credit for is his own longevity. Right? Even with Durant aging and Phoenix’s own issues, his performance has always stayed consistent through the course of time. Now, has he been the most available, healthiest guy? Not at all. But when Durant is on the court, he is still performing at a really high level. Injuries have never created a downfall for Kevin Durant’s on the court performance. Right? Durant has always been this ultra efficient scoreer and shot creator. Always putting up over 25 points per game on ridiculous splits. That has never gone away. When Durant is on the court, he is still arguably a top five player in the entire league. And that is going to help Houston to a massive extent this upcoming season. He gives the Rockets a ton of shot creating which will help them close out games better as they struggled at that last season and also helps Aman Thompson and Alrren Shangon develop into complete offensive players a lot easier. Right, when you have a guy like Durant on your team that opens up the offense and allows other guys to grow. Next, I’ve got the development of Aman Thompson. I am extremely excited to see what Thompson does this upcoming season. He is already one of the league’s best defensive players, making all defensive teams twice in the first two years of his career. That’s absolutely insane. And we’re just waiting on him to make this massive offensive leap. And he’s already shown a ton of exciting flashes on that end with his ability to attack the basket and cut off the ball and even show some flashes of being a solid off the catch shooter on the wing. But it’s time for him to finally put it all together because his upside is literally becoming one of the best two-way players in all of basketball. And when you watch him, you can’t help but see some obvious similarities to Kawhi Leonard early on in his career, right? This amazing young defender who’s really athletic, who shows some flashes in an offensive system, who’s literally on the brink of offensive brilliance. And not only does he need to step up for his own personal development, but Houston as a team needs it, right? While Durant is amazing, secondary perimeter shot creation is huge for any team trying to contend and eyes are going to be on Thompson to provide just that. Also, he simply has to be able to complete plays if Kevin Durant gets taken out of the offense due to a high level of defensive attention. The last thing I am extremely excited about this season for the Rockets is their defense. And this is going to be a continuation of last year as they already had one of the best defenses in the entire league. But I think they’re going to be even better on that end of the floor this upcoming season. They added guys like Josha Kogi, Dorian Finny Smith, and obviously Kevin Durant who give them some more options out in the perimeter defensively, but also they have Clint Capella who does give them a high level of rim protection when he’s in the game. Also, I am really excited about seeing the continued development of Tar Een into becoming one of the league’s best defenders and Thompson obviously and also Reed Shepard who could end up doing a lot more with increased playing time as this really pesky on ball fullcourt level defensive player at the guard position. With increased length and defensive versatility, Houston’s defense could be even better than what it was last season, pushing them into a spot where they’re one of the league’s best two-way teams. a spot they haven’t been in since the James Harden era. So for Houston, the goal this off season was to go from being a really good team out in the West that excelled in the regular season to becoming one of the premier 2-way teams in all of basketball and simply just a championship contender. Now, one of a few questions is this team’s health through the season, especially with Kevin Durant, who could end up having a larger workload than what he had in Phoenix. That’s always going to be a concern with him. I talked about it a bit earlier, but regardless, if that can stay in check, then the upside of Houston is beyond impressive, and they can definitely make a similar run to what OKC made just last season.
The Houston Rockets made some massive splashes this offseason, not just with the addition of superstar and future first ballot HOFāer Kevin Durant, but other pieces such as Dorian Finney-Smith and others who will help them turn into one of the leagueās elite two way groups
Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:08 Addition of Kevin Durant
2:33 Amen Thompsonās Growth And Development
3:53 Houstonās Defense Got Better
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