On February 22, Beijing time, the NBA regular season has entered the sprint stage, especially the teams on the verge of the play-offs, and the next schedule is quite critical, such as the Rockets, who currently have a record of 24 wins and 30 losses, ranking 12th in the West, 3 behind the 10th-ranked Warriors5 wins, this gap is frankly not small, so does the Rocket still have a chance? The answer is definitely yes, but the Warriors have won 8 of the last 10 games, and the momentum is getting better and better, and the Rockets want to catch up unless they can usher in a wave of at least 5 consecutive wins, or the Warriors suffer at least 5 consecutive defeats, both of which are unlikely, so the Rockets need to be prepared to miss the play-offs.
The Lakers and Warriors have also struggled on the edge of the play-offs, but as the season progresses, they are still gradually coming ashore, because the Lakers and Warriors themselves have a good lineup, followed by having a superstar, as a comparison, the situation of the Rockets and the Jazz is very similar, there is no superstar, this is a fatal injury, although Van Jordan has a salary of $40 million, but you can't say that he is a superstar, at most he is just an ordinary star, and I don't know what the Rockets management thinks, Van Jordan's real value is also $25 million.
In addition, the Rockets are mostly young people and lack experience, and these young people are somewhat short, Shen Jing's defense is too poor, Jalen Green and Jabari are unstable, Amen did not shoot, Whitmore's defensive awareness needs to be improved, Ethan is good, but unfortunately he is recovering from injuries again.
Combining the above three factors, it is reasonable for the Rockets to fall behind in the second half of the season, look at the young people of the Thunder, none of them are fuel-efficient lamps, Alexander is the league's top scorer, the key is stable, there are few downturns, Jalen Green is obviously more talented, and the gap between the result and Alexander has been fully opened, Holmgren is talented, offensive and defensive integration, and it is far from being comparable to Shen Jing, Jalen Williams can shoot suddenly, and recently developed organizational skills, which is simply the former Harden, and Keady, The style of play is quite comprehensive, and the new version of the Thunder Four Less is really the envy of the 29 team, when will the young people of the Rockets reach such heights? In a way, maybe never.
After the All-Star break, Udoka was interviewed and said of the upcoming schedule: "Our first 27 games are significantly better than the last 27 games, we used different starters for a lot of the last 27 games, we want to get that consistency back, we'll look at the future of our team, the focus is on developing young players, Amen Thompson shines on us, he can fill most of the stat columns, he's everywhere on the court, he plays good defense, when we need to be physical to grab rebounds, He's there to help our big guys," Udoka said well understandable, first of all he thinks the Rockets did regress as the season went on. Secondly, Udoka said that the rest of the season will focus on training young people, and it seems that he has already given up.
Finally, Udoka focused on praising Amen, thinking that he can attack and defend, play comprehensively, and help the Rockets a lot, obviously, Udoka is ready to reuse Amen, and for the rest of the game, Amen's playing time will not be less, of course, it is basically impossible to replace Van Jordan as a starter. Amen is a good seedling, as last year's 4th pick rookie, Amen has elite-level athleticism, explosive power, known as the Gundam version of Morant, Amen is good at hitting the interior on the offensive end, or grabbing rebounds to launch a fast break, defensive end, Amen can steal opponents, can quickly complete blocks, at the same time, Amen plays quite selfless, willing to revitalize teammates, on the whole, Amen's offense, defense and organization are amazing, definitely worth cultivating.
If the shooting can be developed, Amen really has the potential to become a superstar, in the early part of the season, Amen has not been reused, because at that time Udoka was very stubborn, would rather use Holiday , even if the Rockets are more behind, Holiday will be on the court for a long time, the offense is unstable, the defense is almost none, Holiday has dragged his feet many times, until recently, Udoka really can't stand it, he began to reduce Holiday role.
And Amen's playing time has skyrocketed, and he has played a good performance in many games, such as 19 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals against the Grizzlies, 19 points, 7 points, 4 assists and 2 steals against the Raptors, 13 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks against the Pacers, 15 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists against the Green Army, etc., if he enters the starting lineup, what kind of data can Amen play? I can't imagine.
From being abandoned to being reborn in Nirvana, Udoka really made the right bet, it turns out that Amen is seriously underestimated, the only thing he needs to improve is shooting, in the offseason, Amen should pay attention to this, it is necessary to practice shooting, Udoka knows very well in his heart that it is very necessary to train Amen at the end of the season. In fact, the biggest problem of the Rockets is that there is no suitable leader, Jalen Green and Shen Jing are unreliable, so it is better to train some players with inobvious shortcomings, such as Amen and Whitmore, both of whom are worth reusing, as for Jalen Green and Shen Jing, the Rockets can consider trading out in the offseason in exchange for better instant combat power or experienced veterans, and only Amen, Whitmore, Eason and Jabari are worth retaining.