The Rockets can be an amazingly versatile team.
Hey, it’s another Five Out. The kind of content you’re here for is the Five Out kind, right? Right.
This time we look at different ways the Rockets can play basketball, through the lens of some different potential lineups. The Rockets are versatile in theory, and this is a look at how they might be versatile in practice.
ONE – Standard & Improved Standard
Fred VanVleet, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun
This is actually quite a versatile lineup. With the possible exception of Dillon Brooks, everyone has a potent attack, and Dillon might have his early season 3pt shot, and not dribble to attack the rim at all. Well, we can hope.
Jabari Smith is likely going to arrive in his third season with more in his bag, and considerably stronger. What would be even more useful would be for the Rockets to feed him the ball when he’s hot. When Jabari is nailing little mid-range shots, he just seems automatic in a, dare we say, Durantian kind of way. He can shoot over pretty much anyone. Why not do this until someone stops it?
The main improvement in the alternative lineup is swapping Brooks for Tari Eason or Amen Thompson. Yes, we’ll see how Jalen is shooting it, but right now he’s the only player who looks like a complete shooting guard on the Rockets, even if you don’t love his shooting.
TWO – Full Stop
The purpose of this lineup is basically the basketball version of a submission hold. The intent is to bring the opponent’s offense to a complete halt. The downside? It might bring the Rockets offense to a complete halt as well.
Fred VanVleet, Tari Eason, Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson, Steven Adams
Variant
Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith, Steven Adams
The shooting on this lineup can only be described as “woeful”. But Steven Adams is one of the best screeners in the paint in the NBA. That suggests he can prepare a launchpad for Amen Thompson, and Tari “Make Your Layups” Eason. If Brooks is shooting decently, he and Smith can probably make the shooting work for stretches.
What’s interesting is, if you use this against a weak opponent’s starters, your more offensively gifted lineup might get to romp against a second unit.
THREE – Pinball Machine
Reed Sheppard, Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun/Jock Landale/Jack McVeigh
A true “Five Out” lineup is possible with the Landale/McVeigh variant (and any sort of plausible improved Alpie three point shot). There’s no one in the lane clogging things on a fast PNR attack, and spraying the ball around the perimeter will always find a shooter.
If the Rockets think the lineup has enough shooting overall, you could substitute Amen at PF for Jabari, and make him either the roll man or leave him in the dunker spot for a drive and dish. If defenses go under the screen, Sheppard makes them pay. If defenses play up on the screen, Cam or Amen are too much to handle going down the lane. If defenses sell out on the roll, Sheppard doinks a little floater in from eight feet.
The Rockets can also make Alpie the point center of the lineup, setting things up from the high post, with drivers and shooters everywhere.
FOUR – Small Ball
Fred VanVleet, Reed Sheppard, Cam Whitmore, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith
There’s nowhere to hide a bad defender here. It’s a small lineup, but a better defensive group than you might suppose. The only non-shooter is in theory Tari, but remember, Tari is a 35 percent career three-point shooter. Defenses can’t just leave him. A Fred VanVleet/Reed Sheppard pick-and-roll is a problem, as either guy shoots off it. Defenses literally can’t leave anyone to help, as everyone is at least something of a shooting threat. Whitmore is the main basket attacker here, but putting defenses in the mixer for open shots or drives is the goal, rather than Cam imitating Carmelo.
FIVE – Big Ball
Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun/Steven Adams
The idea here is that this lineup is just too athletic for most teams, especially older teams, to handle. If the Rockets choose to go with Amen, Cam, Dillon, Tari, Jabari then they offer a size/speed problem that I think literally no team in the NBA can solve.
I have no idea if we’ll see these lineups, but I hope we do, at some point. The idea is to ask questions the opponent can’t answer. The risk to the Rockets for trying these combinations is low, because for every lineup, there are effective players on the bench, players that should be able to utterly wreck the vast majority of NBA second units.
I think right now the Rockets are in a golden time of having all these players at their disposal. That won’t last forever. For right now, though, I think there are combinations that should simply break most opponents if deployed correctly. I hope for the sake of the Rockets that Ime Udoka is married less to standard rotations and more to creating mismatches opponents can’t hope to solve.
I can’t wait to (hopefully) see it.