Who was the cream of the crop, and who left more to be desired?
As we bid farewell to the Houston Rockets 2023-24 season, I’d like to offer up one final tier amongst the roster that got us here. If you may recall, the first tier launched all the way back in November after six games, and the second tier came roughly around the midway point of the season, 44 games in.
Some important things to remember:
- This is all relative.
- ‘S’ is the highest tier and ‘D’ is the lowest.
- There’s also a ‘N/A’ tier for players who are either injured or haven’t been given many opportunities to work with.
- If you’d like to fill out your own version of this tier, you can head over to TierMaker and put your personal touch on it.
- Lastly, an additional tier was added, exclusively for Tari Eason, because what’s more fitting than an E for Eason tier?
S-Tier
Alone in the most outstanding tier is Alperen Sengun. Although his season ended early, it’s clear that he broke out in a major way and put a lot of the league on notice. For starters, Sengun averaged approximately 21 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal per game in 63 games.
In those 63 games, Sengun established himself as the Rockets’ number one player and garnered serious All-Star consideration. Considering that he will have missed the final 18 games of the season, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility to think that he could have padded his stats some more and further propelled Houston into playoff contention. In that hypothetical situation, he would have also been on the shortlist for All-NBA talk.
We can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next season.
A-Tier
The exceeding expectations row features two unlikely candidates in Cam Whitmore and Aaron Holiday. The Whitmore selection isn’t surprising given his talent, but the fact that he had the opportunity to display his abilities as much as he did in year one was the most shocking thing.
I believe most of us had him pegged for an extended G-League stay given the depth ahead of him. However, he swiftly showed that he was ready for the NBA and showed tantalizing flashes throughout.
Holiday also gets the high-ranking honor of A-Tier given that he stepped up amongst early injuries and never relinquished his spot in the rotation. Who amongst us thought that he would appear in 78 games this year and get 16 minutes a night? Playing well amidst early turmoil allowed him to earn Ime Udoka’s trust and carve out a lane for himself.
B-Tier
This is definitely the most stacked row on the tier and is probably the most divisive given the preconceived notions of what was expected for each of these guys prior to the season. My toughest cuts from the A-Tier were Fred VanVleet and Jabari Smith Jr.
VanVleet played a major role in stabilizing a young roster that could be reckless in years past. That leadership and solid play could make a good argument for ranking him higher, but personally, I felt like that was what was expected from him following the healthy contract he received last summer.
Bari also makes a strong case for higher accolades given how raw he looked in his rookie season. He improved damn near across the board and fits the profile of a much improved sophomore. However, I expected him to look better in year two, thus meeting expectations. Had he received more opportunity to assert himself on the offensive end, I think he could have catapulted up a level or two.
The same goes for Amen Thompson. He looked awesome out there following early season injuries, but he was supposed to be awesome. The shooting concerns checked out, but again, we expected that. Everything else has been stellar.
Dillon Brooks has been the guy who has slipped the most over the course of these tiers. He went from S, to A, and now lands in B-Tier. That is perfectly fine. Sometimes less is more when it comes to guys like him.
Jock Landale and Jeff Green round out the row as they came to be decent backups, especially after Landale got it going in the second half.
C-Tier
The C in C-Tier should stand for “consistency” because that’s the only thing that separates Jalen Green from being a complete stud and being a disaster. The dark times were dark, but the stretch from late February to the end of March was magical. The issue is that he can’t just excel for only a month at a time, especially not with the expectations placed on him as the second overall pick.
However, the extended glimpse of dominant play from Green has certainly extended my reluctance to part with him. If the Rockets can get him to hone his talent and bring it every night, it’s a game changer.
D-Tier
I put Jae’Sean Tate here because he didn’t bring much to the court when he was out there this season. On top of that, the Rockets weren’t able to flip his contract into any other assets, not even a future second round pick. It would be almost silly to pick up his seven million dollar option this summer, right?
E-Tier
Unfortunately, Tari’s season was derailed before it even got started. A delayed start due to injury got re-aggravated after only 22 games, effectively ending any hope of a normal season for him. He’s a guy who consistently makes winning plays and it feels like Houston needed just one more guy to swing some of those losses during the season. He’s great when he’s out there, I just don’t think any of us thought we’d be restricted to only 22 games of Tari this year.
We got next year though!
That concludes the 2023-24 tier talk. Let us know what you agree with or disagree with in the comments below!