The injury to key Houston Rockets starter Amen Thompson is thankfully a minor one. Nonetheless, the Rockets have been finding their position in the Western Conference standings increasingly precarious of late. They’ll sorely miss having one of the league’s most disruptive athletes and a potential future star. Can the team’s chances at a top-six playoff seeding survive until he’s back?
Will Rockets Survive Stretch Without Future Star?
The Rockets’ Thompson Situation
The good news for Houston is that an MRI confirmed Thompson’s ankle has no structural damage. He’s expected to be reevaluated in only 10-14 days then. Still, that would potentially cause him to miss seven or more of Houston’s 17 remaining games.
The timing of the injury originally made it seem like those would be seven (originally eight) rough games. The team was already down key personnel in starting point guard Fred VanVleet. Nonetheless, Houston has managed to survive one game so far already with a win over the Orlando Magic.
Now VanVleet is expected to return on Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns. That might sound like “problem solved”, except that last time VanVleet returned he went 1-8 from the field and was out again for another five games. Maybe VanVleet will return and play as well as ever right from the tip. Head coach Ime Udoka certainly doesn’t seem to think much of easing his players back in. If not, the Rockets will continue to have difficulty.
The Rockets’ Guard Situation Without Thompson
VanVleet has immense importance to the current construction of Houston’s roster. VanVleet is the team’s only NBA-level lead guard. The only other passable, though certainly not pass-first, point guards on the roster are journeyman Aaron Holiday and rookie Reed Sheppard. Neither of them is suited to running an offense. There may be hope for Sheppard to get there one day, but that day will not come within the next 10-14 days.
The other very theoretical point guard for the Rockets is Thompson himself. He has good passing instincts and his attacking nature leads to plenty of opportunities for dimes. On the other hand, it’s hard to be a lead guard in the NBA without a functional jump shot. Thompson has done a terrific job of expanding his scoring game this season and has good touch on shots from around 10 feet out. His actual jump shot remains distinctly dysfunctional though. Still, he’s been playing as more of a ball-handler since VanVleet’s absence and the Rockets will miss the pressure he creates in transition especially.
That leaves the enigmatic Jalen Green to handle Houston’s primary ball-handling responsibilities. March Jalen Green has not thus far appeared to be an annual event. Still, Green did play fairly well as the de facto point guard against the Magic, tallying eight assists on a poor shooting night. Udoka may continue to lean on him in that role if VanVleet isn’t quite his usual self just yet. Alternatively, given Udoka’s unshakable trust in the former Raptor, Rockets fans may have to endure VanVleet rediscovering himself on the fly.
Rockets’ Double Bigs
Leaving aside Thompson’s guard persona for a moment, there’s been another interesting wrinkle in Houston’s recent rotations. Instead of using Thompson as a four, the team has been featuring extended deployments of a double-big lineup. Rockets centers Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams currently possess a world-carrying +47.0 net rating sharing the court. Green’s best assist of the night against Orlando came from feeding the big Kiwi inside on a slick give-and-go. And of course, Sengun got in on the culinary action as well.
The Rockets’ double-big lineup worked well against the Magic and even the New Orleans Pelicans. Adams and Sengun were both able to mostly ignore the perimeter and focus their attention on clogging up driving lanes. Against teams with more shooting threats, the duo may struggle to remain competitive. Adams and Sengun have only played 49 minutes together this season, so it’s something Udoka is undoubtedly well aware of. Still, with the pairing’s recent success and Thompson unavailable, it’s something the team may try more of.
The Last Word
The Rockets played some of their best basketball after Thompson broke out for them in a starting spot. However, they were also doing pretty darn well even before that, albeit with Thompson playing an important role off the bench. If VanVleet can get back into the groove of things quickly then the team has a good shot at staying afloat in an intensifying Western Conference storm. If the groove is lacking, the ship may be sinking. Whatever the case, Rockets fans will be sending their prayers to Amen.
Photo credit: © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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