Green getting close to return
Prized rookie will rejoin much different team
CHICAGO — After too many games in too few days, the Rockets got a surprise afternoon off Sunday. Rookie guard Jalen Green did not.
After the day’s meeting and video session broke up, Green headed to his own practice, ramping up his work in hopes he can return from a strained hamstring as soon as this week.
Green is scheduled to practice in Chicago on Tuesday, his first workout with the team since he limped off the Toyota Center court Nov. 24 in a game against the Bulls.
Though coach Stephen Silas and the Rockets have not shared a timetable for Green’s return, he remains out for the rematch against Chicago on Monday. He is unlikely to play in both games of a back-to-back Wednesday in Milwaukee and Thursday in Indianapolis, likely making the game against the Pacers the earliest he would be back, one day short of a month since he was hurt.
If the Rockets want to give him a little more preparation time, their next game is not until next Monday in Charlotte.
“He’s definitely getting closer,” Silas said. “He’s working out … and he is pretty much moving without any tightness (or) pain, and progressing with his workouts as far as his stamina, which is … probably the biggest thing because he hasn’t played in such a long time.
“So there’s the injury and getting that stronger and taking care of that. But then there’s the ability to play in an NBA game. So we’re getting close. We’re getting very close. Hopefully it’ll be within the next three, four games.”
Kevin Porter Jr. also is expected to return soon from a bruised thigh. When the Rockets’ regular starting backcourt returns, it will be to an offense that has evolved in their absence.
“There’s an excitement about those guys coming back,” Silas said. “They see what works and what doesn’t work, whereas before … we didn’t really have a feel for what works and what doesn’t work. But now, we really have a good grasp on the things that are good for our team, and they can just fit … right into what we’ve been doing.”
The Rockets topped the Bulls in the game Green was hurt in after perhaps his best start of his rookie season. Including that win to snap their 15-game losing streak, they have gone 9-4 since. But some of the changes that helped spark the turnaround, including
the use of a smaller lineup to have more shooting and spacing on the floor, could benefit both guards.
“I think we shown that with the lineup changes, our spacing can be good for those guys so they can play to their strengths, which is Scoot (Porter) getting downhill and making plays for himself or others and Jalen playing on the perimeter and attacking closeouts or shooting the jumper,” Silas said.
“The Chicago game, (Green) he was great. (Christian Wood) was at the five. Jalen was at the wing and he was getting out (on) transition, finishing, and then getting spot-up shots. And we’ve been talking a lot. We’ve been watching film together, showing him,
this is what it looks like. And he’s all for it. He’s ready.”
There is also a long-term goal to help Green get stronger. It might be no more than a coincidence that he hurt his hamstring after his summer league schedule was cut short by a strained right hamstring. But there are conditioning plans that will go far beyond his rehab.
“I’m not sure two (incidents) are a trend, but I don’t think there’s any secret that he needs to get stronger,” Silas said. “He’s 19. He’s going to have to get bigger, stronger over the years and really be attentive as far as managing that.
“Willie Cruz (the Rockets’ strength and conditioning coach) has a great plan for him. The one thing you don’t want to do is overwork him. But he does have to put so much work in to get his game right and his body right at the same time.”
Green’s return is complicated by circumstances in other ways. Normally, a player who has been out for a month would be going through workouts with teammates who are not playing often. But the Rockets’ injuries have left them with few teammates not in the middle of a grind that led to Sunday’s off day.
They have found a way around that, with his first practice in a month just days away.
“(Assistant coach) John Lucas does a great job with those guys,” Silas said. “And adding (player development assistant) Gerald Green to the mix is great because we have someone who can play one-on-one with them and run up and down the floor with them and do drills, and he has like a workout partner, which is very important as you’re kind of going through this.
“But he hasn’t had a chance to play three-onthree, hasn’t really had a chance to play five-on-five. Practice will be his first opportunity to do that.”