Tate makes impact in many spots
With the roster at full strength and signs of chemistry coming together, the Rockets’ starting lineup and rotation has solidified to the point that barring injuries it can be considered set.
A case can be made, however, to start Jae’Sean Tate, if only so that just once, Toyota Center public address announcer Jonathan Sanford would have to call out, “And at guard/ forward/center, No. 8 …”
He would not be able to narrow it down more than that, though if Tate started, Rockets coach Stephen Silas would presumably need to pick one, at least to start.
Until then, his value off the bench is in playing all of the above.
Though Tate has cited “position-less” basketball, the NBA trend to blur or completely erase the lines between positions, that is often not the case with Tate. He does play positions. He just covers most of them.
He broke into the league as a hustling, 6-4 power forward. He moved this season to small forward. When he returned from his ankle injury, and through most of his 26 games since, he has been the Rockets’ backup point guard. Lately, however, he has filled in as a small-ball center.
“I feel comfortable wherever, man,” Tate said. “Sometimes, it just happens on the fly, depending on what the team needs that night.”
Need made him a point guard, though Tate had already shown a talent for moving the ball and as a drive-and-kick facilitator. Small forward allowed him to pick up playing time with rookies Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason filling the power forward position. When the Rockets mixed in some smallball lineup in recent weeks, Smith moved to center. But in some matchups, such as when Smith picked up the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, Tate was at center.
When asked to pick Tate’s best position, Silas laughed and could only guess.
“I have no idea,” Silas said. “He is a four on offense and a versatile defender that can guard everybody, so maybe a forward on offense as well, like a wing.”
Tate is getting the majority of his playing time as a backup point guard, so that could be answer, but that is more from the Rockets’ needs than Tate’s.
“That’s how our roster’s built and how (to) get him minutes, he has to be in that position,” Silas said. “I don’t think his future is as a point-forward. I think he’s probably a wing-type player or a forward-type player. But out of necessity, he’s been playing a lot of point for us.”
Tate, similarly, was hesitant to pick one position. He could choose a temporary favorite, but not necessarily a position to consider his best.
“The majority of my life I’ve been at the four so I would say I’m most comfortable at the four,” Tate said. “It’s a little harder at this level because guys are so big and athletic. I really like the one, just because it’s hard for them to put a smaller guy at me, especially when I’m out there on the floor with personnel like Jabari and Alpi (Sengun) so a center can’t guard me. It just depends on who we’re playing, and the defensive lineup is on the other end.”
Regardless of position, he has become more adept at attacking defenses in a variety of ways. As a forward, where he often catches in the corner, if defenses are off of him, he has more often moved to dribble handoffs with his defender too far back to switch. As a point guard, he has taken advantage of defenders laying off him to get a running start on drives or to catch on the move.
“Yeah, stampede catch,” he said. “Just being aggressive and taking what the defense gives me and trusting the work I put in.”
There was some obvious rust after Tate returned from the ankle injury that forced him to miss 35 games. But he has scored in double figures in nine of his past 10 games, averaging 12.6 points on 52.7 percent shooting. He had scored in double figures five times in his first 19 games, averaging 7.5 points on 44.5 percent shooting.
Much of his value, however, is defensively, which also points to the versatility and importance to the Rockets. That also makes him seem better equipped for the job than when playing center or power forward at 6-4.
“I think it just emphasizes I’m a Swiss Army knife and shows I can be plugged into different positions and help the team as we need in different ways,” Tate said. “You never know. I know it looks better when you saw 6-4 point guard but at the end of the day, what got me here was being positionless and plugged in at different spots. Whatever they need, I’m willing to do.
“I played little snippets of … point guard my senior year at Ohio State, a little bit of high school. I think the game has just changed to position-less basketball now. You got the biggest guys dribbling up the court. So, that just gave me more opportunities, especially here with the Rockets, to put the ball in my hands a little more.”
The Rockets have found that to be a wise move since Tate was a surprise success, going from an undrafted free agent signed as a free agent out of the Australian League to a 2020-21 All-Rookie selection. His value was evident again when he was out. The longest tenured Rockets player, along with K.J. Martin, the goal now is to see the rebuild through.
“It would mean a lot to me,” Tate said. “It would mean so much, just because when I came in, it was the first year Rafael (Stone) was the GM, the first year coach was the coach. It was my first year being in the league. I just feel being here from the start, being a big part of it, I would love to finish out this mission, just get through the ups and downs. We’ve had some downs. I would love to be here for the ups.”