FRESH START
It’s time for enthusiasm while watching Rockets’ young stars.
It was just a few games.
It was just the summer league. It was as meaningless and laid back as unofficial NBA exhibitions get.
It was …
Whatever.
You were pumped. I was wide-eyed. And for the first time in a long time, Houston was sincerely excited about its Rockets again.
Jalen Green. Alperen Sengun. Josh Christopher.
The beginning of the beginning.
The electric start of an entirely new era for the Rockets.
The first real evidence of what first-year general manager Rafael Stone can do when he’s given a blank slate and allowed to slam the reboot button at the same time that the NBA’s best teams are exchanging superstars in a superteam race that never ends.
It could still be a few years before I confidently predict that the reborn Rockets will make the playoffs.
The franchise’s next Western Conference finals appearance might not arrive until the latter part of this new decade.
Again: Whatever.
We have enough to worry about in 2021. Let’s enjoy this rare moment and revel in a little old-fashioned optimism.
The Rockets are building something big.
The Rockets could be fantastic in 2025.
The Rockets already are worth watching and following the season after getting rid of James Harden — and the Harden draft picks haven’t come close to kicking in yet.
James who?
OK. It’s a little early for that. But a 19-year-old Green battled for local Twitter supremacy at the same time that the chaotic Texans were starting training camp and the World Series contender Astros were fighting for the top spot in the American League West.
Just imagine what it’s going to be like inside a packed Toyota Center in a couple years if all the young Rockets click like all the young Astros did in 2015.
Fun, fun, fun.
“I got to prove it in the NBA, and that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Green said this week, after the No. 2 overall pick of the recent NBA draft again felt and looked like a No. 1, averaging 20.3 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 52.6 percent on 3-pointers.
Green shined brilliantly in Las Vegas before a hamstring injury cut short his hardwood time. That buzz will carry the Rockets — and Rockets fans — into training camp and the 2021-22 regular season can’t arrive soon enough for a super young team that already deserves your long-term attention.
Thanks to my advancing age, I’ve now covered a few rebuilds in my sports writing career.
Stick around long enough and you see it all, right?
I’ve documented full rebuilds. Drastic rebuilds. Franchise altering rebuilds—in the best possible way. Semi-rebuilds, where the front office clashed with coaches and players and the project collapsed from too much in-fighting and internal pressure.
There’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Almost always, the right way comes down to going all-in and remembering that horrible seasons eventually fade away while championships last forever.
Trust the process. Something like that.
Who even remembers the 2020-21 Rockets anymore? That horrendous 17-55 campaign during the coronavirus pandemic is so last year.
These Rockets still have a 30-year-old John Wall and 32year-old Eric Gordon on their active roster, so change will continue to outweigh consistency in the next couple years as Stephen Silas, Stone and Co. figure out exactly what they want the new Rockets to be.
But just look at the youth that links all these names: Usman Garuba (19), Kenyon Martin Jr. (20), Kevin Porter Jr. (21), Christian Wood (25), Jae’Sean Tate (25), Green (19), Sengun (19) and Christopher (19).
If the young Rockets were Bitcoin, all the hip internet kids would be tweeting buy, buy, buy while the price was still super low.
Expectations eventually will arrive. There will be hurdles cleared, then new hurdles to rise above.
Do Silas and Stone get to see this work all the way through? That’s not a question right now, but it’s rare for full, franchisealtering rebuilds to leave all the big names intact.
I once covered an incredibly promising Portland team that featured a young Brandon Roy, a young Greg Oden, a young LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez, Patty Mills, Andre Miller, Juwan Howard, Marcus Camby, Jerryd Bayless, Nate McMillan, Kevin Pritchard and Monty Williams, among others.
The main issue initially was finding enough playing time to keep everyone happy. Injuries, drama and inner turmoil wrecked everything, and the Trail Blazers’ dynasty never arrived.
It rarely goes like it’s supposed to. Just ask Giannis Antetokounmpo and Chris Paul. Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Harden.
I’ve already heard talk that the young Rockets are too young.
Whatever.
They won’t be in a few years, and you get to watch everything develop in real time.
This is a beginning that could feel magical a decade from now.
For the Rockets and their fans, this is the start of real hope.
Tune in, sit back and enjoy the electric new show.