DELICATE BALANCE
Young roster focuses not only on trying to win but also individual development
Three minutes left. Rockets down four with the ball. Time out.
It has been a long, tough road trip, and the Rockets need a win that is now within reach. Stephen Silas huddles with his assistant coaches before turning to the bench with the plan to win the final minutes and the game.
Before he settles on a play to run or a plan to execute, however, Silas must choose a lineup.
Does he fill the floor with veterans that have gone through these decisive late-game moments often, players that he knows will handle whatever the coach and proven team on the other bench comes up with? Or does he turn to his kids to give them the sort of crunch-time experience they will need in the years to come?
That is the point of the season, to develop the young talent to the point that they become the seasoned veterans any coach will choose for those moments. But the Rockets need a win. They desperately want to leave the arena and board the bus with more points on the scoreboard than their opponent.
What does Silas do?
“The balance is going to be delicate for sure,” he said. “But I really think if we do things in a winning way every day and are really thoughtful about how we’re going to go forward with this group as far as their individual development, as far as their development as a group, it makes it a little bit easier. But my job is to do what I can with this group so they can progress and get better.”
So, he goes with the kids? He probably does not have to decide now and maybe never will. If the Rockets are in position to win games when they reach the three-minute time out, it will mean their young core, the youthful backcourt of Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr., their still-young forward Christian Wood and perhaps second-year forward Jae’Sean Tate had all played well enough along the way to finish what they started.
The Rockets have already decided that five-time All-Star John Wall will sit and watch those final three minutes, and the first 45 in every game, too, as he awaits a trade. Silas’ emphasis on “development” and “progress” could point to the primary goals of the season.
To the Rockets, the season is not about what they are but what they will become.
“Day 1 probably, hopefully, won’t look anything like Day 30, which won’t look like Day 90,” Silas said. “As long as we’re progressing and improving, then I’m good. As far as the wins and losses, we’re going to learn from both.”
All in on rebuild
The Rockets were ready for this. They had spent years in an unabashed pursuit of a championship. Even last season, begun with hopes that James Harden would relent and give it one more season, initially was about keeping a contending window open just a bit longer.
When the Rockets turned instead to a rebuild, they went as allin on that as they had in the championship-or-bust years. They traded Harden primarily for draft picks. The season, with an NBA record 30 players and 43 starting lineups in 72 games, became a bridge from what was to what could be.
“It’s as different from last year as it can possibly be,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said. “But it’s exciting. Every year is a different, every team is a different team. There’s oftentimes commonalities. In this instance, there aren’t very many — or any.
“My belief is if we’re growing and we’re developing and we’re having fun, we’ll win basketball games. One of the nice things about this year and this group, we’re very clearly a group that is trying to build something. When you’re doing that, it’s not just about the very end result. It’s a little bit about the process. For us, a lot of the challenge is making sure we stay focused on the process.”
Last season ended the Rockets’ run of eight-consecutive playoff appearances, the longest in franchise history and what was then the longest active stretch in the post-season in the NBA. But if the timing of the rebuild might have been forced upon the franchise, its fan base has seemed to need the reset, especially with the influx of young, promising talent to make the struggles for a purpose.
“A lot of us in any business think transparency has its own benefits,” Stone said. “With the Rockets, we try to be very transparent with our fans not about what we’re going to do tomorrow but why we did what we did yesterday and how we see the future unfolding.
“This organization unapologetically tried to pursue the championship at all costs for the last several years. When you do that – and I think it was the right thing to do and we would do it again – it does raise the bar very high. It becomes championship or bust. It’s appropriate but it places a strain on everyone involved, I think including the fan base. I don’t think any of those years were a bust or a failure, but you’ll be disappointed if you don’t get there.”
Refreshing approach
The Rockets have collected players in which fans can at least for now invest their hopes. Every Green flight above the rim or Alperen Sengun spin move can bring something rewarding in watching and imagining what can be built.
The rising possibilities and expectations of the championship chase exacted a price. The Rockets of the previous era did not just lose. They escalated hopes and then deflated them, often spectacularly.
There was a great deal in the era to celebrate, from the happy roll to 65 wins to Harden’s absurd statistical bonanzas. But the Rockets remained a team of unrealized expectations. Even when they lost to a better team, to the dynastic Warriors or the champion Lakers, they did not lose until devastating finishes, with 27-consecutive missed 3s or four-consecutive bubble blowouts.
That took a toll not just on the organization but on fans, too. It could be exhausting.
A rebuild will not be easy but can be refreshing.
“One of the consequences of going after it year after year after year, and in our case, we did not achieve the objective to win a championship, that page for this organization turned,” Stone said. “I think our fans understand why we turned it and I think they’re buying into the process of rebuilding back to that point.
“One of the advantages is it’s not championship or bust. You can enjoy watching the growth. That process can be really, really rewarding. I think our fans are bought into that process as well.”
The influx of young talent did allow the Rockets to move quickly from the shadow of last season’s crash to 17-55.
“I don’t think last year is something that’s bothering this group at all,” Stone said. “I don’t think it should. Even the returning guys, they never played a single game together last year, which is really unique.”
Actually, they might not have played 48 minutes together, but some did get on the court at once. Barely.
Of 681 five-man groups that took the floor at some point for the Rockets last season, just 10 include players still on the team. But Stone might have a point. The most any of those groups took the court together was for a total all season of four minutes.
“I don’t think it’s weighing us down,” Stone said.
Fair enough. Wood, House, Porter, Tate and K.J. Martin, the group that played four whole minutes together, might have gotten over the disappointment of that lighting round.
Instead, there is a sense of ownership with the team that is being built, rather than pieced together as became necessary last season.
“A lot of energy,” Porter said. “We’re young and we got some vets. We’re all happy to play with each other. There’s been a lot of excitement. Were just working on our chemistry on and off the court. Half of our team is 21 and younger. That’s all excitement.”
Prioritizing lessons
There does seem to be an understanding, at least among the Rockets’ veterans, that there will be growing pains. Silas has had to prioritize what he can teach because there is just too much that is still new to most of his team to think he could cover it all.
Yet, there have been only hints expressed that the NBA will not wait for the young Rockets to catch up.
“This whole season we’re going to have a lot of work ahead of us,” said guard D.J. Augustin, the oldest Rockets player at 33 years old. “We have a very young team. We have to try to keep building every day.”
Said fellow 13-year veteran Eric Gordon: “This is the youngest team I’ve ever been on. As a young team, we just have to be excited every day and enjoy the moment of getting better every day.
“Of course, you want to win. We have to build to be able to do that. I know our team doesn’t have a lot of expectations. It’s still going to be fun. I’m still going to play to win.”
The Rockets, however, have embraced their plan to ride with the Rocket High portion of the roster. More than that, they have decided that at least for now, they will enjoy it.
“It’s young, energetic and exciting,” Stone said. “I’m optimistic we’re going to have fun. The thing that stands out to me with this group is that to a player they’re all looking at this as an opportunity, as a fun opportunity for the rookies to live out their dreams, for the vets to really take a step forward.”
If, on occasion, they win those final three minutes, that will be even better.