House catches up on changes
New teammates and terminology welcome forward back after time away
Exhaustion rarely felt so good. After three weeks out while battling and rehabbing back spasms and then going through two weeks in NBA health and safety protocols self-isolation, Rockets forward Danuel House Jr. returned to the floor on Tuesday, happily playing 13½ minutes that offered a reminder of how long he had been out.
“Man, my lungs burst open,” House said. “I was really excited and geeked to be out there. I know everything is going to take gameby-game. I was just really excited to compete with my brothers.”
House had been out long enough that a great deal had changed, from the roster with the James Harden trade coming 10 days after House was hurt, to even plays and terminology.
One of just four players back from last season’s Rockets — along with Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Ben McLemore — House might not have expected to have to start over in even small ways. But rather than a concern, even the changes served as a reminder of the way his season had been interrupted and the easier part of the process to get back up to speed.
“Of course, they added new plays, new words, new sayings,” House said. “I’m still catching up with the lingo that I did miss. I’m going to catch up pretty soon. I’m not worried at all.”
In his first game back, House made 1 of 4 shots, getting to the rim but not shooting from beyond the 3-point line where he made 36.3 percent last season. That, however, was not the result of changes to the Rockets’ system or his role as much as the opportunities that were there at the time.
“It seemed like last year I made the right basketball plays,” House said. “It’s never been about just be robotic. It’s always been just make the right basketball play, make the right read, be unselfish in everything that you do. If you can go score, go score. If you get past the first defender and see a man help, kick it to the open man.”
Even in his first game back, House showed that he could add to the Rockets’ defensive resurgence, effectively putting pressure on
the ball and switching in two of the Rockets’ best stretches against the Wizards on Tuesday.
“It was great to see him on the floor,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “I didn’t realize, he didn’t play since our second game against Sacramento (Jan. 2.) That seems like forever ago. For him to come out after one practice with the team and really take a defensive role and do a great job with it, the offense will come. But he was one of those guys we had out there to kind of spark us defensively. He’ll only get better as we go forward.”
With the Rockets’ rotation far more crowded than when he left as the Rockets starting small forward, House’s role is more undefined. But just playing the day after his one practice in three weeks demonstrated
House remains an important part of the rotation.
“Right now, since I just got back on the court, we’re still trying to structure things,” House said. “I’m trying to get in where I fit in, not trying to force too much. So, whatever the team needs me to do, I’m just here to do it. Winning is the goal. As long as we’re winning, I think everyone is satisfied.”
Fitting in will likely not be difficult. Though the Rockets bench has ample guard options, House can bring more size than Sterling Brown, Mason Jones or McLemore and offers athleticism to be an option if the Rockets pick up the pace as Silas has wanted. He will need to continue working on conditioning to make up for lost time and to prevent a return of the back issues. But even that beats the
weeks sitting out, first unable to train and then prohibited from being around the team at all.
“It’s really hard because you get impatient,” House said. “You want to do stuff. And then, everyone knows, you start getting in shape, the moment you take a day or two off, or three and you eat Wingstop or something, something bad happens. You just know, the next time you run, it’s really going to hurt. Lower back is a really sensitive, sensitive area. It was bothersome to me, especially because I worked so hard on my conditioning.
“To get back on the right path, the staff is doing a good job making sure I’m creeping my way back to where I need to be and where I want to be.”