MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
Tate likes his fit between rookies and veterans, whether as starter or coming off bench
It would be understandable if Jae’Sean Tate felt like the Rockets’ middle child. He also would have no complaint.
The bulk of attention, naturally, goes to the young kids, particularly teenaged guard Jalen Green and 21year-old point guard Kevin Porter Jr. There is a good deal devoted to the more celebrated free-agent additions of the past two seasons, Christian Wood and Daniel Theis. In between, Tate is among the many wings who could start, or might not, but is so steady and found somewhere between veteran and rookies that he is easy to overlook.
Tate, however, was a bright spot in a dark season. His play stood out so clearly that he was named a first-team All-Rookie selection, the first Rockets player so honored since Luis Scola in 2007-08. Undrafted, he was the only selection that was not a first-round pick.
Tate had paid his dues, playing in Belgium and Australia after four seasons at Ohio State before turning heads with the Rockets.
Yet, on a team with four firstround picks, more than the Rockets had in the previous five seasons combined, he can be overlooked, even doubted.
“I’m still proving who I am,” Tate said. “There’s always still doubters. There’s always still certain things you have to prove — I wouldn’t even say prove them wrong, I want to prove myself right. I always say I want to have a long career in the NBA. Last year was a great start, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be.”
Even the Rockets are not quite sure how to best use him, but that is not because of doubts. Through workouts, he has been at both forward spots, playing with both centers and with just one, with the starters and with the reserves, at power forward and on the wing.
Tate came off the bench in the Rockets’ first preseason game before sitting out Thursday with tightness in his back. Tate went through Sunday’s practice with no restrictions and coach Stephen Silas said Tate will “probably” start Monday in Toronto.
“We’ve been moving him around quite a bit, all over pretty much almost every position, all different playing groups,” Silas said. “He’s gotten a lot better over the summer with his quickness and strength, still working on his shot, which is improving.
“He’s so versatile, I don’t want to put him in a box so I’ve been putting him all over the place and taking a look and see where he fits best. So far, he’s been great everywhere I’ve put him.”
Though Tate made 50.6 percent of his shots, he shot just 30.8 percent from the 3-point line, indicating the area he most needed to improve. The Jazz even assigned center Rudy Gobert to defend Tate and had Gobert remain near the lane, leaving Tate alone in the corners.
As a power forward, he can come off the bench and play extended minutes with each center while adding an additional ballhandler and playmaker to the second unit. As a starter, he can add another strong defender to that unit and allow Eric Gordon to return to his sixth man role.
“We’ll take a look and see,” Silas said. “He is so versatile he can be with the starting group or the backup group. It’s just (about) which group functions the best when he’s on the floor. Usually both groups function when he’s on the floor.
“He’s another ballhandler. He can play the four. He can play smallball five. Having him come off the bench, he does plug a few holes that we might have. I still haven’t come to the conclusion that he’s coming off the bench. He might start.”
To Tate, it does not matter how he is used because he prefers to be deployed in every way, with every group, allowing him to take advantage of his versatility.
“Being like that Swiss army knife, it makes it easier to be put into places and be able to play more positions and possibly get more playing time,” Tate said.
“There’s a lot I have to learn. Just looking back a few years ago, I thought I knew everything. There’s just so much more that I have to (learn). You never stop learning in this profession if you want to continue to get better. The main thing is the importance of making shots and how important possessions are. I think that’s the takeaway from last season.”
Tate played primarily as a power forward, initially off the bench before starting 58 of the 70 games he played last season as the most indestructible Rockets player in a season filled with injuries. He became just one of 12 rookies since 2000-01 to average at least 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal per game. But in most ways, he did not seem like a rookie, especially now as a 26-year-old on a team with five teenagers on the preseason roster.
“I know it’s a big jump from 19 to 25,” Tate said. “We all listen to the same music, we all like the same things, we all can relate in different ways. I think that’s going to be awesome. I don’t feel like I’m out of place when I’m with some of the younger guys — and the old guys. I feel like I’m in the middle of the pack.
The NBA tradition is that second year players are considered rookies until their play their first game, but Silas puts Tate in a different category: “veteran rookie.”
“Pretty cool,” Tate said of that designation. “Being able to go overseas a few years, kind of learn how to play the game, the game within the game, I think that really helped me be successful last year.
“With this year having so many young guys, being in the position I am, just trying to help them learn and teach them things I learned in my first year. I’m embracing that.
Still, as a “rookie,” he was among those having to sing Happy Birthday to Wood on media day, part of a Rockets group large enough to qualify as a choir. That offered a reminder that Tate remains somewhere between both groups on the Rockets, obscured by the rookies and veterans. But he did not seem to mind and he will at least soon escape rookie duties.
“It’s just a couple weeks away,” Tate said, “so, I’m looking forward to that.”