The possibilities are countless with this Rockets team
In one move, the Rockets completely transformed their present and their future, trading away the greatest 3-point shooter the world has ever seen in Malik Monk, along with scoring forward Eric Paschall, the Rockets 2032 1st rounder, and 3 role players.
In return, they built the team general manager KW and head coach June Brewer want to run with. They landed premier FA JaKeenan Gant, who excels at every aspect of the game, Dedric Lawson, who is the two-way dirty-work big man who can rebound that the Rockets have been lacking for years, and an elite 3&D veteran wing in Mikal Bridges. Joining forces with budding star MJ Walker, Kaiser Gates, and Cam Reddish who were already excelling in their roles as versatile cornerstones with Monk at the helm, those six players form the backbone of possibly the most versatile core ever assembled in the CSL.
Coach Brewer's not so subtle jabs stem from her struggles with vocally disgruntled star Malik Monk and his unwillingness to back down as the lone star of the Rockets last season, as well as the more behind-the-scenes drama surrounding role players Carsen Edwards, Denzel Livingston, and Myles Turner who regularly aired out their grievances with teammates and coaches alike, but did so behind closed doors. None of them returned to the Rockets.June Brewer wrote:I can't tell you how excited I am to move past last season and work with these guys. Last season was a roller coaster both on the court and off of it. This year, it's all about team on both ends of the floor, there's no hierarchy and in fact there are barely even position labels in our game plans. It's all about mixing and matching the right personnel, so we have all the boxes checked.
We're as versatile a team as has ever been assembled from 1-4 while Lawson, Mika, and Moneke handling the center minutes. I couldn't tell you who starts at this point, or even who is in the back half of our rotation. It'll probably be fluid from game to game, sometimes we play a fully versatile rotation, some days we go big, some days we max out shooting, some days we max out defense. Everybody on the team from the franchise players to the two-way guys have bought all the way in on our game plan and are willing to sacrifice minutes or touches if it makes the team better.
KW wrote:What excites me the most how many different combos we can have. I won't speak for Coach Brewer, but I think the popular projected starting lineup is:
Gant/Reddish/Walker/Gates/Lawson, for tons of switchable defense, 5 players capable of scoring 12-15 points, maybe more in Gates and Walker's case, everyone does a bit of everything in that lineup. Doesn't really matter who the point guard is in that lineup, him, Cam, and MJ are all going to share those offensive duties.
Using that as a base, you can take out one of the wings for say, Lofton or Knight, and punish teams on the interior, while still fielding 4 very good defenders to make up for the liability on that end. Could even double down on the boards and throw Lawson and Moneke in there together given how versatile the other guys are.
Or we could absolutely max out versatility with Lawson subbed out for a wing and play fully positionless. Throw in Mikal, Mika, or even Kobi Simmons or Mane, and you have a super versatile team with five of the most well-rounded basketball players in existence.
We also plan to test the waters with Kenny and see how he reacts playing more of a big wing role on offense, there may be a scenario where we play super big with three of our bigs and just try to overwhelm a team on the interior, while still maintaining our offensive firepower by playing our best wings at the 1 and 2. That's something we've just never had the flexibility to try in recent years.
Can you tell I'm geeking out just talking about this? Wait till you see it in action.
2020, 2023, 2027
