Author: Rahat Huq
Published: August 22, 2019
I wrote back on November 21 that Gary Clark was instrumental in the Rockets’ turnaround from their disastrous 1-5 start to the season.
In Clark’s 241 minutes on the court, the Rockets have a +5.8 net rating, good for third on the team behind Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker. Houston is slightly worse offensively with Clark on the floor with a 105.6 rating with him on the court as opposed to a 107.2 rating with him off for a -1.6 difference. But defensively, the team has a 101.4 rating when he’s been on the court and a 108.9 rating when he’s been off, for a difference of -7.5. That’s been the highest difference on the team after fellow rookie Isaiah Hartenstein (-17.7) who has only played 127 minutes thus far.
They’re small sample sizes, but the lineup of Chris Paul, Tucker, James Harden, Clint Capela, and Clark has posted a net rating of +46.6 in 18 minutes while the lineup of Tucker, Gordon, Harden, Capela, and Clark has posted a net rating of +24.6 in twenty minutes. The trio of Harden, Paul, and Clark has shared the court for 44 minutes and had a net rating of +18.8. Clark’s presence is lifting the best players on the Rockets.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rahathuq/2018/11/21/rockets-two-way-rookie-gary-clark-is-here-to-stay-with-the-team/#450b78243ec4
But after averaging 20.4 minutes per game between October 26 and November 30, over 17 games, Clark was suddenly gone completely from the rotation. To me, it was one of the more baffling occurrences of the Rockets’ 2019 season. He didn’t appear again as a regular until January 11, when he played 17.9 minutes per game in the six games through January 21. The decision to pull Clark from the rotation for months at a time struck me as odd considering this was a team desperately in search of consistent contributors and desperately in search of a defensive identity.
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Author: Rahat Huq
Published: August 21, 2019
I wrote earlier this week about what I consider the Rockets’ biggest strength entering the season: the durability of their best players. That’s the advantage they have over their two main competitors in the Lakers and Clippers. But their other advantage over the Lakers is that they actually have a complete rotation entering the season, with essentially all of the major spots filled.
It’s funny because the Rockets basically are in the opposite situation as they were in last season before the opener. Last year, all of their best players were back, but they had to recreate their depth after losing Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute. This year, they’ve swapped out #2 options after trading Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook, but have maintained continuity in their supporting cast after resigning Danuel House Jr., Austin Rivers, and Gerald Green. I actually feel like the Rockets are in a much better place this year in that regard though you may recall that I didn’t think the team would really miss a beat after losing Ariza.
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Author: Rahat Huq
Published: August 18, 2019
I had started writing this like a month ago and then decided I didn’t feel like finishing it and haven’t written anything since. But Kevin Pelton’s latest projections at ESPN.com, which have the Rockets finishing first in the West next season, reminded me that I had wanted to finish this particular post.
The reader raises an interesting point which I plan to address. But first, the matter of season predictions where we’ve, in recent weeks, seen betting and statistical models almost across the board hold the Rockets in very high regard while conventional wisdom has sort of treated them as an afterthought in the euphoria over the imminent relevance of both L.A. teams. Its interesting to me because Houston finishing first in the West should not really be a hot take. I personally have serious questions and concerns over what they can accomplish in the postseason but I’m expecting a pretty dominant regular season output. Really, the main barrier to 2017-2018’s glorious ceiling is the ridiculous parity out West. But the Rockets have depth, the return of their core components (with just Paul swapped out for Westbrook, of course), and most importantly, the expected health and availability of both superstars. None of the other contenders in the West can say the same.
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