Houston Rockets: Making the case for Jalen Green’s ROY bid

Why Jalen Green will win ROY: The Rockets are a team in need

While some may argue that the Rockets’ league-worst 17-55 record had more to do with their desire to perform well in the NBA Draft Lottery than it did with the team’s talent, it is no secret that the roster as it stood could have likely performed the same without any incentive.

Losing two star guards via trade, a team rife with injuries, and high roster turnover (An NBA-high 30 players suited up for the Rockets in the 2020-21 season), leaves convenient room for a young talent to work towards returning their team to relevance. It would seem that Jalen Green is indeed that young talent.

Green’s spot as a starter is all but decided. With the remaining four players likely including John Wall, Jae’Sean Tate, Christian Wood, and Daniel Theis, the primary scoring responsibilities fall upon Jalen Green. Wall and Tate, both being capable scorers in their own right, are better suited this season to create and facilitate looks for their teammates. Green has proven himself to be a dependable scorer with or without the ball in his hands, ensuring that he can either create his own shot or allow any one of his teammates to assist in his production.

Effectively, Houston’s current roster, aside from (on occasion) Kevin Porter Jr., seems to lack the ‘score from anywhere’-ness that Jalen Green’s game can bring to the table.

Now, it is important to state that Green has some deficiencies in his game. Perhaps not holes, but aspects which spending time on and getting reps in will inevitably fix. As a bi-product of Green’s lightning-fast game, he can be prone to the occasional mid-air bail-out pass into a defender’s arms, the odd slow or questionable pass picked off by the defense, or simply dribbling the ball into traffic without a safe exit.

Being an unexceptional playmaker is something that is remedied with time, the building of chemistry, team cohesion, and regimented practice with, in Green’s case, Coach Stephen Silas. His defense, while showing some improvement in his off-ball awareness, leaves something to be desired, as his motor often takes time off on the defensive end. Luckily for Green, the Rockets, like Green himself, are taking steps towards improvement. Every step of the way both he and his teammates will be given chances to improve, aiding in team success.

On a very basic level, the Rockets seemed to have a Green-shaped hole in their roster up until July 29th, 2021. Each and every one of Green’s talents either adds a new weapon for Houston to utilize or complements another one of his team’s already present skills. Green can score the ball better than anyone in this draft class, plain and simple.

His athleticism will translate exceptionally into the professional level, and while the peripheral aspects of his game need tuning, they are, after all, peripheral. Green’s fundamentals for his game are sound, so much so that they are enough to bank on for his Rookie of the Year bid.