Would the same apply if we paired Şengün with Harden? Perhaps. The best way to use Şengün is to feed him and let him work as a true half-court fulcrum, creating at times a push-and-pull dynamic between he and Kevin Porter Jr. Questions of fit and the future shape of Houston’s roster are the only things keeping Şengün from the aforementioned category. Şengün is a legitimate force on the block who is increasingly commanding double teams, and there are only a few bigs league-wide (namely Nikola Jokic) who pass with such creativity. Şengün has been Houston’s best player this season, and the 20-year-old center is more than a product of hype on NBA Twitter. A remade roster could showcase the best version of Smith in his second season. Place Smith in a different situation and perhaps he’s thriving as one of the league’s latest oversized unicorns. Smith is showing signs of progress offensively-including a career-high 30-point night against Indiana on Thursday-and his (to cite an unexact stat) give-a-damn meter runs quite high. The struggles as a rookie are enough to take Smith out of Green’s value tier, but it would take a seriously unforeseen scenario for Houston to give up on Smith’s blend size, talent and character. #1 of the Houston Rockets shoots over JaMychal Green #1 of the Golden State Warriors during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on Februin San Francisco, California. The 19-year-old hasn’t quite been the plug-and-play option Houston hoped for. He’s struggled mightily from the field this season, shooting 30.2 percent from three after an impressive 42 percent mark in his lone year at Auburn. Smith is a strong rim protector who still struggles to contain faster guards and wings on the perimeter. 3 pick as a potentially destructive defensive force who does more than simply space the floor on the other end. Rockets coaches remain quite high on Smith despite his shaky rookie season, viewing the 2022 No. Green may share his face-of-the-franchise status with James Harden or Wembanyama next year, but he's not going anywhere as he looks to grow from top-two pick to proven star. I can't forsee such a scenario unfolding at any point in the coming years. Perhaps there's a strange alternate reality in which the Rockets can land an MVP-level star via trade with Green as the leading piece in return. Green is growing as one of the game's most explosive and creative finishers at the rim, and his assist-to-turnover rate continues to trend in the right direction. He's averaging 21.7 points per game, even amid middling 41/34/78 shooting splits, and it's well within reason to expect a leap to 25 points per game and potential All-Star status if the Rockets can work their way back to respectability. We'll get to Houston's pair of frontcourt pillars shortly, but Green feels like the only piece that is basically untouchable in any trade discussion-despite a disappointing second season. So which Rockets players will we see at the Toyota Center long term and which will likely be ditched before the next stage of the post-James Harden rebuild? Let's sort through Houston's current roster below.
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