Why the Rockets still face an identity crisis halfway through the season

The Houston Rockets they are still trying to figure out who they want to be.

Team broadcaster Craig Ackerman noted this week that the Rockets haven’t been playing “Rocket basketball” lately. Which begs the question: what exactly is Rocket basketball these days?

The answer was clear before the season. Without a discernible star, Houston adopted the identity of its head coach, Making Udoka: defense. And they rode that approach all the way to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

But offseason moves changed that identity. The Rockets trade for Kevin Durant sent down defensive stalwart Dillon Brooks, and an injury to Fred VanVleet later in the offseason further distanced Houston from its hard-nosed defensive approach.

But in the process, the Rockets found their star. And the emphasis has shifted from grit and defense to an offense built around Durant. For the first two months of the season, the plan worked, as the Rockets ranked among the league’s most efficient offensive teams.

However, the defense was certainly slipping – until 23^rd in the defensive rating for Decemberafter finishing in the top five a season ago.

The Rockets have completely transitioned into an offense-first team. But when that offense stalled, Houston didn’t have a Plan B. The Rockets went through a stretch earlier this season where they failed to score more than 105 points in five straight games, losing four of five. Without their fastball, they didn’t have much else.

Another major offseason commitment was the extension of Steven Adams, a move that signaled the Rockets would continue to rely on the double-sized lineup they fell in love with near the end of last season. But that lineup has also contributed to defensive struggles and has been used much less recently.

After opening the season with Adams and Alperen Sengun in the starting lineup, shared minutes have decreased. Through their first 37 games, the duo played together in 23 contests for an average of just 13 minutes per game – roughly eight minutes per game when spread across the entire schedule. Among two-man lineups that include Adams, the pairing with Sengun ranks just fifth in usage.

Without VanVleet, the Rockets have begun to make efforts to run their offense through Sengun, who currently leads the team in assists. However, due in part to Sengun’s injury, that’s something the Rockets haven’t committed to either.

Sengun usage rate in January fell to 25.9, compared to November and 29.1 in December. Meanwhile, Durant’s role has expanded, and the two now share team leadership in use.

Durant has become the new focal point of the Rockets’ offense.

With recent offensive struggles, the Rockets tried they rely more on the three-point shot. It would seem like a logical move for a team that entered January leading the league in three-point percentage. However, as the attempts increased, the products actually decreased, which culminated worst stretch of five games three-point shot in NBA history.

Jabari Smith Jr. was given a bigger role in the offense during that period, but missed 20 consecutive 3-pointers.

The lack of a clear identity was evident in Tuesday’s win over the Chicago Bulls, when JD Davison played a game-high 25 minutes while Udoka continued to search for answers.

Almost halfway through the season, the Rockets still don’t know exactly who they are. But they need to figure it out pretty quickly, as Houston entered Thursday just a half-game ahead of the seventh seed and faces its biggest game of the season: a home matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.