Houston Rockets rumors: Kostas Papanikolaou similar to Omri Casspi?

The Houston Rockets have seemingly coveted Kostas Papanikolaou for quite some time and thought they had a deal with the young forward in July.

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However, for unknown reasons, the contract that both Kostas Papanikolaou and the Houston Rockets had allegedly agreed upon fell through at the last moment and it seemed as of Papanikolaou’s NBA debut would be put on hold for some time.

Thankfully though the two sides were able to find a middle ground and it’s expected that Kostas Papanikolaou will come off the Houston Rockets bench this season. The hope is that he’ll be an immediate contributor given Houston’s lack of depth, but what kind of game can be expected from the foreign forward? Who has a comparable game to Papanikolaou?

According to Nate Duncan, many feel former Houston Rockets player Omri Casspi is a comparable talent, though Duncan feels Kostas is the better player between the two.

"He has been compared to Omri Casspi, and that’s a decent comparison in both game and swarthiness. But I think KPap is the better player."

Omri Casspi, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings came out of the gates swinging and looked to be the Kings small forward of the future during his rookie season. A sub-par sophmore campaign, followed up by a trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers where Casspi struggled devalued him to many. However when Casspi joined the Houston Rockets, he seemingly returned to form and was very good off the bench. If Kostas can be an even better player than Casspi, it’s hard to think fans in Houston won’t be happy with the results.