Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Houston Rockets face an early playoff deficit against the Los Angeles Lakers amid concerns over roster construction and coaching strategies.
- Kevin Durant's shaky performance, issues with teammate reliability and offensive schemes have drawn undue criticism away from systemic team flaws.
- The team’s struggles highlight broader issues that could require significant changes beyond the current playoff series outcome.
Despite being one of the three best players of his generation, Kevin Durant gets a ton of criticism on social media and from the mainstream NBA media. I get it, he's been on three teams since leaving the Golden State Warriors, and he hasn't had much team success. However, the truth is that most of this comes down to poor roster construction (the Phoenix Suns) or simply bad luck (like Kyrie Irving and James Harden being hurt in the 2021 playoffs).
As the Houston Rockets are down 0-2 to the Los Angeles Lakers without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, people are beginning to blame Durant, and if the Rockets lose in the first-round he will only be further criticized. I'll admit it's an awful look for the Rockets, and there should be some sizable changes this summer if they fall short against the Lakers. With Luka and Reaves possibly returning, I think it's fair to say we are trending toward this outcome.
Nevertheless, blaming Durant is narrow-minded at best. He didn't even play in Game 1, and while his nine turnovers in Game 2 jump off the stat sheet, upon further inspection, none of this is Durant's fault.
The Rockets' roster is setting Kevin Durant up for failure
As mentioned earlier, Durant recorded nine turnovers during Tuesday's Game 2 loss. This caused much of the discourse to center around Durant's inability to handle double teams and that he was "outplayed" by a 41-year-old LeBron James.
Some of these turnovers were admittedly Durant's fault; others clearly weren't, though. By my count, three of them were due to his teammates failing to secure his passes, one was a 50/50 call, and one play was inexplicably noted as a turnover despite the Lakers scoring in a normal half-court set following a Rockets basket.
Don't believe me? Watch the tape and decide for yourself.
Okay, even if you think five turnovers are unacceptable, ask yourself how Durant can be doubled so much? The answer has nothing to do with his playmaking and everything to do with the Rockets' poor roster construction.
Amen Thompson, Alperen Şengün, and Tari Eason are complete non-shooting threats. That's three of the Rockets' top six and two of their three best players who opposing defenses can ignore and send the house at Durant.
But wait, it gets worse! Due to Fred VanVleet's injury, the Rockets don't have a true lead facilitator. Thompson is the closest player to this archetype, but he's more of a natural wing or secondary facilitator. As such, Durant is tasked with more ball-handling responsibilities than he ever should be.
The combination of poor ball handling and shooting is a death sentence in the modern NBA, even against a poor defensive team like the Lakers. Houston ranked 19th in half-court offense in the regular season, so this shouldn't be a total shocker either.
Frankly, it is absolutely mind-boggling that general manager Rafael Stone didn't address these glaring flaws at the trade deadline. Considering how many guards were available for cheap (Coby White, Anfernee Simons, Collin Sexton, Ayo Dosunmu, etc), Stone's strategy looks even more baffling. For what it's worth, I held this stance back in February.
Ime Udoka is hurting Durant and the Rockets
Now we arrive at the other person who deserves plenty of blame: Ime Udoka. To be clear, I think Udoka is still a good coach overall. However, he hasn't shown it much this season, and he might be in the market for a new job, after what's trending toward a disaster of a playoff series.
Udoka is known for his defense, toughness, and accountability -- all good things!
He has some clear flaws, though, most notably, he is incredibly stubborn, and his offensive sets lack creativity. These flaws have been on full display throughout the season and have been magnified against the Lakers.
The Rockets' offense is a lot of "your turn, my turn." Udoka hasn't done anything to establish a two-man game between Durant and Şengün. He also doesn't open up opportunities for Durant off the ball nearly enough.
In general, there's very little structure or creative schemes, which, coupled with the roster construction, is a death sentence. Houston's lack of shooting inherently makes things clunky, but Udoka hasn't done anything to solve this problem.
As noted, the Rockets desperately need an infusion of shooting and playmaking. Second-year guard Reed Sheppard can provide that. Nevertheless, Udoka refuses to play him sizable minutes due to his defense. In Game 2, Sheppard saw just 11 minutes.
I get it, Sheppard is a subpar defender, but when your team shoots 24.1 percent from 3 and scores fewer than 100 points, that shouldn't matter at all. And with the Lakers' injuries, Sheppard won't get hunted enough. Playing Sheppard 20-plus minutes every game wouldn't magically transform the Rockets, but it would help.
Ultimately, if the Rockets continue to struggle, don't blame Durant for their problems, or at the very least, please mention the context of the roster and coaching.
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