Can the Rockets Takeoff?

The Houston rockets are a surprise team charging for a top 3 spot in a very competitive western conference. This team was projected to be one of the worst at the start of the season and have overachieved in many eyes. The Rockets rely on aggressive defense and fast flowing offense to edge out their opponents. This team is very young and mostly inexperienced in the playoffs, and this is still head coach Ime Udoka's second year with the team. Ime has turned the franchise around since joining, changing the culture and mentality instantly upon arriving. While success was not instant it was much faster than most experience, and with the vast collection of talent acquired in the years prior Ime was able to finally provide this young team with an identity and formula to win games consistently. The main question for this young team is finding their primary scorer. The rockets are loaded with raw young talent with names that include Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, Reed Sheppard, and Tari Eason. All of these players are under the age of 23 with Jalen Green being the oldest. Out of all these names two stand out the most, Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun. These two guys have superstar potential and each of them have shown it, however a large problem is consistency. Alperen Sengun is the only individual who has proven to be the most reliable on a nightly basis. This has rewarded him with his first All-Star game appearance, and he is the only player of the Rockets to be selected. If Jalen Green can improve his consistency (mainly with three-point shooting), he will absolutely join Sengun in no time. Jalen has all the tools to be a modern-day superstar, he has freakish athletic ability and is very technical as well. The Rockets have a great core of tough defenders and scorers mixed in with two veteran players in Dillon Brooks and Fred Van Vleet. Fred has won a championship himself in Toronto and brings very valuable leadership to the younger guards (mainly Jalen). Dillon Brooks brings a hard-nosed mentality and very tough defense which you love if he's on your side and hate if you're against it. These two offer very valuable leadership and experience to a very young core who desperately need it. If the Rockets can improve their three-point shooting to above 40 percent consistently, they will have a great shot at bringing another championship to Houston. The way things are shaping out the Rockets are on their way to a post season appearance and are aiming at making a deep run into it. I think the Rockets are very exciting however, I do not feel they have the consistency from key players needed to make a championship run.