In a 30-part series leading up to the start of the 2021-22 National Basketball Association season, we will take a look at each NBA franchise from a fantasy perspective. The 11th team we will review is the Houston Rockets.
There is a state of transition for the Houston Rockets at the moment. That is what normally happens to teams when all of a sudden they trade their two star players, (in this case James Harden and Russell Westbrook) in separate blockbuster deals.
Now you may need a program (if they publish those anymore) to learn about the players on the Rockets. Or even better. You can read headless.thesportingbase.com. Heading into the 2021-22 season, Houston has a starting five that includes Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Green, Jae’Sean Tate, Daniel Theis and Christian Wood.
Show hesitancy in selecting Green and Porter Jr. at this time. Even though Green was the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, making the leap from high school to the NBA could take some time, and I would not be one of the 85% of those in Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball pools that would take a chance on him. There is also skepticism with Porter Jr., the Rockets’ 21-year-old point guard from Seattle. A third-year point guard who played one year each with the Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers, has averaged 12.2 points per game for his career, but the low sample size of 76 games and 26 starts, makes one question where Porter Jr. needs to be considered in fantasy rankings.
The safer Rockets players to select are forward Jae’Sean Tate, and big men Christian Wood, and Daniel Theis. Tate, who is entering his second NBA season, was undrafted out of Ohio State when joining the Rockets. In 2020-21, he had 1393 fantasy points* as a small forward, and 1369 fantasy points as a power forward. Where Tate becomes a fantasy asset is in the steals category. His 85 steals in 2020-21 ranked him second among power forwards last season, and only behind Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, who had 105.
Wood had a career high in points last season with 860, but is not much of a fantasy asset because his 21 points per game was the only statistical category where he put up solid numbers. Theis meanwhile could be considered in the final rounds of your pool, as he brings experience to the Rockets and will be taking on a starting role at the power forward position. There is a possibility you could see him average 10 points per game or more after averaging 9.6 points per game in 2020-21 with the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls.
*Please note: To calculate NBA fantasy points for point guards, shooting guards and small forwards, I use the formula (3PTM+Points+Rebounds+Assists+Steals-Turnovers). For power forwards and centers, I use the formula (Points+Rebounds+Assists+Steals+Blocks-Turnovers).
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