Convenience Big Store: Where Rockets stand after the trade deadline

Hello and welcome to Rockets Insider. I'm Varun Shankar, the Rockets beat reporter for The Houston Chronicle. We are back with our weekly newsletter to connect with Rockets fans. Have questions or thoughts? Send me an email at varun.shankar@houstonchronicle.com

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How the Rockets are keeping it together

There was a brief moment where Rockets general manager Rafael Stone and his team asked themselves a tough question, one that came because of what Stone said was some of the worst injury luck in the NBA.

"Is this just not our year?"

Stone didn't offer a definitive rebuttal of that doubt during his press conference Thursday but praised Coach Ime Udoka, sitting next to him on the podium, and the Rockets players for putting together a record and statistical profile that doesn't reflect those injuries.

Those injuries — Fred VanVleet is recovering from an ACL tear and Steven Adams is out for the season with a left ankle sprain — may have informed Houston's quiet 2025 deadline. A direct factor Stone acknowledged was the Rockets' cap sheet. You can read more about how a lack of financial flexibility impacted their lack of trades here.

Stone praised team governor Tilman Fertitta, saying he didn't have an appetite to take a step back and wanted to spend the money. That could give this Rockets team a chance to coalesce and be as good as it can be.

One area where Houston has struggled is halfcourt offense. Entering Thursday's games, the Rockets are 22nd in points per play in the halfcourt, per Cleaning the Glass, and 28th in the stat since January began. That doesn't bother Stone.

"There are no style points," he said. " … What I buy into is: Are you effective or not? And we are."

Stone said he expects the Rockets to continue offensive rebounding at a high level — the skill that's kept their offense so high despite shot-making struggles — even without Adams, who excels in that area.

Entering Thursday's games, Houston lineups without Adams grabbed 36.5% of their own misses. That would lead the league.

Notable

After Wednesday's blowout loss to the Boston Celtics, Udoka said Houston didn't have the "edge" it did last season, a product of not having sparkplugs like Dillon Brooks, FanVleet or Adams.

I asked Stone if he agreed. "We're a different group than last year and yeah, I do agree with that," he said. " … I would think of that as a style point that I think the two of us really like.

He and Udoka both want a team that plays with a certain level of physicality but he said the goal is to win, not win in a certain way. Stone added that he believed the Rockets have had that edge at times — Udoka echoed that sentiment —and that they could develop it as the season continues.

Rumors swirled around Tari Eason entering the deadline because the forward will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. He was not dealt and it didn't seem — even with the uncertain status moving forward — that Houston was close to moving the 24-year-old forward.

"We look forward to having a really great future with him," Stone said. "He's a big part of our plans."

Eason leads Houston in three-point percentage at 48.8 percent, entering Thursday's games. His previous career high was 36 percent on lower volume. At shootaround in Indianapolis, I asked him what led to that growth.

Eason said he worked on improving the balance of his shot to make it more repeatable over the season, taking 300 to 400 shots every day. His growth from deep and willingness to fire away is crucial for a Houston team that doesn't take that many threes.

"Coaches keep me confident and just tell me … a three for you is a good shot," he said. " … There are sometimes Ime will be at me because I didn't shoot it."

Adams was officially ruled out for the season. The Rockets have not done the same for VanVleet, who tore his ACL in September. Could the guard return? Stone was non-committal.

"We want Fred to do what's best for Fred. … He's literally the toughest NBA player I've ever met," Stone said. "If he can play, he'll play."

In the final minutes before every game, as the Rockets go through layup lines or stretch out, Rockets Director of Athletic Performance Willie Cruz lays out a rope ladder and has players hot-feet through it. To make things a bit more difficult, Cruz leans on the players to apply light pressure.

Varun Shankar, Rockets Beat Reporter

varun.shankar@houstonchronicle.com

Worth a read

Alperen Sengun did not make the All-Star team but dropped 39 points in his first game after the announcement. Here is my story from that night and a video that includes Sengun's reaction to not making the team.
My former employer, The Washington Post, shuttered its sports desk this week. Nothing but love and respect to my former co-workers, all of whom are excellent and deserve better. As a kid who grew up in the D.C. suburbs, reading The Post's sports desk is why I do what I do now and it will always be the honor of a lifetime to have worked there. Here are a couple stories that do a good job explaining what went wrong and why the sports desk was so great.

🏀 Rockets Mailbag

Send me your questions! You can always find me on X, in the r/rockets subreddit or Instagram. Or share your questions here to be a part of next week's mailbag. Ask me anything.

Q from u/AstronomerDramatic36: Should we have any expectations for the buy-out market?

A: Maybe? The Rockets have little cap space but an open roster spot they could use on a third big man as insurance for either Sengun or Capela. Here's what Stone said on the subject:

"We'll take a hard look at the buyout market," he said. " … Generally people only want to come if there's a role for them. And so that's a pretty high bar with us. … I would say we're interested in it. We will monitor it. There are players that 100 percent we would bring in if they were to get bought out. They're probably not super likely to be bought out, but you never know."

I just think it's neat!

A key subplot for the rest of the season is what Reed Sheppard's usage looks like. Udoka said Wednesday that the second-year guard, who has played under 20 minutes in two of the last three games and has seen playing time fluctuations all season, has regressed on defense since an improved start.

When Sheppard is on the court, opposing teams will try to pick on him by having the player he's guarding — usually the least threatening on-ball player on the floor — come up to set a screen for the ballhandler.

In a lot of these actions, the Rockets would switch because they have two relatively equal defenders on either end of the matchup. That isn't the case with Sheppard and leads to more aggression.

In both clips, Indiana Pacers wing Johnny Furphy screens for guard Andrew Nembhard, trying to switch Sheppard on the ball. Both times, you can see Sheppard aggressively "show" — lunging out to deny the ballhandler a lane to turn the corner. Nembhard's original defender, Amen Thompson, also stays with the ballhandler.

In most cases, a defensive "win" here would be Sheppard giving Thompson time to recover after the screen. Sheppard would then retreat back to his original assignment without surrendering any advantage. The Rockets get extra aggressive here though and force turnovers both times.