Ime Udoka faces a high-stakes balancing act as he attempts to trim a deep, talent-laden roster into a functional rotation while protecting his aging stars from burnout.
Who should begin the season as the tenth man in Houston’s rotation?
The Houston Rockets have enough depth to make Ime Udoka popular in October and unpopular by November. He wants to play more people this season, partly to reduce the workloads of Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson.
“It’s easier said than done to play a 10-man rotation, but there are a lot of deserving guys,” Udoka said at media day. “We want to get Amen and Kevin’s minutes down.”
I think he should try anyway.
Start with ten during the regular season. Give the roster enough room to absorb injuries, manage Fred VanVleet’s return and keep Durant from spending another year near the top of the league in minutes. Houston built this depth for a reason. Let it earn its keep.
The starting five is pretty straightforward:
- Fred VanVleet — Point guard (PG)
- Amen Thompson — Shooting guard (SG)
- Kevin Durant — Small forward (SF)
- Jabari Smith Jr. — Power forward (PF)
- Alperen Şengün — Center (C)
Tari Eason and Reed Sheppard belong in the next group. Their energy, defense and shooting give Houston two younger reserves worth developing through real responsibility.espn
And I think Marcus Smart also has a clear path. VanVleet is expected to avoid back-to-backs early in the season, and Smart gives Udoka another experienced ballhandler and perimeter defender. Houston’s second unit could use his ability to calm a possession before five players start improvising at once.
Steven Adams gets the ninth place in my rotation. His screening, rebounding and physicality give the Rockets a distinct look behind Şengün. He can turn a mediocre miss into another possession and make life miserable for anyone trying to navigate one of his screens.
That leaves Bogdan Bogdanović and Clint Capela competing for the final regular place. I would begin with Bogdanović. The Rockets added him to improve their shooting, and a bench featuring Smart, Sheppard and Eason benefits from another proven perimeter threat. His path through this crowded rotation should be one of Houston’s most revealing preseason evaluations.roundtable
Capela becomes the matchup center against bigger frontcourts and the obvious replacement whenever Adams rests. If Udoka decides he needs both centers on the same night, Bogdanović could become the player squeezed out of the rotation Udoka can rotate the final place without turning the entire bench into a weekly audition.
That’s the luxury and the headache. Udoka can tailor the final place to each opponent, but the roles around it have to remain stable. Flexibility helps only when the players understand why the lineup changed.
By midseason, the evidence should tell him whether nine players make more sense. October is too early to pretend those answers already exist. Use the depth, protect Durant’s workload and make the players settle the debate on the court. Somebody good will sit eventually. Houston can take a few weeks to make sure it chooses the right one.
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