How could the Houston Rockets use Brandon Knight right now?

There is a certain player that the Houston Rockets acquired over the summer that hasn’t played a single minute yet due to injury. Could he come back soon and contribute?

The Houston Rockets were finally able to get rid of the massive Ryan Anderson contract over this past summer. In return, they got a young bust in Marquese Chriss and the contract of a much better fit, Brandon Knight.

Knight has been struggling to return after tearing his ACL before last season. However, he is finally starting to make his way back to the court and we could potentially see him in December.

Alykhan Bijani of the Athletic reported this in his most recent article, saying that a December return is possible. Check it out down below:

#Rockets⁠ ⁠Rewind: – Film-Study on how the offense was effective against hedges, switches and traditional PnR D last week.– EXCLUSIVE: Isaiah Hartenstein held KD to 0-3 on isolations. He guides me through how. – UPDATES: Brandon Knight, Nene + Carmelo https://t.co/CVQyYKE0Gi

— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) November 20, 2018

So what role will Knight have upon his return? Can we expect for him to even receive minutes with this team that is starting to mesh?

Brandon Knight’s role

I think we’ll certainly see Brandon Knight get some minutes with the Rockets once he is fully back from his injury. In short stints, he can be an absolute deadly weapon off the bench.

He is a career 36% shooter from deep, and that’s an area that he’s been working on even more since his injury. I expect him to be a sharpshooter off the bench that can take some of the minutes load off of Chris Paul.

Chris Paul is averaging far too many minutes a game for his age. That’s an area where the Rockets need to improve, as we can’t expect a 33-year-old Chris Paul averaging more than his age (34.5) minutes per game to be healthy for the playoffs.

Brandon Knight has been an underrated player and scorer in the league when he is healthy. The big concern is seeing how he adjusts post ACL tear. That’s a tough injury to come back from and he very well could not be anywhere close to his skill level from when he was averaging near 20 points a game. I think the short stints can help that, though.

If Knight comes back somewhat like his old self, though, that could be incredible for the bench of the Rockets. He would be a weapon in the second unit that could be a game changer against other teams’ benches. He and Eric Gordon along with James Harden/CP3 would be a crazy small ball bench lineup. I’m excited to see him return to the court.

He could also be used as a trade piece with his contract, so that’s a possibility as well.