Houston Rockets: 3 players who have the most to prove in the 2019-20 season

2. Ben McLemore

Ben McLemore came into the NBA with high expectations. He was taken with the seventh overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, selected ahead of both Giannis Antetokounmpo and CJ McCollum, but he hasn’t lived up to the hype so far.

McLemore’s best seasons came early in his career, when he averaged a career high 12.1 points per game back in the 2014-15 season, but his scoring and minutes have taken a nosedive in recent seasons.

Last season, McLemore appeared in just 19 games and averaged only 8.3 minutes per game for the Kings. Even on a very young team with no superstars that didn’t make the playoffs, McLemore struggled to find consistent minutes.

McLemore has a great shooting stroke and he’s sneaky athletic, so he does have a foundation to build upon. He’s also just 26 years old, so he still has time to turn things around. We’ve seen guys like Kenneth Faried, P.J. Tucker and Gerald Green revitalize their careers and have success in Houston they haven’t recently had on other teams.

Such is the case in Mike D’Antoni‘s offense, which is mostly plug-and-play for the role players that surround James Harden and Russell Westbrook. This could be McLemore’s last shot to prove that he belongs in the league. Hopefully, he can make it count.

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