Houston Rockets: Could Gerald Green return for the postseason?

When Gerald Green suffered his foot injury, it was widely believed that the Houston Rockets would be without Green for rest of the year, depending on the outcome of his surgery. Here’s why the latest information on Green’s foot should provide optimism.

After Houston Rockets’ reserve scorer Gerald Green underwent surgery on his foot, it was determined that he will be out for upto six months. The Rockets received positive news from the surgeons that Green could possibly have a much shorter timetable than that, however. Based on the six month timetable, Green would be able to return in April, depending on how his recovery goes. This could possibly make him available for the postseason, as the first game of the 2019 postseason was on Apr. 13, and the 2018 postseason started on Apr. 14.

The Rockets would obviously have to proceed with caution, as they surely don’t want to further damage Green’s foot, but it is interesting to know he could possibly be back in time for the playoffs. Should the Rockets turn to him if he’s given the green light? It’s an interesting question because although three games is a small sample size, it seems clear that the Rockets would benefit from his bench scoring. This is especially the case if the Rockets aren’t going to play rookie guard Chris Clemons, who they have yet to turn to.

The Houston Rockets are currently getting 22.3 points per game from their bench, but Eric Gordon has been responsible for 50.7 percent of the Rockets’ bench production as he’s had 34 of the second unit’s 67 points so far on the year.

The counter argument is that Mike D’Antoni doesn’t turn to his bench much anyways, which is evident by the fact that Clemons has yet to log a single minute in the Rockets’ three games and Ben McLemore has only played a total of 21 minutes thus far on the year. But Gerald Green has managed to find a way into D’Antoni’s rotations, as he’s averaged 22.7 minutes per game and 20.2 minutes per game in each of the last two seasons. To put that in perspective, the only player on the Rockets bench who is playing that many minutes in Eric Gordon.

The trio of Gordon, McLemore and Austin Rivers are averaging an atrocious 28.56 percent from the field and 21.2 percent from downtown on a combined 164 minutes. Again, it’s a small sample size so it’s too early to overreact to the Rockets lack of bench scoring, but it’s worth pointing out that if this production doesn’t increase, the Houston Rockets could possibly be pushing to get Green back in time for postseason play.

If it’s upto Green, you would have to think he would be itching to play this year, as he’s trying to prove that he’s been slept on for his entire career.