Why Jeff Green is the Houston Rockets’ most important bench player

Advanced stats improve with Green on the court

With Jeff Green on the court, the Rockets have a 120.6 offense rating and a 108.8 defensive rating. When he’s off the court, the teams’ offensive rating drops to 108.2, and their defensive rating shoots to 110.2.

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Effective field goal percentage, pace of play, and rebounding also all improve with Green on the court.

Yes, it is a small sample size, and Green is averaging 20 minutes per game, but given the team’s limited options off the bench, especially in the frontcourt, these improvements can not be ignored.

Some people may question why I believe Green is more valuable off the bench than guys like Austin Rivers or Ben McLemore.

The thing is, if McLemore or Rivers have a bad game, there are still Russell Westbrook and James Harden at the guard position to pick up the slack.

If Tucker or Covington have an off night, there isn’t anyone else to make up for it. This is why Green is so important.

He provides something Covington and Tucker can’t: a big make who has the outside shooting along with ball-handling skills to run your offense through.

Greens’ skill set is something no other player on the team can provide consistently, making him the most important bench guy as the Rockets look to make a playoff push.