Houston Rockets: Jae’Sean Tate needs to emulate Draymond Green

Jae’Sean Tate’s rookie campaign for the Houston Rockets has been one of the biggest surprises of the season. Undrafted out of Ohio State, Tate had to hone his craft in Belgium and Australia before signing with the Rockets this offseason.

Due to a litany of injuries, Tate is set to lead the Rockets in games and minutes this season and has been the lone constant throughout a tumultuous season. His ability to defend the perimeter and finish at the rim has allowed him to carve out a significant, although auxiliary, role with the Rockets this season.

While Tate is a rookie, he also happens to be 25-years-old and it’s a fair question to ask how much more upside does he have? Can his jump shot improve? Will he continue to grow as a defender? What’s his upside as a facilitator on offense? The current version of Tate is still a productive player, but does he have the ability to make the jump?

Based upon his rookie season, statistically, Tate looks the most like the rookie version of Paul George. George since then has morphed into a knockdown jump shooter, which makes the comparison more of a statistical curiosity, opposed to a statistical indicator.

However, there is another player that Tate shares much more in common with that appears to be a more logical avenue to stardom. If Jae’Sean Tate wants to make the jump he needs to tailor his game to emulate Draymond Green.

Next: How Jae’Sean Tate and Draymond Green are similar

Houston Rockets: How Jae’Sean Tate and Draymond Green are similar

To quickly get it out of the way, both Jae’Sean Tate and Draymond Green are from the midwest (Michigan and Ohio), went to a Big Ten school (Michigan State and Ohio State), and spent four years at their respective universities. In fact, both were born in cities that reside along interstate 75 and are around an hour out of Detroit, Green to the north in Saginaw and Tate to the south in Toledo.

Outside of trivial geographical trivia about the two, the pair are both incredibly strong players who use their weight and length to defend up the spectrum while also remaining quick enough to defend players who are dangerous on the perimeter. Green does own a size edge, listed at 6’6 with a 7’1 wingspan compared to Tate who stands 6’4 with a 6’8 wingspan, but Tate makes up for it with a level of explosiveness that Green could only dream of.

Both players are defensively versatile with Tate better suited to defend the perimeter and Green more adept in the paint, but the ability to cover multiple positions remains their calling cards. While the physical and defensive abilities of Tate are reminiscent of Green, it is on offense where the two might share the most similarities.

Draymond Green has never been a knockdown jump shooter and it looks like Tate will suffer a similar fate. As much as jump shooting has become the most coveted skill in the NBA if the rest of a player’s skill set is well-rounded enough they can overcome a streaky jumper.

For Tate to reach the levels that Green has, absent a miraculous uptick in his shooting, he is going to need to continue to be a dangerous defender and come along as a playmaker. It is in playmaking that Tate’s ceiling can be raised, and looking at how Green came along in this department, it could be a roadmap for his development.

Next: How to unleash Jae’Sean Tate the playmaker

Houston Rockets: How to unleash Jae’Sean Tate the playmaker

Draymond Green didn’t always rack up assists like a point guard. Over his first three seasons, he averaged only 4.6 assists per 100 possessions before exploding in year four when he averaged 10.3 assists per 100 possessions, a full season mark he hasn’t dipped beneath since.

Tate, in year one has only averaged 4 assists per 100 possessions but that doesn’t mean he can’t become a true facilitator. Green wasn’t a point forward until he was handed the keys to the car and the rest is history.

The Rockets 124-116 loss to the Utah Jazz was a valiant effort from an undermanned team and a lot of their success came from Tate’s playmaking. In 29.2 minutes Tate posted 10 assists to one turnover as he continuously found holes in the Jazz’s third-ranked defense.

Here Tate pushes the ball down the court and into the teeth of the Jazz’s defense before kicking it out to Danuel House for an open jumper. With John Wall out for the rest of the season, the Rockets should entrust Tate to push the ball and take over some of the playmaking duties to see what they really have in him.

In this next video, Tate looks like a dead ringer for Draymond Green as he brings the ball up the court and then makes the magic happen with poise and guile.

Tate’s initial behind-the-back handoff to Kenyon Martin Jr sets up a wide-open jumper. Martin decides not to pull the trigger and Tate effectively sets a pick to give him more time. This allows Martin to pump fake and get his defender up in the air, but instead of driving into Rudy Gobert, he dumps it off to Tate who quickly returns it for an easy bucket.

Nothing in that last play was individually exceptional but when you put it all together it was an incredible individual play. Tate created three good looks for Martin in a span of three seconds and got the likely Defensive Player of the Year off balance to the point that he couldn’t contest the shot.

Here is a similar play that Draymond Green runs that sets up a shot for Stephen Curry. He uses the combination of a handoff and a screen to get Curry an open look before using the attention that Curry generates to slip into the teeth of the defense before finding an open shooter.

Playing with Stephen Curry has a way of making a player a more willing passer, but the Rockets should use the last few games to experiment with the concept of Tate being the initiator on offense. If Tate can continue to grow as a defender and handle a larger playmaking role then he could end up as Draymond Green-light.

The Golden State Warriors won a championship and set the NBA record for regular-season wins at 73 with Draymond Green as their second-best player. His combination of elite defense and playmaking unleashed one of the greatest runs in history.

Expecting Tate to reach those levels is unrealistic but being 75-percent of Draymond Green is still a borderline All-Star. The Rockets have Tate under contract for two more seasons and they need to see what his upside really is. If he’s anywhere close to Draymond Green the Rockets could have found a true gem.