Final reflections on the Houston Rockets' Jalen Green era

Jalen Green is no longer employed by the Houston Rockets.

A lot of emotions come with that sentence. There's some relief. Green's performances have been so inconsistent that they qualify as emotional abuse. Just when everything feels OK, he creates another problem out of thin air.

Yet, there's some sadness as well. Green was the Chosen One. The bridge from Beared superstardom to championship glory. When the Rockets picked him second overall, Green was supposed to be their new franchise player.

That said, his tenure with the Rockets has been marred by polarization from the beginning. Many Rockets fans thought the team should have selected Evan Mobley. If that's what you thought then, it's what you still think. Mobley has been a revelation for the Cavailiers, and Green is a Sun.

What happened?

Rockets picked the wrong man in 2021

Let's start here - Rafael Stone has done a fantastic job with the Rockets. He's made some minor mistakes, but in the aggregate, the sum of his decision-making is substantially positive. He's only made one critical error:

It was selecting Green in the first place.

Stone should have known that the league was passing players like Green by. Guards who offer little outside of scoring have fallen by the wayside. Look at the best guards in the NBA - none of them fit that description.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't an elite passer, but he's capable. Moreover, he is an outstanding defender. Gilgeous-Alexander provides some value on a basketball court even on the rare night where his shot isn't falling.

Luka Doncic is a horrid defender, but elite passing is his calling card. He gives his team offensive production almost every night. If he's struggling to score, he still stirs the drink by putting his teammates in optimal positions.

In this year's playoffs, Green proved he wasn't able to do the same. Much was made of how the Warriors covered Green. It's true that they gameplanned for him, but if you plucked Luka Doncic into the same situation, he'd have made mincemeat out of the coverage by passing out of pressure situations. Green didn't have the vision.

Although, floor vision isn't Edwards' strong suit either. So how come he was able to average 25.3 points per game with a True Shooting % (TS%) of 59.5% against the same Warriors defense?

Some will argue that it's unreasonable to put Green in Edwards conversations. Why? Edwards has been in the NBA for one year longer than Green. By his fourth year, he had a 3.3 Box Plus/Minus (BPM), a far cry from Green's 0.5 mark.

Perhaps Edwards is the exception that proves the rule. If you mostly provide scoring, you'd better score so consistently that it's worth your team's time to give you the ball. That's another area where Green has failed. He's capable of explosive nights, but he's so far from the league's best guards that nobody can project that he'll ever get to their level.

That's not to say Green needs to join those ranks. Still, it's hard to envision him amounting to more than a Zach LaVine or a Bradley Beal - widely held to be the worst contracts in the NBA. The NBA is leaving this archetype of player behind.

It's not Houston's problem anymore. The Suns will do what they can with a backcourt pairing Green with Devin Booker. It's a relief to many Rockets fans:

But they should still wish Green well.

Rockets fans should pull for Green

Green is a maddening player. You can question his longterm outlook as a player:

But it's never felt fair to question his work ethic.

Perhaps he's a victim of poor scouting. It's hard to dominate NBA games without outlier skill or feel. Dominating with pure athleticism requires a holistically elite athletic profile.

Green doesn't have that. His elite traits (speed and vertical leap) may have been mistaken for a generally elite profile. With limited strength and small hands, he's struggled too often in the NBA.

That's not his fault. It's not his fault that Stone picked him over Mobley. Green has given his all to Houston. He's been a consummate professional. Whether you think he's a good NBA player (or can be) or not, he's a good kid.

Suns fans will surely see that too.