The Houston Rockets' Jalen Green Experiment Failed

As the smoke has finally settled following the Houston Rockets' first round exit, it is time for the Houston Rockets to start pondering on what went wrong. The front office must tie up the roster's loose ends, the most blaring of which is Jalen Green.

Jalen Green was a driving force behind the Rockets' first round exit

Green's debut playoff series vs. the Warriors is nearly impossible to reconcile with the franchise star label that many fans gave him. He averaged a dreadful 13.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, and 2.9 apg on 37/29/67 shooting splits. Aside from an anomalous game 2, Green was a consistent liability for the Rockets.

The mostly consistent nature of Green's struggles in the postseason has provided a new lens through which we can look at Green's not-so-consistent regular seasons. In a Rockets uniform, it is clear that Green will not substantially evolve past the nearly unplayable version of himself.

With the regular season being both quick and having so many games against opponents of varying difficulties, a statistically favorable individual season should be taken with a grain of salt. Especially with averages such as Green's where he posted 21 ppg on an iffy 42.3 FG%. The silver lining behind the disappointing postseason is that it at least minimized the ambiguity regarding Green's potential.

Attributes of Green's periodic regular season slumps such as his extreme inefficiency and futility in the midrange and beyond the arc were all present against the Warriors. There were even times where it could be said that the Rockets were playing 4 v 5 as Green was creating virtually no offense.

Of course, it must be acknowledged that this was Green's first playoff series, and even hall of famers have gotten the jitters in the postseason. However, this does not vindicate Green whatsoever as his teammates Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson were in the same boat and fared far better.

First-timer Jabari Smith Jr. also served his role comparatively better, challenging some of my previous thoughts on him. Green, overall, was just uniquely detrimental to the Rockets. Had he just been a shaky performer with a few good games, it could have significantly altered the complexion of the series. Instead, the fourth year guard had four single digit games and shot below 40% from the field in six of the seven games.

A playoff series like this should be enough to move on from Green, but even if you look at things from a broader scope, Green has been disappointing.

Jalen Green's tenure with the Rockets hasn't been great

In his first two seasons, he respectively averaged 17.3 ppg on 42.6 FG% and 22.1 ppg on 41.6 FG%. This scoring isn't bad at all for a player at the very beginning of his career. But these numbers were also inflated by Green's high usage rate in a dysfunctional Stephen Silas coached offense. It also doesn't bode well for him that the Rockets were the 15th and 14th seeds in these two seasons.

Green's play in the Udoka era has been riddled with inconsistency as he has struggled to truly break out. After four years, besides the periodic game when he is in rhythm, Green still does not have a go-to jumper neither has he made strides as a playmaker or passer. To make matters worse, his handle is sloppy, and his left hand is unreliable.

Overall, Jalen Green's four year tenure has not been worth it for the Rockets. With the Rockets having their sight set on prominent trade targets such as Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Green should be the biggest asset that the front office works to trade.