It took just one game for Rockets fans to overreact to Jalen Green trade

The Houston Rockets ruffled some feathers by trading Jalen Green for Kevin Durant this summer. After just one game, those same fans are taking a victory lap.

It's a vocal minority. Most Rockets fans saw that it was time to move on from Green. If they were going to make a deep playoff run, they'd likely need a more reliable primary scorer.

Yet, some Rockets fans weren't ready to part with Green. They still held onto his potential. They felt that the Rockets erred by cutting ties with him too soon.

His Suns debut did nothing to alleviate those concerns.

Rockets fans missing Green after Suns debut

To be sure, Green was impressive on Thursday.

He scored 29 points in just 23 minutes. Green was 10/20 from the field, including a 6/13 mark from deep.

It was the type of efficiency Rockets fans have long dreamed of. Green was unconscious. He got whatever he wanted, and he helped lead the Suns to a much-needed victory as a result.

Wait.

Haven't we been here before?

Rockets needed consistency from Green

Here's a question for the Rockets fans who are overreacting to this contest:

Are you new here?

We've seen Green have scorching hot streaks before. That's never been the issue. The issue has been his ability to put it together on a consistent basis.

Green's three-point volume in this game should be the first red flag. He took 13 triples. How regularly is he going to hit six of those?

The reality is that Green is a career 34.3% three-point shooter. That's suboptimal efficiency relative to his preferred volume. It's not horrendous, but to qualify as a viable volume scorer, you'd need to do better at the rim than Green has done to survive on that type of three-point efficiency.

Unfortunately, Green hit 1 of his 3 attempts between 0-3 feet last night. He's shot 65.6% from that range for his career. Again, that's not so bad, but it's not nearly strong enough to be a volume scorer's bread and butter.

So, Green is subpar from deep, and subpar at the rim. He'd have to be an outstanding midrange shooter to compensate for those deficiencies, but that's where he's struggled the most.

Arguably, it's a bit gauche to root for Green's failure. Perhaps that's true, but using a one-game sample size as a "gotcha" is worse than gauche - it's foolish. If Green scores this efficiency consistently, and the Suns win, his remaining Rockets supporters will have a point:

They should save the victory lap in the meantime.