1 Crucial way that Jalen Green can help the Rockets in 2024-25

The Houston Rockets selected Jalen Green with the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Do not take that information lightly. It's a substantial investment. When a team picks a player that high in the draft, they're hoping they'll change their fortunes.

This was no ordinary draft. Evan Mobley was on the board. Plenty of pundits pegged him as the second-best prospect in the draft. The Rockets begged to differ.

They were drawn to Green's rare athleticism. With a soaring vertical leap and other-worldly first step, how could he fall short of stardom?

So far, Green has spent most of his NBA career demonstrating precisely how that could be possible. Short of some dazzling (but brief) stretches, he's failed expectations. Green is still young enough to improve, but it would be fair to say that as of now, he's not on the trajectory you'd hope to see the second overall pick on.

Still, we'll give him this - Green seems to care. He wants to be great.

He's shown us that again this summer by hosting a private workout for the Rockets.

Green gets Houston Rockets together

If you're a Rockets fan, this should be music to your ears.

No, hosting a private workout doesn't earn Green all of the goodwill that he's lost back. The Rockets need much more from him.

They need him to knock down jumpers consistently. They need Green to post an average (or, optimally, better) True Shooting % (TS%). Broadly speaking, the Rockets need Green to make substantial strides as a basketball player.

Yet, with this camp, he does offer them something else that they need.

Green needs to lead these young Rockets

Leadership.

It comes in all shapes and sizes. Some lead by example. Others take a heavier-handed approach. No matter how it's executed, any large-scale endeavor - such as, for example, succeeding in the NBA - needs to be led.

When it comes to NBA teams, that often falls on one of the team's best players. So, ideally, that's what Green will become for the Rockets. Still, we'd suggest that it's prudent for him to start preparing for that role now.

If Green approaches his ceiling, he'll be this team's leading scorer. That's a role that lends itself to leadership. The rest of this team won't mind ceding shots to Green if he's leading the charge. Hopefully, he starts knocking those shots down more often:

Those are the expectations that come with being picked second.