4 players that don't belong on the Rockets' roster

The Houston Rockets enter the 2023-24 season with the goal of taking a substantial leap in the Western Conference. This is why they've dubbed it phase two, as they're hoping to be a postseason contender. 

The Rockets went out and spent a fortune in free agency, as they realized it was their best chance of ascending into the elite teams in the West. It's also why they deemed it necessary to make a drastic improvement at the head coaching position, replacing Stephen Silas with a Gregg Popovich disciple in Ime Udoka.

The Houston Rockets have several players that could find it challenging to garner playing time.

But along the way, the Rockets made a few questionable signings, or simply unnecessary ones. On the flip side, the Rockets managed to keep players that probably don't belong on the team and/or simply don't fit, due to either a logjam or a positional redundancy. 

Let's take a look at four players who fit this criteria.

4. Jae'Sean Tate

The 2022-23 season wasn’t kind to Jae’Sean Tate, as he suffered regression in practically every category. Tate’s scoring, rebounds, playmaking, and defensive impact were noticeably not as stellar as his prior two seasons in Houston.

To make matters worse, Tate couldn’t overcome the injury bug.

Tate was a favorite under Stephen Silas and seemingly was guaranteed to have a large role on the team because of that. Ime Udoka has made it clear that things will be different under his regime, which could spell trouble for the Ohio State product.

Not to mention the addition of Dillon Brooks, which has created a positional redundancy, specifically as it pertains to wing defenders who can’t shoot.

Much has been made about Brooks’ inability to shoot (32.6 percent in 2022-23) but Tate is a significantly worse shooter than Brooks (28.3 percent in 2022-23).

Tate has less to offer than Tari Eason, who is expected to take a leap next season.

And although Tate has versatility to play the power forward position, he’d still fall behind Jabari Smith Jr. in the pecking order (along with Eason). The Rockets have held on to Tate for a bit too long, and it could be difficult to deal him in a trade if he’s buried on the bench, as teams will know that they have to trade him, at that point.

This would, in turn, limit the value that the Rockets would get in a deal.

3. Jock Landale

Jock Landale is perhaps the easiest name to throw on this list. In fact, Landale wouldn’t be on the team were it not for a last-minute decision by Brook Lopez to remain with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Rockets tried pivoting to Dwight Powell at the last minute but it was too late, as the Dallas Mavericks had already wrapped up their negotiations with the Mavs center.

As a last-ditch effort, the Rockets signed Landale to a largely non-guaranteed four-year deal. The structure of the deal makes it quite clear that they don’t intend to keep him around for long, as only the first year of the four-year contract is fully-guaranteed.

This still made sense for Landale, as he went from making $1.6 million in 2022-23 to $8 million in 2023-24. Landale will be a rotational big for the Rockets, and will largely be Alperen Sengun’s reserve.

But even in that role, the Rockets could find a better replacement than Landale, although they won’t find one as cheap as him.

2. Aaron Holiday

Aaron Holiday will likely not get much playing time, as he’s fairly limited in what he can bring to the table. Sure, he did shoot right at 41 percent from three last season but the volume was so low that we don’t exactly know if he’s an elite 3-point shooter (1.4 attempts per contest).

The Rockets didn’t even give him a fully guaranteed deal, as they know they likely won’t need him. The Rockets were hoping to add experience to a young core, so the logic is understandable on the surface.

However, it would’ve made more sense to give those reserve point guard minutes to newly-drafted rookie Amen Thompson. After all, Holiday will probably land somewhere between 10-18 minutes per game, which is right around where he’s been for the last three seasons consecutively.

The Rockets could’ve easily divided up those minutes between Thompson and Kevin Porter Jr.

Sure, they want to put an end to the KPJ experiment at point guard, but asking him to be a third-string point guard is practically the same thing, as he wouldn’t be playing there for large periods of time.

Furthermore, the Rockets wouldn’t have had to sign Holiday if they never traded TyTy Washington, who they selected 29th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft.

1. Dillon Brooks

I know. There’s justification for Brooks to be on the Rockets’ roster.

Incoming coach Ime Udoka wanted to reshape the team’s identity by emphasizing the defensive side of the floor and Brooks is legitimately one of the best wing defenders in the league.

He's a pest who suffocates opponents and his stocky build only makes matters worse for opponents. And he plays with an edge that can be infectious when channeled correctly.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the drawbacks.

Offensively, he’s an unreliable shooter, as he made just 30.9 percent of his threes in 2021-22, followed by 32.6 percent last season. And it’s not like the volume and attempts were down, as Brooks has taken no fewer than five long-range attempts per game in each of the last four seasons. But it’s not just that.

Brooks also made just 45.1 percent of his two-pointers. And let’s just gloss right over the true shooting numbers (49.4 percent).

The Rockets overpaid for a unreliable shooter, hoping that he’ll fit the 3-and-D archetype. The problem with that is that Brooks himself has admitted that he doesn’t want that role. He wants to be featured more offensively, and again, based on his shooting splits, why would he be?

The Rockets would have been better suited to start Tari Eason, who is already a better player than Brooks offensively. Defensively, he’s not quite to Brooks’ level yet but he could be just as good as Brooks, based on his measurables, strengths, and emphasis on that end of the floor.

The Rockets can only hope the Brooks experiment works out, because it could get ugly if it doesn’t, as they’d likely have a hard time finding another team to bail them out by trading for him, due to his bloated, fully-guaranteed contract.