Ranking the 6 worst starters of the Rockets' rebuild

3. Justin Patton

Justin Patton was another signing that sparked my interest. After all, this was a former first-round pick who was selected ahead of Josh Hart, John Collins, OG Anunoby, Kyle Kuzma, and Derrick White.

Patton was a 6'11 big who could step out and shoot the three and was supposed to be a good rim protector, at least based on what he showed in the G-League. Patton finished fourth in the G-League in blocks in 2019-20 (3 per contest) and seemed to possess a skillset that the Rockets didn't have.

In theory.

However, it didn't quite work out that way. Patton averaged just 5.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per contest. Not to mention the shooting inefficiencies- 41.4 percent from the field (which is hard to do as a center), 26.5 percent from deep (on 2.6 attempts), and 48.8 percent true shooting.

Rockets fans likely remember Patton more for John Wall's comments about him on the Run Your Race podcast rather than his play on the court.

"My first year in Houston, we were tanking. We lost 20 in a row. We were tryna lose on purpose. We started starting n- named Justin Patton. We started me, David Nwaba, Jae'Sean Tate, Justin Patton, and somebody else. I'm like bro who the f- can I win a game with with this s-."

Patton's response was perhaps better than anything he ever did on the hardwood (which proves my exact point).