The Rockets have a lot of issues on their roster. One small change doesn't do much, but getting reps to forwards other than Jae'Sean Tate might help.
It might be hard to say it, but the Rockets getting better may come from some of the more difficult moves. Subtraction can be addition sometimes.
Given what they have right now and based on the youth of most of the roster, Houston doesn't have a ton of options for their lineups, but one thing that is becoming more clear by the day is a trend that started last season.
People started to notice it more towards the end of last season. The best Rockets forward was not Jae'Sean Tate. Tate plays decent defense and was able to score well in some instances, but the shooting struggles were apparent.
This was part of the reason why some believed Kenyon Martin Jr. should be a starter for the Rockets last year. The same is true this season.
While we only have a small sample size to go off of, Tate has not looked himself. The veteran forward is coming off an injury, but the best Rockets lineups on the season have not contained Tate as a starter.
The Rockets will get much more out of their healthy roster when Tate is one of the first guys coming off the bench. This might be a tough pill to swallow for a guy that has been so good for the culture and just received a new contract from the team, but what we have seen over the past week has not inspired confidence that more minutes is the answer.
There is a way to use Jae'Sean Tate to help this Rockets team build for the future. 30 minutes in a game is probably not the move.
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