Rockets final month stock watch: 4 risers, 3 fallers

Fallers

Dillon Brooks

For much of the season, Dillon Brooks was one of the best shooters in the league. In the last five games, however, his shooting has fallen off a meteoric cliff, as he’s made just 29.2 percent of his treys, despite taking a healthy 4.8 attempts from deep.

He’s taken questionable shots and his defensive impact hasn’t been felt nearly as much as initially (although Victor Wembanyama would certainly disagree). Brooks was even benched by Rockets coach Ime Udoka for much of the same reasons I’ve outlined.

His stock is clearly dropping.

Aaron Holiday

Aaron Holiday was never expected to have a significant role on the Rockets, as he was a last minute signing and plays a position the Rockets addressed via the draft and free agency. To the surprise of essentially everyone, he found himself in some of Udoka’s closing lineups, in place of Jalen Green more often than not.

Holiday has been one of the Rockets’ best knockdown shooters out of necessity, as the team didn’t address their shooting woes. Holiday even lifted the Rockets to victory against the New York Knicks, much to the chagrin of Ben Stiller.

However, Holiday season is officially over. In the last five games, Holiday is shooting 38.1 percent from the field and an ice-cold 20 percent from long-range (on two attempts per contest). Which is exactly why he’s been playing less of late, to the tune of 10.2 minutes per night.

The fact that Udoka, who has loved Holiday, has cut his playing time, tells you everything that you need to know.

Jae’Sean Tate

Jae’Sean Tate nearly found himself traded at the deadline, as several teams were reportedly in pursuit of the defensive ace. The Rockets strangely opted to hold onto him, despite having a logjam at the wing position.

As a result, Tate has played just 9.6 minutes per contest in the Rockets’ last five games and is permanently out of the rotation. This is in spite of Cam Whitmore being out of the lineup, due to injury.

What’s worse about this is that Tate’s trade value has surely been tanked even more, which could make it harder for the front office to fetch whatever deals they were being offered at the trade deadline for him.