Rockets have inherent advantage to exploit this season

With Fred VanVleet sidelined, the Houston Rockets will rely a lot on unproven second-year guard Reed Sheppard and veteran Aaron Holiday to run the point guard position. But with Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, and Alperen Sengun all having ball-handling chops of their own, head coach Ime Udoka will likely deploy lineups where the Rockets will have (at least) one clear advantage: size.

A lineup with those three, plus any combination of Jabari Smith Jr, Tari Eason, and Dorian Finney-Smith, would be a jumbo package that could work extremely well in short stints. Not having a true ball-handler will eventually come back to haunt them, but the defensive intensity and endless wingspans these lineups provide could be enough to make up for a lack of typical point guard play.

Will big lineups have enough playmaking for the Rockets?

The problem with the potential 6-foot-8-and-above lineups is a potential lack of playmaking. But the problem with the Houston Rockets in general is a lack of playmaking; and if Reed Sheppard doesn't pop in year two, then wouldn't the benefits of a jumbo lineup be enough to justify a lack of playmaking that Houston's non-super big lineups wouldn't have anyway? If there's already no playmaking even in lineups that include a guard, why not play tons of lineups that don't include a guard?

Alperen Sengun's passing and Amen Thompson's dribbling chops will be even bigger factors anytime the Rockets go big. Half-court offensive possessions would likely start with Sengun or Thompson, and often end with Durant.

None of that sounds bad, of course, but these big lineups would sacrifice some dribble penetration, meaning a lot of Durant's shots would have to be self-created. Luckily, Durant is like the best at doing that, but still — easy shots will be harder to come by without someone playing quarterback on this offense.

Ime Udoka will have to experiment this year

After VanVleet's injury, the Rockets were left with a pretty clear hole at point guard. Reed Sheppard and Aaron Holiday should be productive enough when they're on the floor, but when they're not, the responsibilities of that position will likely be split somewhat evenly among Thompson, Sengun, and Durant, a giant trio of ball-handlers. Sometimes Udoka will have to try things like this; there's so little experience and depth in the backcourt that he'll be forced to throw some stuff at the wall and hope it sticks.

Whether or not big ball lineups actually work is a different question. That depends. If you're talking about the Nuggets running huge lineups that included Bol Bol a few years ago, then no. Not at all. But we've seen the twin towers lineups come back into vogue, most notably in Cleveland with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

The next logical trend might just be jumbo lineups where everyone on the floor can defend at least three positions, and the Rockets have the personnel to do that — and might be forced to on occasion.