Rockets have painful Dorian Finney-Smith decision to make when he returns

As the Houston Rockets have established themselves as one of the best offensive teams in the NBA, their offseason signings, including Josh Okogie and Clint Capela, have already brought them abundant dividends, deepening their rotation exponentially and providing the team with extra wrinkles with which to attack opponents.

Yet, the team is still awaiting the debut of their premier 3-and-D signing, Dorian Finney-Smith, and, although there is no concrete timetable on his return as of yet, the team will have a difficult decision to make when he comes back. How will he fit into the rotation?

Logically, there is a spot open in the frontcourt alongside Tari Eason on the team's bench unit. Yet, with the frequency with which head coach Ime Udoka has employed the double-big lineup throughout the course of games, Finney-Smith's looming return begs the question of whose minutes will be cut in order to accomodate his addition.

Dorian Finney-Smith is potentially the perfect fit for the Rockets' new identity

Last season, across 63 games between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers, Finney-Smith emerged, yet again, as one of the league's premier role players, averaging 8.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists while knocking down 41.1% of his shots from beyond the arc.

Accordingly, the four-year, $52.7 million contract he signed this offseason with Houston, while hefty, made perfect sense.

With the loss of Dillon Brooks in the Kevin Durant trade, the team needed another capable defender in the frontcourt, and Finney-Smith, with his size and versatility, presented that wholeheartedly. Moreover, the Rockets, despite their hot shooting start, certainly still need another viable perimeter shooter to inject some more spacing into their lineups, and Finney-Smith is more than capable of taking on that role.

Yet, Finney-Smith has yet to play a game this season as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery, and, whenever a team gets off to a hot start with a player, there is always justifiable concern surrounding that player's ability to acclimate upon their return.

Where does Finney-Smith fit into the rotation?

So far this season, Udoka's starters have each taken on big minutes, with Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson each averaging more than 35 minutes on the season.

As far as his rotation goes, however, he has not yet cut that deep into it. Outside of the bench trio of Adams, Capela and Eason, only one other player, Jae'Sean Tate, has gotten minutes outside of garbage time, and his have been exceedingly limited.

Udoka has become fond of staggering Sengun's minutes with the rest of the starters in order to implement the double-big lineup off the bench, using both Capela and Adams alongside the team's star center in order to dominate opposing teams with size.

Finney-Smith, without a doubt, will be a necessary addition to this team when he's healthy. Yet, it does not appear as though Udoka is planning on running a very deep rotation this season, and Finney-Smith's presence, as a natural power forward, will eat into the minutes of one of Capela, Adams and Eason.

This is, obviously, a good problem to have. Who wouldn't want the option of injecting a 6'7" perimeter shooter into your lineup? Yet, it will also represent another challenge that Udoka has to face this season as he attempts to tune this team for championship contention.