Surprising Rockets injury could restore Jabari Smith Jr. to his rightful role

As the Houston Rockets enter the preseason, there still remains a healthy amount of uncertainty surrounding who will ultimately make up their starting lineup.

While the devastating ACL injury Fred VanVleet sustained is a large reason for this uncertainty, so is the recent news that Dorian Finney-Smith, a free agent acquisition for Houston, will miss the beginning of the season as he continues his rehabilitation from an ankle surgery he had this offseason.

Therefore, althought the VanVleet injury already greatly increased the Rockets' chances of going big, Finney-Smith's injury gives Jabari Smith Jr. the chance to take and cling to a starting spot for the duration of the season, returning him to his rightful role as the team's starting power forward.

Jabari Smith Jr. will have a starting role and should keep it for the whole season

Prior to the VanVleet injury, there was already much speculation surrounding how Houston would ultimately approach their rotation given the new combinations that their acquisition of Kevin Durant opened up for them.

This was exacerbated by head coach Ime Udoka's claim that the fifth starter would be determined in training camp. At the time, there were cases to be made for each of Smith, Finney-Smith, Tari Eason and Steven Adams to take on that spot.

Now, however, much of this decision depends on how they want to approach their backcourt. Beyond VanVleet, the team has very little depth at the guard position, with Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard likely to take on the vast majority of the playmaking load.

Therefore, it is a real possibility that the team runs Alperen Sengun at center, Thompson at point guard, and three sizable wings to fill out the positions in between. If this is the case, Smith would likely have a spot at power forward secured, with perhaps Eason slotting into the starting three-spot and Durant sliding back to the backcourt.

Yet, if Finney-Smith were in the picture, this could be a slightly more contentious move. With VanVleet out, the team desperately needs to bolster its perimeter shooting, and, unless Durant shoots at another insanely high clip from beyond the arc, the team could be in trouble in that aspect of their game.

Therefore, Finney-Smith's injury gifts Smith the starting spot for now. Moreover, if the Rockets' early season combinations work as well together on offense as their ceiling seems to indicate they might, it would be hard to imagine Udoka moving a player as talented as Smith out of the starting lineup even when Finney-Smith comes back.