Houston Rockets: Predicting the team’s leader in every statistical category

Kevin Porter Jr. will lead the Houston Rockets in assists.

It may come as a surprise to learn this, but Porter Jr. actually led the Rockets in this category last season. On the one hand, this made sense. Porter Jr. had the ball in his hands a lot (highest usage rate on the team at 24.1) and was listed as point guard despite not being a floor general in the traditional sense.

But on the other more worrying hand, Porter Jr. only spent his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers before being moved. He’s now completed two campaigns in Houston, yet questions of his attitude and whether or not he is a long-term solution for the organization persist and crop up every so often.

This is why Porter Jr. will once again lead this category. He has stiff competition in Sengun, who is already one of the better passers in the league. He averaged only 20 minutes per game last season, putting up 2.6 assists each night. He is going to see more of the court, and with his vision and ability, Sengun is going to have a better output.

But Porter Jr. may actually be an underrated player and passer because of the perceived sticking points regarding his character and attitude. To average 15.6 points (not far from Green), lead the team in assists and average a respectable 4.4 rebounds shows that he is influencing the team in most basic categories. As we will see later, Porter Jr.’s name is likely to appear again, given he led the group in steals (1.1) last season as well.

To continue leading the Rockets in assists would show an acceptance to defer to Green as their cornerstone, and to be comfortable being somebody who facilitates as much as he scores. To average the most assists for two seasons in a row would be an impressive accomplishment and absolutely mean Porter Jr. can be a key player for the franchise moving forward.