Rockets: To become a superstar, Jalen Green must do this to improve

The Houston Rockets are right in the middle of their post-James Harden rebuild. They are the second-youngest team in the league and one of the worst ones too at this point. While they are still trying to figure out how to function as a team and finding their identity, they are sitting at the very bottom of the Western Conference. The roster is filled with plenty of young talent, though, including six first-round picks from the last two drafts, who are forming the foundation of Houston’s future.

Having that many talented players who are all in similar stages of their development offer the Rockets the opportunity to rebuild with a cohesive timeline and realistic vision, but it also poses very unique challenges for the team as well. All of these guys want to grow, improve and make a name for themselves in the NBA. To do that, they want to have the ball in their hands as much as possible, and the young Rockets still need to learn how to share the ball more effectively.

Furthermore, they are all still young and learning to compete with grown men in the NBA, and veteran players who can impart that sort of wisdom onto the newcomers are a rarity on the Rockets’ roster. Boban Marjanovic and Eric Gordon are the only players over the age of thirty and only Jae’Sean Tate and Garrison Mathews are over twenty-five, which means the young core is often left to figure things out among themselves. Gordon, the only regular veteran starter, just recently voiced a certain frustration with the team over selfish plays and a lack of improvement compared to last season.

Several players on the team certainly still have ways to go but have also already made visible strides compared to last season. Jalen Green, the centerpiece of the Rockets’ rebuild, is one of those players. Green was the second pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and was quick to meet the expectations that come with being a top draft pick. After becoming the only rookie other than Allen Iverson to record five straight games with at least 30 points in the last forty years, he was named to the All-Rookie First Team and finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.