Led by general manager Rafael Stone and head coach Ime Udoka, leaders within the Rockets have frequently described the 2023-24 season as the start of phase two in their rebuild and what they hope is a gradual transition back to NBA championship contention.
The opening weeks have been a smashing success, with free agency acquisitions such as Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jeff Green meshing well with impressive third-year talents Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, who were each drafted in the 2021 first round. Entering Friday, Houston (6-3) had won six consecutive games.
But even if the Rockets are ahead of expectations, they still don’t appear to be in actual championship contention mode just yet.
So, how does that happen? In a Sengun feature written by Michael Pina of The Ringer, Stone says much of the blueprint for future success could simply involve this current group building chemistry — and not all within a singular season. Stone’s comments:
The best teams in the NBA have continuity. They’ve been together five, six years, their core group. I think we’re entering that phase.
I profiled Alperen Sengun, a 21-year-old who’s already the best player on the NBA’s most surprising team, with a rare skill-set that draws frequent comparisons to the best player alive.
“Jokic is like monster level. I want to get to that level.”https://t.co/FA5ZNAcf7c
— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) November 17, 2023
Sengun, who leads the Rockets in scoring (19.4 points) and rebounding (8.4) on a per-game average basis, seems to agree.
“They know each other very well, and I think that’s the most important thing for their championship last year,” Sengun told Pina of Nikola Jokic (his idol) and the Nuggets. “We need to know each other like Denver does, and we just have a lot of players, new players, this year. But, you know, Jalen and me and Jabari [Smith Jr.], we’re getting used to it now knowing each other, but that’s taking time.”
