HOUSTON (Sportsradio 610)- As the second overall pick of the 2021 Draft, Jalen Green has served as the face of the Rockets rebuild, and through the first two seasons of his NBA career, he showed he could one day meet his lofty expectations. Year three has been a struggle at times, but Rockets general manager Rafael Stone hasn't lost faith.
"Jalen has been and continues to be, on paper, a great fit with us," Stone said Monday. "He has a skill set that isn't replicated on our roster."
Green's scoring is down, in part due to Alperen Sengun's ascension and because the Rockets have surrounded him with better teammates who can put the ball in the basket, but that's not the only reason. Green is having the worst shooting season of his career, connecting on just 41.2 percent of his shots from the field, and 31 percent from behind the three-point line.
"My expectation is that the defense, which has gotten better, is still going to get a lot better," Stone said. "That the physicality and the efficiency are all going to get better. He needs to take those steps. That's extraordinarily important. He's aware of it. We're aware of it. And that's the challenge for him and for us."
Regardless of what happens Wednesday night in Memphis, the Rockets will enter the All-Star Break having already eclipsed their win total from last season, but winning more than 22 games wasn't the final goal.
"I do feel like we've obviously made a big jump in terms of being competitive this year," Stone said. "That was kind of goal one. Goal two is to take being competitive to winning more games. We've won more too. But the point being, we've left a bunch of wins on the table this year through all kinds of mistakes, and you get better through experience."
How far the Rockets go this season and in the years to come will largely fall on the shoulders of Green and the five other first round picks Stone has drafted that remain on the roster (Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr, Amen Thompson, and Cam Whitmore) take them. Overall Stone says he's pleased with what he's seen from the Rockets "Core Six" but not satisfied.
"They're growing, so in that sense we're pleased, but I want to be clear, we're demanding.
"Growth is expected and demanded here, so we're happy with them, and different guys have taken different leaps at different times and in different ways on different sides of the ball, but our expectation is that they all should be getting better between here and the end of the year, should be getting better between the end of the year and next season, and that growth needs to be continual."
After Monday's win against the New York Knicks, the Rockets sit in 12th place in the Western Conference standings, three games back of the streaking Golden State Warriors for the final play-in spot.
