Inside The Rockets

Jalen Green's Improvement is Detrimental to the Houston Rockets' Success

The Houston Rockets invested a lot of draft capital into their young star in Jalen Green. Here's why his play on the court will determine how far the team goes in the 2024-2025 season.

Amsal Madhani

Apr 5, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green (4) reacts after a play during the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Apr 5, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green (4) reacts after a play during the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
In this story:

Entering his fourth season in the NBA, Houston Rockets star guard Jalen Green has shown many flashes of why the team used the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft on him. Averaging 19.8 points per game through three seasons, Green has proven that he can score with the best of them.

Despite his display of elite talent throughout his young career, Green still has a lot of room for improvement and will need to take his game to the next level for Houston to enter the discussion for championship-contending teams next season.

It's safe to say that the Rockets did not draft Green in hopes of him being a sub-20 points per game scorer hovering around 42% shooting. The team also did not anticipate him to be arguably the second or third-best player on the team with the high draft capital that they spent on the guard.

Star center Alperen Şengün was drafted 14 slots behind Green in 2021, and has been debatably better than him so far throughout three seasons. However, it has been very clear that this team goes as far as Green could take them.

The young star scored 25 or more points 24 times last season. In those games, Houston went 16-8. 10 of those games came in March when the team went undefeated when Green scored 25 or more, including eight matchups without Şengün in the lineup. A lot of the team's success hinders on whether or not its starting shooting guard can score the basketball at will and at a good efficiency.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, they haven't seen Green consistently put up the mid to high 20s numbers in the points department outside of what has become known as "March Jalen Green." This has limited Houston's overall potential as the team has been in desperate need of a go-to guy that could help it win games in the spotlight or many of the close games it has given up throughout the last three seasons, which Green has shown he can do when he is on, of course.

With all that being said, the Rockets' success hinders on two things next season: an increase in Green's efficiency and consistency.

The young star has shown improvements in defense, posting the best defensive rating of his career last season (114.7). He has shown improvements in his playmaking ability as his assists have gone up from year one. Green also had his best rebounding season last year, averaging 5.2 per game. But if he can increase his shooting percentage from 42% to around 45% and show another uptick in points per game, the sky becomes the limit for this young Houston squad.

The Rockets have put all the right pieces around Green to put themselves on a path back to glory, surrounding him with elite playmakers in Şengün and Fred VanVleet, and elite defenders in Jabari Smith Jr., Dillion Brooks and Tari Eason. It is now up to Green to take that next step in his game and lead Houston back to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Want to join the discussion? Like Rockets on SI on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Rockets news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.

Published
Amsal Madhani

AMSAL MADHANI

Amsal is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor's in Journalism and a Minor in Business. He was born and raised in Houston, Texas and specializes in coverage of the Houston Rockets.

Home/News