The Rockets Hustle Stats Improved Last Season

In part five of my deep dive into the Houston Rockets advanced stats, I take a look at the hustle stats from last season.

Dec 20, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka reacts with forward Dillon Brooks (9) during the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

When evaluating an NBA team's season, you usually look at specific stats: points per game scored, points allowed, and 3-point shooting. Those stats are essential as they give you a good idea of how a team performed that year.

As I have shown in this series, other less-researched stats can also give you an insight into what a team did throughout the season. One of those areas is hustle stats. Hustle stats haven't been around that long, as the NBA started recording this stat in 2015-16

Hustle stats consist of several categories: contested shots, deflection and loose ball recovered being the main stats. In part five of my deep dive into the Rockets statistics from last season, we'll look at how the Rockets ranked in these categories:

If there is one category that signifies a team's effort, it is hustle stats. When Ime Udoka was hired last off-season, he said he wanted to bring toughness and a team that always gave effort when they were on the court.

In previous seasons, effort sometimes was an issue. In the last two seasons, when it came to deflections, the Rockets ranked in the middle of the pack with 13.8 deflections a game in 2022-23 and 13.4 in 2021-22. If you go back to the start of the rebuild, the Rockets haven't had more than 14 deflections in a game during that period.

The Rockets also ranked near the bottom of the league in contested shots, ranking No. 24 in this category in 2022-23. These two areas show how much effort a team gives on the defensive end. Of course, it isn't the only measurement of a team's effort, but when you are a team that isn't stacked with talent, you must put effort into every game.

Last season, Houston seemed to buy into Udoka's philosophy of giving maximum effort on the defensive end. The Rockets ranked in the top-five in deflections at 15.4 a game and the top six in contested shots.

That is a huge improvement from the previous two seasons, and it helped the Rockets become a top-ten defense for much of last season. The additions of players like Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet went a long way in the Rockets' improvement, but the effort of the entire team went up last season.

Everyone from Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith improved on the defensive end. For the Rockets to go from a nice story to a contending team, they will have to continue to improve in all aspects, especially on the defensive end.

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