The One Houston Rockets Stat That May Suprise You

The Houston Rockets improvement in one area may have been overlooked.

Jan 31, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) controls the ball as New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas (17) defends during the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

A few categories stood out in the Houston Rockets statistics last season. The Rockets improved their 3-point shooting, turnovers per game, defensive rating, and points allowed per game, leading to a 19-win improvement over the previous season.

All of these stats are vital and show how well a team performed over the season. However, another stat not talked about much showed how well the Rockets improved their team's ball movement.

Screen assists aren't a stat you think of when analyzing an NBA offensive performance. Screen assists are a measure of the number of times an offensive player or team sets a screen for a teammate that directly leads to a field goal made by that teammate.

The NBA recently started tracking screen assists in the 2015-16 season. For better or worse, the Golden State Warriors brought screen assists to the forefront during their championship run.

Their opponents, including the Houston Rockets, believed some of their screens were illegal, which gave their shooters an unfair advantage.

Despite the controversy surrounding their screens, the Warriors have been the best screening team for the last several years. The Rockets haven't typically implemented screens into their offensive game.

Since the NBA started tracking screen assists, the Rockets have never finished in the top ten. In the 2020-21 season, they finished last in the NBA. In 2022-23, the Rockets finished 24th. With the change in coaching staff and personnel, the Rockets started implementing more screens into their offense.

That led to the Rockets finishing sixth in screen assists last season. That is a huge improvement for a team not known for moving the ball. More screen assists mean more player movement and less isolation basketball.

Not only do screens help the ball handler, but they also set up possibilities for other plays later in the game. For instance, if a team starts to overplay pick and rolls or off-ball screens, that could set the Rockets to slip the pick, which could lead to an easy basket.

A lot of that credit goes to Alperen Sengun, who finished in the top ten in screen assists at 4.1 per game. The two-man game between Sengun and Fred VanVleet was one of the best in the NBA when it came to screen assists and led to a lot of easy baskets.

The Rockets have a chance this upcoming season to finish even higher with the addition of Steven Adams. He is one of the best screeners in the NBA and has finished in the top 10 in three out of the last five years, including first in the 2022-23 season.

If the Rockets do improve in this area again next season we may see them add a few more in the win column.

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