{"id":529718,"date":"2026-01-11T15:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T15:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/529718\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T15:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T15:32:11","slug":"ime-udoka-experimenting-with-lineups-will-help-rockets-right-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/529718\/","title":{"rendered":"Ime Udoka Experimenting With Lineups Will Help Rockets Right Ship"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets have been clutching at straws<\/a> to scrape together wins lately. They\u2019re still viewed as a top team in the competitive Western Conference. However, at this point, they\u2019re competing to stay out of the play-in as much as they\u2019re battling for a top-three seed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for the Rockets to experiment with a different look.<\/p>\n

The Jumbo Rockets Should Experiment With Going Small<\/p>\n

Rockets starting center and 2024-25 All-Star, Alperen Sengun<\/a>, is listed as questionable for Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings. Ideally, a matchup with the worst team in the conference would not be something you\u2019d have to rush your star big man back for. However, Houston\u2019s hurting after consecutive losses to the Portland Trail Blazers and need to stop the bleeding sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

Their downturn notwithstanding, there\u2019s one look the Rockets should be experimenting with for their Sengun-less lineups, whether Sengun is out with an injury or just resting on the bench. They should try going small. For the Rockets, that means only two 6-foot-11 players instead of three or four.<\/p>\n

Everybody Loves Steve-O<\/p>\n

Steven Adams<\/a> has been solid for the Rockets this season. The bruising Kiwi is known for his screening and rebounding, both enabled by his folkloric strength. Unsurprisingly, he leads the team<\/a> in offensive rebounds (4.5 per game). He also regularly achieves solid plus\/minus numbers. His on-court plus-minus (+11.9) is even the highest in Houston\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n

Adams doesn\u2019t just make the Rockets a fantastic offensive rebounding team<\/a>\u00a0though. He forces them to be one, averaging only 6.0 points in 22.7 minutes per game. He gathers the ball, often without jumping, and then kicks it back out for the Rockets\u2019 cramped offense to try the whole thing again.<\/p>\n

There is no question that Adams is a productive player with valuable tools, even on offense. The issue is that his skill set doesn\u2019t help to diversify the things that Houston is good at. Having said that, it would be one thing if the Rockets didn\u2019t have a choice but to play Adams major minutes. Yet, the Rockets have another option they\u2019re almost entirely neglecting even without factoring in Sengun.<\/p>\n

Jabari Smith Jr.: The Rockets\u2019 Small Ball Center<\/p>\n

In 2023-24, Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a> played extensively at center while Sengun was out of the lineup. The Rockets should give him a shot at center again. He\u2019s a 6-foot-11 big man with a 7-foot-1 wingspan. So far in 2025-26, he\u2019s averaging 15.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 34.7 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Taking that into consideration, a five-man unit with Smith at center is only really a small-ball lineup in that Smith can shoot. Frankly, he doesn\u2019t shoot particularly well \u2013 converting 34.9% of his 3s on 6.3 attempts per game in 2025-26. However, opponents do respect his 3-ball enough to at least close out on him.<\/p>\n

Almost invariably, playing at center makes it easier for players like Smith \u2013who lack the strength of traditional big men and the agility of traditional forwards \u2013to score as well. Rockets saw this first-hand way back with 6-foot-8 forward-center Jeff Green<\/a> in 2020 (Green is admittedly, a much better ball handler).<\/p>\n

Building The Small Ball Lineup<\/p>\n

The Rockets have a phenomenal roster to fill out the rest of a small-ball lineup around Smith.<\/p>\n

Notably, 6-foot-11 forward Kevin Durant<\/a> has extensive experience playing at center himself. While you wouldn\u2019t want your 37-year-old superstar to be taking on that role in the regular season, he can at least chip in with additional rim protection. Ultra-athletic playmaker Amen Thompson<\/a> had his breakout as a power forward playing alongside Smith at center. Tari Eason<\/a> and Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> are large, switchable forwards who can provide at least a semblance of spacing.<\/p>\n

Due to a right ankle injury, Eason will miss Sunday night\u2019s game (and possibly more time). However, the Rockets still have guards Aaron Holiday<\/a> and Josh Okogie<\/a> to fill out a small-ball switch-everything lineup.<\/p>\n

The Last Word On The Rockets\u2019 Lineups<\/p>\n

If the Rockets\u2019 overreliance on Durant concerns their head coach<\/a>, he needs to make it easier for them to score.<\/p>\n

Even Reed Sheppard<\/a> could benefit from some more spacing on offense. He\u2019s been one of the principal beneficiaries of Adams\u2019 screening prowess this year. The 12-year veteran sucking defenders into the paint is useful for Sheppard, who can get caught up on the perimeter without assistance. However, someone like Thompson or even Durant could conceivably partake in those actions with Sheppard instead. Plenty of practice with different types of screeners would be a boon to Sheppard\u2019s long-term development.<\/p>\n

If nothing else, Houston should be experimenting with more looks now so that they know what options they\u2019ll have come playoffs. By now, it\u2019s abundantly clear that Rockets head coach Ime Udoka doesn\u2019t like small-ball. Not even the Rockets\u2019 wonky double-six-eleven version of it. Even so, a little discomfort now would be a small price to pay for greater flexibility later.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Thomas Shea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets have been clutching at straws to scrape together wins lately. They\u2019re still viewed as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3794],"tags":[1307,7,292,194,4066,2497,938,6,1081,211,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-529718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-jabari-smith-jr","14":"tag-kevin-durant","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-reed-sheppard","17":"tag-rockets","18":"tag-steven-adams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115877193131739118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}