Who Can Organize The Offense For The Rockets?

The impact of losing Fred VanVleet before the season has culminated in a few difficult losses for the Houston Rockets. Two tight games resulted in clutch defeats after some inconsistencies on both sides of the floor. Despite heroics from Alperen Sengun in game one and Kevin Durant in game two, the offense clearly needs more organization until the defense returns to its elite level from last season.

While the Rockets have more perimeter scoring than they have had in previous seasons, they are running into the same issues they had when VanVleet was not on the court.

Houston's perimeter ball handlers have struggled with their ball security to start the season. The Rockets had a much better game against the Detroit Pistons with just 13 turnovers, but it was likely a major coaching point after giving the ball away 22 times against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard have been counted on to bring the ball up and initiate offensive sets for the Rockets. Even Sengun has brought the ball up on occasions.

The Rockets made an immediate improvement in their efficiency getting Durant the ball. Durant is an offensive set by himself, as he is still one of the most efficient isolation scorers in the league. The evidence is in his 37-point scoring night against the Pistons.

However, the Rockets can't depend on Durant bailing out the offense all game if it's mostly ineffective outside of his production.

Sengun struggled against the big man defense of the Pistons, keeping him from becoming a major offensive initiator. He still finished with a team-leading seven assists, but that total was nearly half of the team's total assists.

The playmaking hasn't been good enough to win, especially from the team's main ball handlers.

There are no clear solutions for these issues in the short term. The long term solution is improvement from Sheppard and Thompson with their ball handling.

Tari Eason has also contributed to Houston's ball handling issues. He and the rest of the team have given the ball away on some unnecessary turnovers that limit the offense's capabilities. Until a player other than Durant or Sengun can improve their ball handling and creation abilities, the offense may seem a little stuck in the mud.

The offense may not look like this through the latter parts of the season, but the early growing pains may lead to some difficulty for the Rockets offensively.