7 wins and 1 loss, the team leader’s On-Off value is -6.5! Durant quickly integrates, and the Rockets are expected to challenge the Thunder

This season’s NBA regular season has only started for three weeks, and some players in the league are happy while others are sad. First of all, the Thunder and Nuggets are too strong. The Thunder, without Jay Wei and many role players coming in and out due to injuries, started with 12 wins and 1 loss, which has already tied the Bulls' opening record of 72 wins. The key is that the Thunder's net efficiency per 100 rounds is +15.2. The Thunder were unable to achieve this level of dominance last season! Ranked first in the league in defense, top five in offense, and winning games basically start at 20 points. The Nuggets should not be underestimated. With a record of 9 wins and 2 losses and a net efficiency rating of +13.4 per 100 possessions, they are one player below ten thousand in the Western Conference. Jokic also scored 55 points in the game against the Clippers, breaking the curse of his career in which teams with 50+ points could not win.

Is it true that the Western Conference is just a duo of Thunder and Nuggets this season? Don't ignore the Rockets. In the first two games of the season, the Rockets narrowly lost to the Thunder by 1 point in double overtime; in the second game, they narrowly lost to the Eastern Conference's No. 1 Pistons by 4 points (starting with 10 wins and 2 losses). In the following 8 games, the Rockets had 7 wins and 1 loss, and only lost 1 game to the Spurs. Looking at the team's high-level data, the Rockets are ranked third in the league this season with an average of 124 points per game, seventh in the league in points allowed per game with 113 points, first in the league in offensive efficiency of 124.8, eleventh in the league in defensive efficiency of 113.7, and net efficiency +11.1, third in the league! First of all, the Rockets' several offseason signings did give them a higher ceiling, but to be honest, in the first 10 games, Udoka only focused on using two new players, Durant and Okogie.

Durant completed a two-year contract extension of $90 million with the Rockets during the offseason, which is equivalent to a salary cut of $30 million with a maximum of $120 million over two years. This season, Durant still has a salary of $54.71 million, fourth in the league. In his first 10 games with the Rockets, he averaged 24.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Surprisingly, this is Durant's lowest scoring average since entering the league, except for his rookie season. But Durant scored 246 points in the first 10 games, second in Rockets history, second only to Harden's 260 points! The Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors last season because of their poor offense. The introduction of Durant was to solve the problem in the high-end game. There is a set of data that is more interesting: Durant's On-Off value this season is -6.5. The Rockets have a regular 9-man rotation, and he ranks 8th.

Let us first emphasize a major premise. For this Rockets, Durant is a green leaf who helps young people grow, but he is also a mentor for young people. He is the person Uduka trusts most at critical moments. He must also be the boss of the team. There is no conflict. First of all, when Durant is on the court this season, the Rockets have an offensive efficiency of 123.0, a defensive efficiency of 113.7, and a net advantage of 9.3 points per 100 possessions. This is the top three levels in the league! But when Durant is not on the court, the Rockets have an offensive efficiency of 129.9, a defensive efficiency of 114.1, and a net victory over their opponents of 15.8 points per 100 rounds. This is higher than the Thunder, ranking first in the league! Therefore, Durant's irreplaceable value is negative, which can be understood as the team plays better when he is not on the court! Why is this happening? There are two reasons here: the twin towers + the foreshadowing of the confidence improvement of young people.

The Rockets' lineup with the highest net points this season is: Shepard + Ethan + Amen + Shen Jing + Adams. Although they lost to the Thunder and Pistons consecutively when the five major lineups were put together, in the transition period, this lineup can beat the opponent by 61.7 points per 100 rounds! The opponent couldn't handle the support of No. 4 Shen Jing. Shepard (averaging 2.8 three-pointers per game + 50% three-point shooting percentage) and Ethan (averaging 2.6 three-pointers per game + 53% three-point shooting percentage) stretched the opponent's space. Amen's air cuts and Adams' success came naturally. Why does Udoka insist on letting Adams or Capela move to the fifth position? It is not a problem in the regular season, but in the playoffs when encountering a twin-tower combination like the Thunder, or a team like the Timberwolves that is good at attacking with a center, the Rockets lineup can match it.

For Durant, his task is very simple, get the ball and finish, or face a flanking attack, find two defenders, within three passes, the Rockets will definitely have shooting space, so the Rockets team's two-field shooting rate this season is 49.8% (fourth in the league) + 43.5% (first in the league)! When Durant was originally traded, the US media generally believed that Durant might hinder the growth of young people and destroy the team's original tactical system. In fact, Durant is indeed easily misunderstood. In the Suns and the Nets, Durant's stand-up singles are due to the lack of help from his teammates and because if he does not score, no one on the team will step up to lead the team to win. But in the Rockets, there are too many players with cornerstone potential. From Amen to Shen Jing, Shepard has gradually developed it.

Although the Rockets are not the favorites to win the league's top three levels in various prediction lists of the US media, after these 10 games, Durant and the team's integration is better than expected. The twin-tower lineup tested by Uduka will definitely be used in the playoffs, and in high-end rounds, Durant can raise the ceiling! The young people have gradually formed a consensus that Durant will take the lead, and their self-confidence has also increased, and they dare to take action. In fact, the Rockets and Nuggets are the closest to the Thunder this season, but Jokic is the only one who initiates the Nuggets' offense. In comparison, the Rockets lineup is more balanced. Although they are not favored by the outside world, if they continue to play in this way, the Rockets will get closer and closer to the championship.