(6/24/22)
Written by John Raley
Last night the NBA draft took place and the Houston Rockets were able to acquire three players in the first round to help continue their rebuild going into the 2022-2023 NBA season. General Manager, Rafael Stone, was able to find some gems in the later parts of the first round last year and he seems to have been able to do it again this year. With picks 3, 17, and 26 (which was traded back to pick 29 along with 2 future draft picks) Houston was able to pick up Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, and TyTy Washington. Here’s the breakdown of each player and what their role on the team will be this upcoming season.
Jabari Smith Jr.
There was a lot of talk in the weeks leading up to the draft that Orlando was heavily considering taking Smith with the first overall selection, but the franchise decided to go another direction and drafted forward Paolo Banchero from Duke University which let Smith fall to the Rockets with the third pick. Smith has drawn comparisons to Kevin Durant due to his elite size at 6’10” paired with his ability to shoot the three ball. He also provides some much needed help on the defensive end for a Rockets team that was abysmal on that end of the court last season. His wingspan of 7’1” paired with his great defensive footwork allows him to guard multiple positions and allows him to be an impact 3 and D player right away. Smith did struggle at Auburn last season with creating his own shot off the dribble and looked uncomfortable with his handle at points which is something he will need to improve upon to be a real threat to score at all three levels in the NBA. Overall I like the pick. Smith is a player who does not need to be ball dominant on offense to have an impact he is very comfortable getting his shots off of catch and shoot scenarios. This will allow Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green to have a larger role in the offense and control the flow of the game more which will help with their development. Jabari will likely start at the 4 spot this year with Alperen Sengun at the 5. Smith’s defensive skills will look to mask the lack of defensive skills that Sengun has and I think Senguns abilities both scoring and passing on the block will pair nicely with Smith’s skills and ability to stretch the floor.
Tari Eason
Eason is a 6’8” forward from LSU who is coming off a season where he won SEC sixth man of the year with averages of 16.9 points and 6.6 rebounds in 33 games played for the Tigers. Eason is thought to be the best wing defender in this year's draft and that has become an invaluable thing in the NBA as it seems wings have taken over the game over these past few years. His defensive ability along with his potential to be a consistent threat from three point range give him a very high floor for his professional career. With the pairing of Smith and Eason as their top two picks Houston is clearly looking to make big improvements on the defensive end which is going to be very important to the success of this rebuilding process. He shot 35.9% from three point range on just over 2 attempts a game last season. In order for Eason to fulfill his offensive potential he will need to increase his volume as a shooter to help space the floor on offense. Eason will likely be Jae’Sean Tate’s backup, but I could see a scenario where during the season Houston agrees to start Eason due to his age compared to Tate’s (21 vs 26) which gives Eason a much larger window to improve as a player before he reaches his prime which is usually considered around 28 years old. Eason also has a size advantage over Tate and more length which will allow him to play multiple positions more naturally.
TyTy Washington
The moves made to select TyTy Washington came as a last second play by Houston last night. The Rockets acquired the 26th pick from the Dallas Mavericks as a part of the trade that sent Christian Wood over to the Mavs. Dallas selected Wendell Moore from Duke with the 26th pick on behalf of the Houston Rockets. The Rockets then dealt Moore to Minnesota for the 29th pick along with 2 future first round draft picks. With the 29th pick Houston took TyTy Washington, a guard from Kentucky who has probably the best mid range game of anyone in this draft. Washington had some injuries last year that caused him to miss some time for the Wildcats, but when he was available he was one of the better guards in the country. His bread and butter is his mid range game which he loves to utilize in pick and roll situations. He is extremely comfortable shooting off of one dribble and his mechanics are very smooth. He has the potential to really expand that range out past the three point line and at 6’4” he provides great size for a point guard. Washington has a great floater that allows him to score amongst the trees in the lane on his drives and he showed some flashes last year of being a very high IQ passer that helps to initiate fast breaks. Now Washington played for a Kentucky team that was loaded with talent which means that he never really showed his ability to take over a game when needed. His role this season will likely be splitting time at the backup point guard spot. Houston already has Daishen Nix (both he and Washington are 20 years old) who played some for Houston last year, but he mostly dominated the G League for the Rio Grande Vipers. The battle between the two of them should be interesting. Both have the ability to run an offense with their passing while needing to improve their shooting ability from outside.
Overall I like what the Rockets did last night in the draft. They clearly addressed their needs on the defensive sides with their first 2 picks and were able to get a dynamic guard with great size at the end of the first round. My only complaint is I would have liked to see them try to get a true center with their last pick in the first round. I love Alperen Sengun for many reasons; his footwork down low on offense, his extremely high basketball IQ and passing ability, and his ability to stretch out opposing bigs with his three point shot. What I don’t love is his defense. Sengun is below average athletically compared to other big men in the NBA and I just don’t see him ever being a stout defender. I look at what Boston did this past year to get to the Finals and a huge part of their success was Robert Williams. Williams provided an enforcer inside who would block multiple shots a game, grab a ton of rebounds, and never demanded the ball in his hands offensively which allowed their guards and wings to really work and move the ball. I loved Mark Williams from Duke who was picked up by Charlotte with the 15th pick last night. I think he will average 10+ rebounds and 2+ blocked shots right away for them while providing a great lob threat for Lamelo to toss it up to in the pick and roll. I think having a guy like that at your 5 allows you to move Sengun to the 4, Jabari Smith to the 3 and keep Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green at the 1 and 2 respectively. That lineup would be huge, extremely athletic, and very skilled all around with all of those players still being very young with time to develop and build chemistry together.
Draft Grade: B-
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