Salman Ali Articles - Page 3

I think most observers would say the Houston Rockets have already blown their team up and have gone into a full rebuild. And while trading James Harden and Russell Westbrook were two very big steps, they still haven’t quite torn it all the way down yet. Because of this, they sit in this weird middle […]

If there was ever a rock-bottom for the Houston Rockets this season, Wednesday night was it. After losing 11 consecutive games, the Rockets went into Oklahoma City and dropped their 12th straight game to the Thunder. Although the Thunder are the 10th seed in the Western Conference, from a talent perspective, many perceived them to […]

When the Houston Rockets selected Jalen Green with the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, they may not have placed expectations on him through the media, but they didn’t have to. The number two overall pick comes with massive expectations and when the draft class is as talented as it was, the hope […]

If it wasn’t so before, Monday night made it abundantly clear that there won’t be a rock bottom for the Houston Rockets. This is a really bad basketball team and they’re shaping up to be at the top of the lottery for their second straight season. However, we’re also in pretty dicey territory. Twelve-game losing […]

The Houston Rockets dropped their 11th straight game in blowout fashion on Sunday night to the Phoenix Suns, 115-89. The Rockets were expected to be a bad team this year, but losing this many consecutive games is always alarming. Even rebuilding teams get occasional victories. This is around the time drastic changes are implemented, either […]

It’s hard to describe how much NBA players hate losing games. They set such high standards for themselves that it’s not in their nature to expect it. It’s tough for everyone, but especially very good players at the tail-end of their primes. They expect to be competing at the highest levels of the playoffs and […]

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups is one of the most accomplished point guards in NBA history. He made the All-Star team five times, he won an NBA championship on the Pistons in 2004, and he’s got a Finals MVP to his name. He’s a pretty intelligent basketball figure and NBA teams have been […]

If you followed the Rockets during the James Harden era, it’s crazy to think the same rookie Damian Lillard that upset Houston on a series clinching three-pointer in 2014 is now 31-years-old. Players on the current Rockets are so young that they grew up watching Lillard and still on some level look up to him. […]

The Houston Rockets have led at halftime in four out of their last five games. They’ve gone on to lose every single one of these games, including Wednesday night to the Detroit Pistons who are 15th in the Eastern Conference. Digging through the film and confirming it with the numbers, it’s not hard to isolate […]

For the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons, Wednesday night was the most anticipated matchup of the season. The NBA doesn’t typically place that much importance on a number one versus number two overall pick matchup. It’s customary that they face off during NBA Summer League, but after that, public interest doesn’t really carry over. However, […]

Houston Rockets center Christian Wood kind of put the team in a tough spot this week after his comments about not feeling involved enough offensively. “It wasn’t difficult,” said Wood on his matchup with Nuggets star Nikola Jokic on Saturday. “I think it could have been better if I was more involved in the offense.” […]

As much as you think you know a team before the season, there’s always one thing that will surprise you as soon as the season kicks off. This is the case for every team in the NBA, and the Houston Rockets are no exception. Their early season surprise is clearly rookie Alperen Sengun. Nobody who […]

The Houston Rockets and the Detroit Pistons will both play their first and only game on ESPN on Wednesday night. This is due to the matchup between rookies Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green, the first and second overall picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, respectively. When asked about the matchup on Tuesday, Green was pretty […]

The ten game mark of the NBA is interesting. You’re at that point where you can start glancing at data and make observations, but history tells us that you shouldn’t really draw conclusions until the 20-game mark. However, for some teams, if what we’re seeing matches what we thought would happen before the season, it’s […]

After the Houston Rockets lost to the Denver Nuggets in a nail-biter on Saturday, they said the things you’d expect them to say. Competing hard against some of the best teams in the NBA and falling short every time would obviously put you in a bad mood. The team acknowledged that they were improving, but […]

The Houston Rockets will probably win an away game this season, but it didn’t happen on Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets. Like Thursday, the Rockets fought and clawed to keep a lead over the Nuggets for a significant portion of the game. However, the superior talent and experience of Denver won out, so Houston […]

After a razor-thin loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, the Houston Rockets entered the Footprint Center to face the Phoenix Suns with the intention of getting their first road victory of the season against. They ultimately fell short, but like in a lot of their games as of late, they put up a […]

There are generally two ways star prospects go through their rookie year. The first way is the consistently-good-out-of-the-gate player like Evan Mobley who may not put up star stat lines, but you can tell they’re a couple of years away from happening. The second is the player who shows flashes of something special, but can’t […]

The veteran Los Angeles Lakers trampling the inexperienced Houston Rockets was a quite predictable outcome for Sunday night’s matchup in Los Angeles. Not only do the Lakers possess a giant talent and experience advantage over Houston, but players like Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green have never played in the Staples Center before and consider […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are the most veteran-laiden team in the league and the Houston Rockets are among the youngest. So when the Rockets pulled into the Staples Center on Sunday, excited about their first NBA road trip, one could have easily predicted how the matchup would go. “It’s possible,” said coach Stephen Silas when […]

There are few more dreaded days on the calendar for an NBA coach than an extended trip to Los Angeles. It doesn’t matter how good either team is at that moment in time, because the headache for coaches stems from the nightlife scene. To be clear, there are other NBA cities with great nightlife for […]

The funniest part of the NBA season occurs in the first two weeks. We have a very limited amount of data to work with, but people feel the need to start drawing conclusions from it. This applies to the Houston Rockets; though we’ll get there in a minute. For example about early season overreactions, James […]

It has been well known for years now how explosive of an athlete Jalen Green is. He’s an incredible leaper, very fast in transition, and he seems to have an impressive dunk every game now for the Houston Rockets. It’s a big reason why he has been one of the top-rated NBA prospects in the […]

The Houston Rockets like to end practices with one-on-one drills led by assistant coach John Lucas. It’s been a tradition dating back to training camp in Galveston and the media has been allowed in to watch. The drills are very competitive and there’s a lot of trash talk so it’s actually a pretty entertaining set […]

One of the early season storylines for the Rockets that nobody saw coming is the chemistry big men Alperen Sengun and Christian Wood have developed together. Not many people thought Sengun and Wood would even share the floor as much as they have so far. Theoretically, they’re both natural centers in the modern NBA and […]

The Golden State Warriors introduced the idea of switching everything on defense to the NBA in 2015. Before the Dubs, switching was viewed as a “weak” form of defense that was only done at the end of games. However, Steve Kerr and Co. become a juggernaut with that tactic. In response, the Houston Rockets also […]

Going from covering an established superstar like James Harden for several years to covering a star prospect like Jalen Green is incredibly different. Harden almost always came out in the positive column and his games were always steady and predictable. It’ll be anyone’s guess how many games Green has in the positive column this year […]

On Friday, former Houston Rockets talent Gerald Green announced that he would be retiring from basketball and becoming a player development coach for franchise. Green played two seasons for the Rockets, but left a pretty indelible mark on the organization and city. In addition to being a pretty capable shooter and helpful contributor to Houston’s […]

After a dominating win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets point guard Kevin Porter Jr. talked about his relationship with rookie shooting guard Jalen Green. “I see so much in him,” said Porter Jr. “And he sees so much in me. We got the same level of respect for each other.” Dating back to […]

The Houston Rockets opened up the Toyota Center with an unexpected, but dominating performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder. After an 18-point beatdown in Minnesota, Houston came into the game determined to make a new first impression. Led by Christian Wood, the Rockets did just that. “I think we learned from the last game as […]

If you were a Rockets fan entering the season with an optimistic outlook, Wednesday night’s beatdown against the Minnesota Timberwolves may have served as an unwelcome reality check. It’s just one game, but it lines up with most experts and projection models thought Houston would be this year – a really bad basketball team. This […]

Most Houston Rockets fans probably didn’t watch Wednesday night’s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves all the way through, and it was justified. Unfortunately, it’s likely a preview of what will happen throughout the season: young talent playing hard and having a few highlight moments, but ultimately losing due to turnovers, bad defense, and poor […]

Last year was an all-time chaotic year for the Houston Rockets. Russell Westbrook and James Harden set the tone with their trade requests before free agency, but it never got better from there. New head coach Stephen Silas had to deal with juggling egos, trying to maintain a healthy locker room environment, and learning on […]

Players like Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green have been on an NBA trajectory since they were pre-teens. They’re the stars of their grade school teams, they join the AAU basketball circuit, scouts make regular appearances at their games, and they’re recruited by several different entities looking to capitalize on their talents (colleges, brands, extended family, […]

The Houston Rockets used four different starting lineups through the preseason. A total of eight different players have seen their name called to start so far and the Rockets have deliberately collected data internally on all these units. While it’s pretty clear who three of the starters are going to be, the remaining two starters […]

With Rockets starting center Daniel Theis sidelined due to a minor knee injury, Stephen Silas used Houston’s last preseason game as an opportunity to test out a new starting lineup. Christian Wood occupied Theis’ spot at starting center and rookie Alperen Sengun stepped in at power forward. The move wasn’t a complete surprise as Sengun […]

It’s been a crazy three years for guard Armoni Brooks. After not being selected in the 2019 NBA Draft and bouncing around the G League for two years, Brooks finally found some stability this year with the Houston Rockets. In January, he signed with Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and was […]

By the time training camp rolls around in the NBA, you usually can predict what to expect from a team. Every beat reporter knows what storylines are relevant to ask about, ever player has a general idea of what his role is on the team, and coaches have a rotation in mind that they are […]

It’s safe to say that people are generally more excited to watch this year’s Rockets’ team versus last year’s team. Houston has an exciting cast that includes Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba, Kevin Porter Jr., and Josh Christopher – all of which are under the age of 22. It’s a breath of fresh air […]