Good or bad, everything in the preseason should be taken with a grain of salt, especially for this young Houston Rockets team. While it's statistically more indicative of what will happen in the regular season than pundits give it credit for, the preseason primarily serves two purposes:

  1. For coaches to figure out rotations and lineups
  2. For players to get in game shape without hurting themselves

However, there is a predictive element to preseason, because a lot of trends and themes tend to carry over. Read these Rockets takeaways from their preseason opener against the Washington Wizards with a grain of salt, but chances are, at least one or two will end up carrying over to the real season. Houston earned a 125-119 victory on Tuesday night.

Rockets preseason opener takeaways

1. Kevin Porter Jr. looks like the real deal

It's just one game, but the level of confidence Kevin Porter Jr. had as the primary ball handler was jarring. Passing without turning the ball over is still a work in progress, but Porter was very comfortable making plays for others while letting scoring opportunities come naturally. This is one of those games where he was asked to be the main scorer and he delivered, racking up 25 points on nearly 70% true shooting.

“That's kind of the help of my guys out there,” said Porter. “They don't like me passive at all. They like me kind of aggressive because it opens up shots for them as well as myself.”

2. It may take Jalen Green some time to be efficient

There are three areas where rookies typically struggle the most: defense, turnovers, and scoring efficiency. A great example of this is Bradley Beal, who came into the league as a 51.5% true shooting percentage player before settling in at a career average of 56.4%. As players get stronger, smarter, and better acclimated to the speed of the game, they start to become more efficient. Much like Beal, Jalen Green may be someone who enters the league scoring a lot of points on not-so-great efficiency.

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It's just his first preseason game, but Green scored 12 points on 47.8% true shooting Tuesday night against the Wizards. It's unlikely that will remain the case all year, but he could be a low 50s guy in true shooting his first season in the NBA.

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“As he learns and grows, he’s going to be pretty good,” said Stephen Silas of Green. “He didn’t shoot it great tonight, but that’ll come with being more comfortable on the floor. He looked pretty comfortable tonight, but there’s still areas on the floor where he can get to and reads that he can make that he will get by experience.”

3. Eric Gordon could be the opening day starter

The big mystery at Rockets training camp was who would start at small forward. It was clear that Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Green, Christian Wood, and Daniel Theis were locks to start, so it was a matter of figuring out that fifth guy. Jae'Sean Tate would have been my betting favorite, but Eric Gordon was definitely a name to keep an eye on. Gordon had a fantastic training camp and coaching staffs generally have a high degree of trust in veterans as dependable as him.

There's still time for Silas to change his mind here and Tate could very well start on Thursday as the Rockets experiment with different looks, but I'd say Gordon has now become the favorite for the fifth spot.

4. Shortening the rotation will prove to be difficult

Houston's fourth-quarter unit led by Josh Christopher and Usman Garuba was fun, weird, and highly adaptable defensively. It's the unit that brought them over the top and ultimately won them the game down the stretch. While it's expected that Christopher and Garuba will be out of the main rotation and get some time in the G League, if they keep playing like this, the decision will be made challenging.

“It’s going to be difficult,” said Silas. “We have a bunch of young guys who are hungry and work hard. Josh [Christopher] is as hungry and works as hard as anybody that I’ve seen. It can become difficult, but it’s my job to do that.”

Silas also noted that playing time may become available during the season due to injuries like last season.