ESPN Ranks Rockets Jalen Green As Top 100 Player
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HOUSTON — After one season in the league, second-year prospect Jalen Green has already solidified himself as a top-100 player.
During ESPN's annual ranking of the top 100 players ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, Green came in as the lone member of the Houston Rockets at No. 64. Per ESPN, Green has illustrated the potential to compete for a scoring title, given his impressive end to his rookie campaign.
Green was one of five rookies to be named to the All-Rookie First Team last season after he appeared in 67 games while averaging 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Former Rockets big man Christian Wood, who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in June, came in at No. 92.
“He has great shot-making ability," LeBron James said after Green scored a then career-high 32 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 9. "Everybody looks at his athletic ability, but his ability to make shots, he’s been doing this for quite a long time now, going back to high school.
"I feel like he’s just getting better and better, and the great thing about him being (in Houston) is they’re a super young group besides a few guys. It’s allowing him to make mistakes and learn on the fly, and that’s gonna benefit him.”
Green became the second consecutive rookie to receive the honor after Jae'Sean Tate in 2021. The duo of Green and Tate marked the first time in franchise history Houston had consecutive All-Rookie First Team honorees since Ralph Sampson (1984) and Hakeem Olajuwon (1985).
Green scored 20-plus points in 17 of the final 25 games, including a rookie season-high seven straight from March 25 through April 5. He had at least 30 points in each of the final five games of that streak, marking the second-longest stretch by a rookie going back to 1971-72.
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