Rockets' Ime Udoka to Use Regular Rotation to End Preseason

In the first two preseason games, the Houston Rockets have played up to 16 players and experimented with various lineups. Their first home game will be on Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans, as they prepare for the upcoming regular season.

The Rockets are considered a young team, but they also have several veterans on the roster. For instance, Steven Adams is making his comeback after being out of action for several months, and is being gradually reintegrated into the lineup. Tari Eason may not be considered one of those veterans but he is coming off a major injury and is also being eased back in to the lineup.

During his interview yesterday, Ime Udoka told Rockets on SI that they plan to use more familiar lineups in the last two games, but not for their normal regular season minutes.

Before today’s event I asked Coach Udoka if we would see more of a regular rotation in the final two games.

“I would say rotation wise not minutes wise” pic.twitter.com/hq73s01Q4a
— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) October 13, 2024

The Rockets will be cautious with their players, especially since they will have almost a week off after Thursday before the start of the regular season. Udoka has indicated that we will likely see the same starting lineup we saw for most of last season.

We also may get a better idea of who will be playing the backup point guard minutes. In the first two games we have seen both Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard play minutes as the point guard. In the first game Sheppard was the backup point guard with Thompson starting at small forward.

In the Rockets' last game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Thompson started at point guard while Fred VanVleet took the night off. If everyone plays in the Rockets' next game, we should get an idea of Coach Udoka's thinking regarding backup point guard minutes.

With minutes being limited to finish the preseason, the Rockets will go deep into their bench toward the end of the game. However, in the first half of each game, you should see a glimpse of the Rockets team that will be in the regular rotation to start the season.

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