Houston Rockets Training Camp Day 2: Reality Check Sets In
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LAKE CHARLES — Coach Stephen Silas let out a blasting scream inside the Legacy Center Wednesday afternoon. If the first training camp practice brought excitement for the upcoming 2022-23 season, day two was a reality check for the Houston Rockets.
"I saw that we had a lot of work to do," Silas said. "We've done a great job of putting things in, and it is evidence that [getting better] doesn't happen overnight. It is going to be a process for us. We are going to have to learn from our mistakes."
The Rockets spent most of the afternoon partaking in five-on-five scrimmages. Silas said it was a "good day" of practice overall. But it was the small on-court blunders that made him frustrated.
Missed shots, scoring runs and turnovers are honest mistakes for any basketball team, but careless errors take on a different meaning for a franchise aiming to ascend from purgatory.
After two consecutive seasons of finishing with the league's worst record, every player who spoke at media day vowed that the Rockets have improved as a team.
"It's a process," Silas said. "At the start of practice, there were frustrating moments because things were not going well. But as the scrimmages went along, they became more relaxed and positive with each other as things got better."
The lack of continuity between returning players and newcomers played a significant role in the mistakes Silas witnessed during practice.
For instance, the Rockets projected starting lineup of Eric Gordon, Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. and Alperen Sengun played a significant amount of time together throughout the 2021-22 campaign, where they established cohesion.
But during the first two days of training camp, the quartet of players must integrate the talents of rookie prospect Jabari Smith Jr. into the lineup.
While the projected second unit may not have a massive addition to blend, the lineup of Josh Christopher, Usman Garuba, Garrison Mathews, Daishen Nix, and Jae'Sean Tate never shared the court together last season. Tate was a starter in 77 out of a possible 78 games he played last season.
"That's a big part," Green said. "We are still trying to learn what we like and what we don't like. I think we were able to tighten it up a lot more during the last six minutes of our scrimmage, and it worked out.
"Everyone was playing hard, but offense isn't our main focus right now — it's defense. Defense leads to offense, and we have to tighten up our play."
The Rockets will play against the San Antonio Spurs for their first preseason game on Sunday. The exhibition match inside the Toyota Center will give the Rockets their first chance to test new concepts against a live opponent.
Silas understands he cannot rush the learning process of a young team. He intends to use the next three weeks of training camp as a basketball seminar.
The goal is to mend the on-court mistakes to have the Rockets ready to live up to their media day promise throughout the 2022-23 season, which will begin against the Atlanta Hawks inside the State Farm Arena on Oct. 19.
You can follow Coty Davis on Twitter at @CotyDavis_24
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