Houston Rockets last-minute bold predictions for 2024 NBA Draft

06/26/2024 02:15 PM

All eyes have been and will continue to be on the Houston Rockets this offseason. Despite improving drastically and nearly making the NBA Play-in Tournament, the Rockets ended up with the number three pick in the 2024 NBA Draft because they own the Brooklyn Nets’ selection. Houston improved from 22 wins two seasons ago to 41 wins last season following an offseason where the team spent big in free agency.

An 11-game winning streak near the end of the season, where the team’s young core looked impressive, gives fans optimism about the future. Last year, Houston signed Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jeff Green in free agency, and those moves gave the Rockets the biggest makeover in the league. The team has kept busy since the end of the campaign though and rumors suggest their offseason this year might make last year’s moves look like child’s play.

Houston already made a massive trade involving a number of draft picks the day before the draft. The team moved selections around with the Nets in order to add some of the Phoenix Suns’ draft picks, which could be a precursor to a Kevin Durant trade.

Additionally, the team has been linked to a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies for Marcus Smart.

Regardless of what moves Houston ends up making, they are sure to send shockwaves through the rest of the league. With the NBA Draft looming, these are our last-minute bold predictions for what the Rockets might do.

Rockets don’t make major trade (at least not yet)

Usually a bold prediction suggests a team will make a blockbuster move or acquire a big-name player. But considering everyone is thinking the Rockets will do just that, the bold prediction for them is that they stay pat in the draft and don’t make a big trade.

The team has been rumored to be dangling the number three overall pick in trade talks because they want to acquire a star veteran. Durant and Smart seem like targets, but the third overall pick is so valuable that there are likely a number of trades that Houston could make involving the asset.

Blockbuster trades sometimes take months to work out, though. The Suns aren’t going to give up Durant just to do it, and we don’t think the two teams will be able to work out the details for a deal in time for the Rockets pick at number three.

Phoenix only had one year with the big three of Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, and the stars spent much of the season injured and not on the floor together. It is fully possible that the team wants to run it back, and they only would need to reacquire the draft picks they previously traded if they felt a full blown rebuild was their best option.

It is possible that Houston will be able to trade for Durant eventually. They have more assets to make a trade work than most teams around the league. If that trade were to happen on Wednesday, it would be arguably the biggest draft day trade ever.

Houston has their eyes on Durant, but we don’t think a deal gets done during the draft. Therefore, Houston will keep their valuable draft pick at selection number three.

Rockets draft Donovan Clingan and eventually trade Alperen Sengun

We don’t think a Durant trade happens yet, but if it does, Alperen Sengun is the team’s best asset. Sengun was a fringe All-Star last year in what was his best season to date. He played like Houston’s best player for much of the season. However, the Rockets played their best basketball when he was hurt. The team’s late-season run came while Sengun was on the sideline, which made a lot of people wonder if the team is truly at their best with their superstar center on the court.

Although Sengun is an elite passer and an excellent scorer, he struggles on the defensive end. His effort, awareness, and rim protection are all lacking defensively, and it has meant that opposing teams have scored on him just as much as he has thrived offensively. The lack of defense does not fit Ime Odoka’s philosophy, as the Rockets coach is one of the biggest defensive advocates around the league.

The combination of Sengun being a premier offensive player who has displayed All-Star potential, combined with the reasons the team could be convinced to deal him, make him a perfect trade candidate to include in a Durant trade. A Durant trade won’t come cheap, but Sengun could be the piece that makes a deal work.

If the team does plan to trade Sengun, then they will need to draft his replacement, and they would have the perfect chance to do that with pick number three. Assuming Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr are selected with the first two picks, the Rockets could take Donovan Clingan at No.3.

Clingan would serve as a replacement at the center position for Sengun and bring the defense that Udoka covets. Clingan is the best shot blocker in the class and a player who could anchor elite defenses for years to come.

The UConn center won the national championship in each of the last two seasons, and he did it with scorers around him. The Rockets have plenty of scoring pop, and they’d have even more if Durant was traded for. Clingan doesn’t need the ball in his hands offensively, so he could defer to his teammates on that end while carrying the burden on the less glamorous side of the ball.

Even if the Rockets aren’t able to swing a Durant deal/they end up keeping Sengun, then Clingan is a player who could play alongside the Rockets’ current center while simultaneously masking any flaws that Sengun has defensively.

Sengun plays a lot at the top of the key, and he is capable of spreading the floor all the way to the three-point line. Sengun’s ability to stretch the floor means that Clingan could still roam around the paint/in the dunker spot offensively, and he would likely be the recipient of plenty of Sengun alley-oop passes if the two do end up playing together.

Keeping pick three and ending up with Kevin Durant is a dream scenario for the Rockets, but it is one that is not out of the question in what is expected to be a crazy offseason for the team.

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