A left groin strain forced Rockets guard Jalen Green to miss the Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend, but the team was “relieved” by the results of the MRI he underwent this week, a source tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
According to Feigen, the Rockets will have a better sense of Green’s return timeline early this week, after he has received a few days of treatment. However, there’s optimism that the injury shouldn’t result in a long-term absence.
If the strain was determined to be more severe, it could have sidelined the former No. 2 pick for most or all of Houston’s remaining 24 games, especially given that the lottery-bound club has no reason to rush one of its cornerstones back to action.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- While general manager Rafael Stone is willing to face criticism for how the Rockets are building their roster, he bristles at critics who suggest that Houston is moving forward without a clear plan in place, per Brian T. Smith of The Houston Chronicle. “If you paid no attention at all, you could say, ‘Hey, these guys don’t even have a plan,'” Stone said. “No, we absolutely have a plan. We told everybody what the plan was. So I don’t think the ‘They don’t have a plan’ is a valid criticism. If someone wants to be skeptical about our ability to execute it, that’s TBD and we’re cognizant of that. And I think this summer we intend to use our cap space and bring in some veterans.”
- Rockets wing Kenyon Martin Jr., whose name came up frequently in trade rumors during the weeks leading up to February’s deadline, tells Shams Charania of Stadium (Twitter video link) that he’s happy he ultimately stayed put in Houston, where he’s averaging a career-high 26.3 minutes per game this season. “It was kind of weird,” Martin said. “Obviously it was my first time being in a situation where teams wanted me or there’s a possibility that Houston could get rid of me. But at the same time, I understood that it was nothing that I could control. … I kind of just left that up to the front office.”
- Interviewed by KPRC 2 in Houston at a Mardi Gras event in Galveston, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta shouted what sounded like, “Pray for Victor!,” an apparent reference to top prospect Victor Wembanyama (Twitter video link via Sean Pendergast of SportsRadio 610). The 13-45 Rockets have the NBA’s worst record and would have the best lottery odds in this year’s draft if the season ended today, but the league still may not love seeing one of its team owners already talking about targeting a specific prospect, with so much time left in the season.
Stranger things have been said during Mardi Gras.
“Pray for Victor(y)!”
Bring in veterans? If Houston is rebuilding they still have some credit to dip into if OKC, San Antonio, Charlotte, and Orlando are examples of rebuilding trials & tribulations.
I get it, to show the young guys how to play, but I think that is overrated when you have a team packed with young potential, like Houston has.
Rockets have a good shot at top pick. Might as well go for it. Keep playing the young guys. Get those nba mins. I’m a fan of Smith and Green.
They’re probably also hoping for the Nets to completely fall apart and miss the playoffs to give them another, albeit small, shot to win the lottery.
Green is going to waste his talent if he doesn’t learn to be more efficient.
Green can be electric, at times, but I expected a whole lot more his sophomore year.I wish he’d take the bull by the horns and showcase the superstardom predicted of him by rising to the occasion instead of fluttering around like a bumble bee lost in space.
I feel for Green. The guy played better numbers than Mathurin while on better efficiency and lower usage than Paolo as a rook and broke a fair few records along the way. But was “lucky to get all rook first.”
He’s putting up better numbers than Edwards in his 2nd year, that had people taking antman into AS contention last year while still saying Jalen is a “bust”. Yea his efficiency ain’t great, but that’s more the bail out bombs from teammates and lack of floor spacing than him being just poor. A good coach to help his shot selection and an actual PG and this guy is an offensive superstar.
The issues with him is his streaky scoring, 1 day 40pts the next he’s dropping 14 on 30% but mostly it’s his defensive effort, it’s just lazy and poor(as is his he case with most of Houston players) that will be the difference between him being a top player and just another scoring machine with no D and a superstar. He’ll be at worst Zach Lavine level.
If Rockets do not get 1 overall pick, Green needs to be traded on the draft day
Now his value is equal to 10th pick this year
or
Steward, Bey
Desmond Bane and Maxey have more trade value than Jalen Green
Is Jalen Green willing to accept 10 minutes playing time per game if Rockets really plan to make playoffs next season?
This year Draft Picks
2-5 picks are all guards or Wings
Let’s say rockets get 2-5 pick and sign Fred VanVleet
Small guys needs playing time:
Portter Jr.
Tate,
Martin,
TyTy
Your comments are laughable sometimes.
Short of Scoot and Wemby, no player in the 23 draft as as good or have a ceiling like green?
If they get FVV(which they won’t)KPJ will become the 6th man or leave. Green is their franchise player, unless they get #1or#2 then they’re lucky enough to have 2 franchise level talents through 3 drafts. Let alone how good Sengun can be. Jury is out on smith but he’s very young.
In your mind Rockets are again going to Lottery pick in 2024
Then yes, Green is franchise player
The key to my comment: if Rockets plan to be a playoffs team next season
If you truly believe that Rockets are playoff team next season
My prediction
The following 4 teams will miss the playoffs next season
Pelicans
Wolves
Blazers
Thunder
Can Green lead the Rockets to beat the above 4 teams?
If not, trade him
Wait, what? I never said Hou will be a PO team next year…… they’ll be in Y3 of a rebuild. Short of a dramatic change in the summer they’ll be Lotto again, but improving isn’t overnight, it’s a slow process and that’s all people expect from the youngest team in the league with the worst coaching staff.
I’m pointing out your comment is laughable. According to you, Green has next to no value…and to be a better team he should be benched to 10 mins. Again just Silly.
And your predictions are very, very rarely right. but I do agree Rockets will not be a play offs team NY and will likely be a lotto in 24, but if they finish 12th or higher I’d call it a fair improvement. Why does a 20 year old need to single handedly beat established teams with multiple AS level players per team, Or trade him.
Green needs to grow up. Gotta be patient with him. He’s a star level talent.
Even the 2nd pick in draft. Is a win for Rockets next yr. A pure PG with serious talent. Can help the whole team. Like Ja did in Memphis. Rockets and Pistons are accumulating lot of young talent. You can be patient in those cities.
As a rockets fan I disagree. I would trade their entire roster for Detroit or Orlando’s. Hell I’d probably even take Utah’s roster. Tilman has no idea what he’s doing, they could’ve had Jarrett Allen at the 5 right now which would really help. Taking green over Mobley probably cost them a couple years too
I’m not sure Tillman could light a fart in the NBA player scouting & development world, but Rafael Stone could be thrown under the bus for sure.
I think its too early, and folks need to look at SGA development over the last 4 seasons.
He didn’t show a lot of maturity after that 1st clips season until this season. Now he is an all star
I am not impressed with the Rockets at this time. I know these players have potential but a lot of things not right. No 3”s. On occasion one falls, defense not great. Sengun as well. I see the teams we face and see how easy they score and are open for threes. Silas needs to go. His contract is not guaranteed for next season. I thought would be showing progress this year but guess tanked to get Victor. I want to see a team playing together. I know Porter Jr is not playing but seems like who dat. If returns is he moved to bench or Tate back to bench. Not sure he fits starting after Eric was traded. I just want to start seeing signs they can move up and win. At least get more upwards of 10th space or such. At least out of cellar
Wemby ending up in that mess of a franchise would be too cruel for words.
Wemby should not go to H-Town clown show regardless.
Worst FO in the game. What idiots expect to develop young players in an environment of hapless losing with only other young clueless players around them? DET maybe, but they at least seemed to have realized there’s something amiss and have tried to address it.
Green wouldn’t be my main concern. He’s been un-developing, as any young player would here, but he’s at least talented enough to do a U turn at some point. Smith too, probably. I really like Eason’s makeup – he might have the highest BB IQ on the team at 10 years old. James Jones took a mess with talent like this in PHX and cleaned it up pretty quickly, but Stone is a mess creator, not a cleaner. Without some kind of reset, it might be too late to add veterans to this group, since I doubt any decent veteran will come into this mess, unless massively overpaid.
Still find it comical how many assumed the Rockets had a bright future simply because they had a number of high draft picks and “hit” on them from the get-go. That’s such a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Unfortunately for them, Stone never bothered to consider the defensive side of the game, has stuck with a bad head coach, never brought in a quality game manager at PG to help the young kids develop, and simply hasn’t done that well in the draft.
To continue to waste their development in the current environment is malpractice, and entirely designed to save his own skin (ie, fire the head coach but leave me alone for at least a year). Clown show.
Is the rockets situation worse than the Mets choking every single year? Win one game out of 3 at home and you win the division. Those clowns couldn’t even do that so they come up with their big plan to set a new record for highest payroll ever. Wonder what time of the year they’ll choke this time
I hope the Rockets get Wemby but I wouldn’t be disappointed in Scoot at all. He could be a difference maker setting up everyone else. Martin has game and so does Eason. They are interchangeable in my opinion. The Rockets were high on Banchero but had the wool pulled out from under them. Smith is not an all-star and has just an average overall game in my opinion. Silas? He doesn’t impose a “toughness” that I like to see in a coach. Nice guy but perhaps better suited as an assistant. A Rudy T type of coach with the same kind of mental toughness. Maybe I’m wrong?