Just a few months away from the little Rockets ball that didn’t play any center, Houston new coach Stephen Silas says he’s open to using two at a time.
Big emerging man Christian Wood was an offensive revelation during his recent road trip to Portland and Denver, averaging 27 points (55% FG) and eight rebounds per game. Still, the 25-year-old athleticist, who starts at the center of the 2020-21 Rockets, has sometimes struggled against defense against bruises, great physiques like Jusuf Nurkic from the Trail Blazers and Nikola Jokic from the Nuggets. However, Silas had little choice but to escape, as the DeMarcus Cousins backup center was out of quarantine and Bruno Caboclo, third he fought mightily.
That dynamic could change starting Thursday against Sacramento, as Cousins will return to the team after eliminating the quarantine. But, as Silas sees things, it won’t necessarily be a debate about Wood’s athleticism and ability versus the power and physicality of cousins. In certain clashes, the Rockets could use both bigs together, as Wood should be agile enough to handle minutes at the breakthrough.
When asked after Wednesday’s team training if he was open to playing Wood and Cousins together, Silas replied:
Yes, I am definitely open to it. To have DeMarcus, who can stand up against these guys, we don’t have to get into as many help situations, as we saw in the Denver game against Jokic. We had to help him a lot, which opened up to him all the things he does well. You can really pass the ball, find cutters and then offensive rebounds, because we’re out of position. Having cousins there will definitely help our later defense.
But then Christian has the ability to stretch four, which I guess is now maybe four. Before it was, there would be the Matt Bullards of the world who were lying on all fours. But C-Wood can definitely play that role and play to pick and make it hard to protect teams.
Wood and Cousins were never active simultaneously in the preseason, with Cousins sitting the fourth and final game for scheduled maintenance and Wood missed the top three with a sore elbow. Therefore, Silas has not yet had the two grains activated at the same time, which, apart from practice time, has prevented any Cousins-Wood experiment.
That changes Thursday night, when Houston will play its first home game of the regular season. The Tipoff between the Rockets (0-2) and the Kings (3-1) is set for 18:00 Central from the Toyota Center, with the game televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest in the regular Houston markets.