The new head coach of Houston, Stephen Silas, says he is open to the possibility of using two at the same time.
The emerging big man, Christian Wood, was a revelation during his recent trip to Portland and Denver, averaging 27 points (55% FG) and eight rebounds per game. Yet the athletic 25-year-old – who starts in the middle for the 2020-21 Rockets – sometimes struggled on defense against bruises, physical greats like Jusuf Nurkic of the Trail Blazers and Nikola Jokic with the Nuggets. Nevertheless, Silas had little choice to chase it out as rugby center DeMarcus Cousins was eliminated in the quarantine and third player Bruno Caboclo. powerfully struggled.
The dynamics could change from Thursday against Sacramento, and Cousins is now back on the team after clearing his quarantine. But as Silas sees things, it will not necessarily be a debate about Wood’s athleticism and skill versus Cousins’ strength and physicality. In certain games, the Rockets can use both big together, as Wood needs to be agile enough to handle minutes on the power play spot.
Asked after Wednesday’s team practice whether he’s open to playing Wood and Cousins together, Silas replied:
Yes, I’m definitely open to it. To keep DeMarcus, who can succeed against those guys, low, we do not have to end up in as many assist situations as we saw in the Denver game against Jokic. We had to help a lot, who opened up all the things he does well. He can really pass the ball, find cutters and then offensive rebounds because we are not in position. Having Cousins out there will definitely help our post defense.
But then Christian has the ability to be a stretch four – which, I think four feet, might be stretch now. It used to be, there would be the Matt Bullards of the world who were four-legged. But C-Wood can certainly play the role and play pick-and-play, making it difficult for teams to guard.
Wood and Cousins were never active in the preseason simultaneously, and Cousins put out the fourth and final game for the scheduled maintenance and Wood missed the first three with a sore elbow. Thus, Silas should not yet have both majors activated at the same time, which – apart from training time – prevented any Cousin-wood experiments.
That changes Thursday night, when Houston plays its first home game of the regular season. Tipoff between the Rockets (0-2) and Kings (3-1) is central from Toyota Center at 6pm, with the game being broadcast on AT&T SportsNet Southwest by the regular Houston markets.