Why should the Rockets compete with the defending champion next season?

Last season, the Rockets were able to score 52 wins and 30 losses in the West. The team successfully recruited Durant and others in the offseason, and their strength was a big plus.

Is it really a long way to go if the Rockets win 60 next season? The biggest gain in the offseason signing was to successfully get Durant and get it at a very small price -

Stone only paid 1 first-round pick and 5 second-round picks, which strengthened the weakest link.

In other words, the Rockets have almost untouched team foundations (Shin Kyung, Jabarry Smith, Amen Thompson, Ethan, Shepard), and have airborne a man who can solve the game with his super ability at critical moments.

At the critical moment of last season (the last 5 minutes, the game with a gap within 5 points), the Rockets encountered a total of 44 times, but their shooting percentage was only 38%, the last in the league.

This shows how urgent the Rockets need someone who can solve the problem at a critical moment. Durant fell from the sky and was a drought that was met with dew.

It can be said that Durant is the only one in the league that is most suitable for the Houston Rockets, and there is even no one. The reason why Durant is perfectly adapted to the Rockets is that on the one hand, he strengthened the team's hard-solving link - last season, the Rockets ranked seventh in singles per game, but their singles efficiency in each round was at the bottom of the league, and they could only rank 27th in singles per round, so they couldn't bear to look at it.

When the team's singles production is difficult to have considerable efficiency to support it, it is obviously not a good match for the championship team!

, while Durant is the player with the highest score in each round among the league's players with at least 200 singles.

Let's examine Durant and the Rockets' shooting percentage again. The arrival of the former is like a timely help.

Durant's jump shot is 47.9% best in the league, with a mid-range shooting percentage of 53.1%, and a jump shot with a ball as high as 50.9%, which is also the best in the league.

After all, we have seen Durant change direction significantly with the ball, and then stop and hit steadily.

In contrast, the Rockets' jump shot percentage ranks 24th, and the team's jump shot percentage after dribbling is only 27th, and is still at the bottom.

When the Rockets successfully joined Durant, Finney Smith, Capela, and Okogi in the offseason, they could only take care of Green, Dillon, Whitmore and Langdale who left, and did not miss it.

After all, the team's 4-for-4 operation gains far exceed the losses, and there is indeed a reason to be rated as A-level operation by ESPN.

It is worth mentioning that among the 30 teams in the league this summer, only the Rockets and Hawks have won the A rating.

After all, Durant's ability to crush Green and Finney Smith is even better than Dillon;

Capela's role is far better than Langdale, and Okogie is far better than Whitmore's contribution on the offensive end in terms of defense and enthusiasm...