Just months after the Rockets with little balls played no center, Houston’s new head coach Stephen Silas says he’s open to using two at once.
The emerging big man, Christian Wood, was a revelation about the offense during his recent trip to Portland and Denver, averaging 27 points (55% FG) and eight rebounds per game. However, the 25-year-old athleticist – who starts in the center for the 2020-21 missiles – has sometimes fought in defense against bruises, great physiques like Jusuf Nurkic from the Trail Blazers and Nikola Jokic with the Nuggets. Even so, Silas had no choice but to take him out, as DeMarcus Cousins reserve center was quarantined and Bruno Caboclo, third he struggled hard.
That dynamic could change starting Thursday against Sacramento, with Cousins now returning to the team after eliminating his quarantine. But, as Silas sees it, it will not necessarily be a debate about Wood’s athleticism and ability over his cousins’ strength and physicality. In some matches, the Rockets could use both bigs together, since Wood should be agile enough to settle a few minutes to the lead.
When asked after Wednesday’s team training if he was open to playing Wood and Cousins together, Silas replied:
Yes, I’m definitely open. To have DeMarcus, who can stand up to those guys, we don’t have to get into so many help situations, as we saw in the Denver game against Jokic. We had to help a lot, which opened up all the things he does well. He can really pass the ball, he can find cutters and then offensive rebounds, because we are out of position. Having cousins there will definitely help our post defense.
But then Christian has the ability to stretch on all fours – which, I suppose, can be stretched on all four now. Once upon a time, there were Matt Bullards in the world who had four beds. But C-Wood can certainly play that role and play pick-and-roll and make it difficult to protect teams.
Wood and Cousins were never active simultaneously in the pre-season, with Cousins placing the fourth and final game for planned maintenance and Wood missing the top three with a painful elbow. Thus, Silas had not yet had both majors activated at the same time, which – apart from training time – prevented any Cousins-Wood experiment.
That changes on Thursday night, when Houston will play its first home game of the regular season. Tipoff between the Rockets (0-2) and Kings (3-1) is set for 18:00 Central at the Toyota Center, with the game being televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest in regular Houston markets.