火箭队重塑进攻体系：申京策应与团队传导成关键

The Houston Rockets have the third-best offense in the NBA.

Ostensibly speaking. We know that numbers can speak in half-truths. It’s undeniable that the Rockets have been the third-most efficient offense at this stage of the season. Whether they’re actually the third-best team in the NBA is something we won’t know until later in the year.

Pedanticism aside, this team looks good. It looks different.

Why?

The Rockets are playing a different game

Let’s start here: Alperen Sengun is having a career season.

Side note: I’ve grown tired of the discussion around “conserving energy” for one side of the floor or another. I know the modern game is different. It’s faster-paced. Injuries have become more common, etc.

You need to play both sides. That’s basketball. First it was Sengun, and now it’s Amen Thompson. It’s a flimsy excuse for poor play on either side. Unless you’re Nikola Jokic or maybe Luka Doncic, you don’t get to make up for one end on the other.

In 2026-27, Sengun is playing both sides of the ball. He’s defending well, but more relevantly here, he’s having a career-best playmaking season. Sengun is averaging 7.9 assists per game.

And I think that’s directly causally linked to the team’s improved approach.

Running actions through Sengun in the high post, out of dribble handoffs, and as a short roll passer just lends itself to motion offense. It’s partly a numbers game: When you’re getting assists from the five, you’re getting more assists. More broadly, it leads to extra passes, unpredictability, and overall good NBA offense.

It’s showing in the team-wide numbers. The Rockets are making 296.8 passes per game - 10th in the NBA. Last season, their 279.5 a night landed 23rd. That’s a stylistic overhaul.

They’re also reducing their isolation slightly, from 9.5% frequency last year to 8.1% this year. That’s likely part of why Kevin Durant, as the team’s best isolation scorer, has seen his load reduced.

It’s not that Alperen Sengun has become a better offensive player than Kevin Durant. More so, this is a more appropriate alignment in terms of playing to each other’s strengths. Sengun is a playmaker. Durant, at this stage in his career, should be a play finisher whose gravity is as important as his actual output.

A more cynical view may hold that the Rockets are just shooting better. So often, basketball reduces itself to a game of make or miss. So far, the Rockets have increased their three-point volume (34.3 from 31.5) and accuracy (37.4% from 36.4%). Plenty of Rockets - Alperen Sengun (47.6% on 2.1 attempts per game), Jabari Smith Jr. (42.1% on 6.3), and Marcus Smart (40.0%, 4.4) are having career seasons from beyond the arc.

For those of you getting deja vu, you’re not alone. The Rockets came out of the gates last year with hot shooting, and then cooled off. That could happen again, but as long as they maintain their revamped approach to offense, they maximize the odds that their offense stays strong.

Even if they slip a bit from third.