The state of Texas is all about defense. The Dallas Mavericks just traded Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis in a move that looks increasingly like unprovoked malpractice. The San Antonio Spurs are fleshing out a long-term core around defensive phenomenon Victor Wembanyama. Yet it was young Rockets star Amen Thompson who was recently announced as the Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month for January.
The Defensive Star State: Houston Rockets Have Their Man
Amen Thompson Excels On Defense
Wembanyama and Davis are arguably the two best defensive players in the league. Elite wingspans combined with ruthless defensive instincts and remarkable mobility for their size make them unmatched defensive anchors. But Houston doesn’t need to feel too left out in the Lone Star State. Thompson looks set to become the best non-big defender in the league.
The Defensive Star For The Rockets
Thompson averages 1.4 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. Of course, defensive stats have always struggled to capture the impact of individual players. Steals leaders are often offensively-inclined guards who can afford to gamble because their assignment is the weakest opposing offensive player. Bigs who go for blocks and wind up fouling too much are less valuable than those who simply contest shots into misses and help secure rebounds for their team.
Thompson does rank sixth in defensive field goal percentage among players who have played at least 40 games. But, as crafty as he is, 36-year-old Nicolas Batum (who ranks first) probably isn’t the best defensive stopper in the league. The best way to capture Thompson’s defensive impact is to watch him play. Specifically, you can watch opponents try to play as far away from him as possible, which he doesn’t tend to let be very far. Thompson’s aggression and one-of-one (well actually two) athleticism are evident on every trip down the floor.
Recent Turbulence For The Rockets
Thompson’s offense has been burgeoning somewhat of late as well, netting multiple recent triple-doubles. Unfortunately, asking so much of the young star, the Rockets have struggled. Absences have been part of the problem. Their tendency for fourth-quarter offensive collapses that create unnecessarily close games has also caught up with them. The tier they’d carved out for themselves near the top of the Western Conference has already been chiseled away, as they’re now only a game ahead of the Denver Nuggets for third.
The recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets can be viewed as a teachable moment for Thompson. It was his turnover on a last-second inbounds pass that led to a D’Angelo Russell game-winner. With the trade deadline approaching, Houston is unlikely to be spooked into significant action though. Taking Jaden Springer‘s contract off the Celtics may not be their only bit of business, but their rotation is likely to remain unchanged.
Even amongst the losses, Thompson is proving himself to be the kind of player Houston can build its identity around. The kind of player who can craft a legacy in the city. A signatory to the spiritual contract that exists between fans, stars, and sports teams. Hopefully, the Rockets will approach that contract with more care and respect than one of its Lone Star State rivals.
Fans, Stars, and Sports Teams
When Dallas traded Doncic, the contract between the fans, the star, and the sports team was shredded. If the Davis-led Mavs prove successful, then some currently disillusioned Dallas fans will undoubtedly return to bask in it. Even so, if Dallas won the NBA title this year, it would surely be the most soulless championship in recent memory.
Boston Celtics fans of 2024 were able to overcome their grief over trading Marcus Smart by pointing to the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, whose compatibility they’d rightly long championed. The 2017-18 Golden State Warriors won back-to-back championships off the mercenary prowess of Kevin Durant. They didn’t trade Stephen Curry though to get him. When the 2012-13 Miami Heat won with LeBron James, they still had Dwyane Wade.
The 2019 Toronto Raptors swapping out DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard would probably be the closest recent approximation. That at least had the benefit of being an indisputable upgrade. Kyle Lowry was also spared and is now widely considered the greatest Raptor of all time for his overall body of work in the city.
Then there’s Davis’ last title team, the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, which had acquired him that season and LeBron only one year prior. They still had (recent Milwaukee Bucks addition) Kyle Kuzma if that counts for anything. But fans of the purple and gold are used to looking at other stars across the league as future Lakers anyway.
The Thompson-Rockets?
It feels like the Rockets would have offered anybody on the roster to acquire Doncic’s services if they’d known he’d been available. Doncic is that good, the kind of player that you trade the untradeable for. The reality is though that they never should have gotten the chance to, and it’s probably for the best that they didn’t. The Mavs apparently had their cold heart set on Davis anyway.
The league is a better place when stars stay put long enough to create a legacy. Ownership groups and front offices that hold those legacies in contempt devalue the entire system. Doncic should have been considered untradeable. Instead, the Lone Star State added another defensive star. How long before the Wemby-Spurs and Davis-Mavs (or perhaps they’re the Nico Harrison-Mavs) are joined by the Thompson-Rockets?
The Last Word
Thompson has a long way to go before he’s anywhere close to the legacy in Houston that Doncic already had and looked primed to add to in Dallas. Still, Thompson should be considered untouchable for the Rockets. His partnership with first-time All-Star Alperen Sengun should also be given plenty of opportunity to mature. Houston has its star of tomorrow. In accordance with the Texas bylaws, he plays defense.
Photo credit: © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
The post The Defensive Star State: Houston Rockets Have Their Man appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.