I won't eat crow but I will give the man props. I always saw potential in him and believed he had the tools. That being said I never thought he was playoff ready until now. That is a testament to him working and studying his ass off. I have full confidence in him now, even in the clutch moments of a playoff game.
Posters here like to make absolute statements about players. As if players especially young ones don’t develop or get more comfortable in a system with time. The whole “I told you he’ll never be whatever” is tired and lame. There’s a reason a certain volume poster is constantly wrong, when you make assumptions on players finished skills based on a game by game basis you’ll be wrong a lot.
Love to keep him but with his salary, he will always be in the middle of trade talks. He can be an attractive trade piece for a 3rd star.
OKC is an extremely mediocre offense (ranked 16th IIRC) so I would also take that into consideration. The way I see it OKC is a great team to play against in preparation for a 2nd round. Team is doing great, the defense is legit terrifying the younger Thunder players.
I think it's fair we were a bit hard on him given how he totally went vanilla (Wafer) on us last year's play-offs. We knew he could bring it in the regular season from time to time, but give him kudos for improving. I think having RoCo has also helped him out as he's now really the 3 and last year he had to sub in at the 4 and got constantly overpowered. Defense was always alright, we knew he could shoot the 3, but now that he has the confidence and improved skills - it seems - to get by his man we might have something serious here. To be frank, he has still been inconsistent but for a large part of the season I've been wanting him to start. He has showed why, even if McLemore seemed better when in the starting line-up earlier this year, and it has paid off. I just pray when Westbrook comes back that he stays a starter as I don't want to see Gordon replace him. That will hurt his confidence and we need Gordon to do his driving with that bench squad alongside Rivers. With WB and Harden starting, that's enough driving force. Anyway, thank god House found a home in Disney World and will continue to show that magic. That 3 ball needs to come down hard like Big Thunder Mountain on Oklahoma consistently now as well.
I'd like to point out that i've always been bullish on House. I'll eat crow on Mclemore ( i thought he was complete trash but turned out to be our most reliable shooter) but i'm holding my House stock till the end. He has good size. Moves well laterally. Athleticism on the open court is 2nd only to Westbrook on this team. 3 point shooting is decently reliable. With those tools, there isn't any reason why he shouldn't be a quality rotational player on any playoff team.
I disagree his salary makes him immovable already cuz it is just great value. As good as House is he is just a roleplayer he isn't gonna be an attractive piece for a 3rd star. Teams would def want him to complement the stars they already have but the Rox are in ring chasing mode not asset acquiring mode. Maybe when we move on from Harden era we can flip him for a low pick or something but his current contract is only 3 years long so he would be a FA by then.
Before Robert Covington came to the Rockets. Danuel House was regressing as a player which was really concerning at the time. When Robert Covington came to the Rockets Danuel became a way better player. There is no doubt Robert is teaching Danuel how to play elite defense at the Small Forward Position and how to cut to the basket for open layups and get open offenive rebounds. His ballhandling, Crossover, Drive to the basket and for out to open 3 Point Shooters, His Playmaking has been Huge for this Rockets Team.
