5. What to do with Jae'Sean Tate?
I love Tate. He's a turbocharged cinder block with the strength to jostle against centers on defense and the speed to chase guards. If Tate is barreling at you, get the hell out of his way.
He's a good pick-and-roll screener -- clever passing on the move, with a mashing post game against smaller guys on switches. (Tate is shooting 57% on 2s.) The Rockets have scored 1.265 points per possession when Tate shoots out of post-up, or dishes to a teammate who fires -- second (!) among 85 guys with at least 20 post touches, per Second Spectrum.
The tanktastic Rockets have a dead-even scoring margin when Tate plays power forward next to
Christian Wood in one-center lineups, per NBA.com.
But Tate can get lost in more of a spot-up role around
Kevin Porter Jr.,
Jalen Green, and Wood. He is setting 10.6 ball screens per 100 possessions, down from 16 last season, per Second Spectrum. That leaves Tate chilling along the arc. Defenses ignore him to clog the paint. More teams are slotting their centers onto Tate -- allowing power forwards to take Wood -- and planting them in the paint.
That leaves Tate three choices when he gets the ball: chuck wide-open 3s; drive into the wall awaiting him; or pivot into a handoff. Tate is not shying from open 3s. He knows he'll have to hit them eventually, and the Rockets encourage him to let it fly.
Tate has made just 30% from deep -- not enough to pull defenses out of that scheme. He's probably best right now as a small-ball center, and the Rockets should use him in that style more often given Wood's shooting ability.
Regardless, the Rockets do and should view Tate as a keeper. (Houston's biggest on-court problem is their defense collapsing into a sinkhole whenever opponents put Green and Porter in any screening action.)
But I have to applaud his parenting.
