Scored 59 points + 18 assists! Rockets 3 point guards to replace Van Jordan? Annual salary is less than 15 million, cheap and easy to use

Westbrook, the league's triple-double king, finally joined the Kings. The veteran has finally found his next home, and he will show off his talents in the regular season. Although the Kings are not the top team in the Western Conference, this team has star players such as DeRozan, Sabonis, and LaVine, as well as the best player in the European Championships such as Schroeder, plus Westbrook and the newly renewed Keegan Murray, this team does have certain strength. If they can perform normally and stay healthy, they should have no problem getting a playoff ticket in the Western Conference in the new season.

For the Rockets, it is indeed a pity that the point guard they need, Westbrook, failed to join the Rockets, but the Rockets currently have no shortage of point guards at all. More than half a month ago, VanVleet suffered a season-ending injury during training, which dealt a huge blow to the Rockets.

However, looking at it now, in the four preseason games, the Rockets have not been troubled by the lack of point guards at all. On the contrary, their four players at the 1st position have performed quite well. Amen Thompson performed very well as the main point guard. He can pass and defend. His three-point shooting percentage has also improved too much.

Shepard is the Rockets' biggest discovery. In the previous game against the Hawks, Shepard scored 29 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 4 steals in a single game. His all-round skills are no worse than VanVleet. The two point guards, Aaron Holiday and Davidson, also performed poorly against the Eagles in the previous game. As a substitute, Davison made 5 of 11 shots and 2 of 5 three-pointers in 32 minutes. He contributed 14 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Veteran Aaron Holiday got the chance to start. He made 5 of 10 shots in 34 minutes and scored 16 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and only one turnover in the game.

In this case, the Rockets' three major point guards Holiday, Sheppard and Davidson scored 59 points on the court together, and also sent out 18 assists. Each of them sent out 6 assists, and the other three also grabbed 15 rebounds. It can be said that the performance of the three backup point guards was very comprehensive. They even outperformed the Hawks' All-Star point guard Trae Young, dominating the game on both ends of the offense and defense. Even after backcourt players like Amen Thompson and Durant return to the team, these three point guards will be able to get more opportunities, playing time, and even tactical status in the regular season.

Many people were worried that the Rockets were missing their main point guard VanVleet, and their record would decline a lot. However, in fact, in the four preseason games, the Rockets did not lose any game, and were able to defeat their opponents easily.

It can be seen that VanVleet does not seem to be that important to the Rockets. On the one hand, ace center Shen Jing in the interior has a very strong passing ability, even surpassing VanVleet; on the other hand, Durant can hold the ball in his hands and attract defense, and other Rockets players can score easily. For example, Rockets shooter Smith Jr. became the leading scorer in the preseason, and his three-point shooting rate is even as high as over 50%. The Rockets are still having fun without VanVleet.

Moreover, VanVleet's annual salary this season is as high as 25 million U.S. dollars, while the three backup point guards Shepard, Davidson and Aaron Holiday, together, have an annual salary of less than 15 million U.S. dollars this season. Among them, Sheppard has a rookie contract with an annual salary of 10.6 million, while veteran Holiday has a base salary of 3 million.

As for Davidson, who has a two-way contract, his annual salary is only more than 600,000. In other words, the total salary of these three players combined is 10 million less than VanVleet, which is really cheap and easy to use. The Rockets' lineup is indeed perfect enough. Even if Van Jordan doesn't play, other point guards can take his place, just like the Rockets played against the Hawks in the previous game.