The three-point shooting rate is 50%! The Rockets basic-salary guard transformed, the defensive gate became a shooter without the ball, and Uduka succeeded in the tryout

The Rockets have suffered too many injuries this season. In addition to VanVleet being injured for the season, which has cast a shadow on the Rockets' championship prospects, Finney Smith has not played once for the Rockets so far. He has not played once in either the preseason or the regular season. Finney Smith's ankle injury is still very uncertain. Although he has undergone surgery, he is still unable to participate in formal confrontation training. It is not known when he will return.

A few days ago, Rockets head coach Uduka also looked helpless when talking about Finney Smith's injury. He said that he did not have a timetable for Finney Smith's return.

Fortunately, the Rockets signed Finney Smith's replacement during the offseason. He is the 27-year-old Okogie. With the Suns last season, Okogie averaged 6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and a three-point shooting percentage of 38% in 25 games. With the Hornets, Okogie started 6 times in 15 games, averaging 8.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists, and his three-point shooting percentage was only 32%. But all this has been greatly improved when he joined the Rockets.

This season, Okogie has played 9 times for the Rockets, including 7 starts. He averaged 8.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 22.6 minutes per game. His three-point shooting rate is as high as 50%. He is a top 10 super shooter in the league. Although the game sample is relatively small, only 9 games, Okogie's performance in the game is very perfect, and no one will make irresponsible remarks about a basic salary defender. Now Okogie is playing as a super shooter and first-class defender.

In an interview with the "Houston Chronicle", Okogie, who performed well, also talked about his transformation and change in mentality. He said that after so many years in the NBA, he now finally understands that he is not the kind of player who can hold the ball for a long time and create offensive opportunities on his own. But he learned to find opportunities to catch the ball in different areas and knew what to do after receiving the ball. If he catches the ball in traffic, he knows who to pass it to, such as Shen Jing, Durant or Amen Thompson, and he knows where they like to receive the ball. Therefore, Okogie sees his job as creating easy scoring opportunities for them, whether it's through screens or passes.

In other words, now Okogie no longer actively seeks to have the ball in his hands to become the core of the Rockets' offense. He mainly plays without the ball. After receiving the ball, if he is open, he can shoot a three-pointer; if he receives the ball in the crowd, he can immediately distribute it to several core players of the Rockets and let them handle the ball. Okogie's task is to run to the open area to open up space, because his 50% three-point shooting rate makes the opponent dare not let him shoot. In this way, several core players of the Rockets will get more room to break through and shoot. This is the result of Okogie's active transformation.

Last season, basic salary guard Okogie was completely defensive. His three-point shooting rate was only 34%, and he was not an outstanding shooter. Now, he is not only the Rockets' defensive gate on the perimeter, but has also become a top off-ball shooter. Uduka took the initiative to adjust Okogie to the starting lineup. It seems that this lineup experiment was very successful. The Rockets' record can speak for itself - when Okogie started, the Rockets achieved 6 wins and 1 loss, with a very high winning rate.