Kevin Durant’s addition to the Houston Rockets has reworked them into automated title contenders for subsequent season.
Many anticipate the Rockets to develop into the first menace to the defending champion Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.
This season proved simply how troublesome OKC is to beat. The Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic fell in seven grueling video games, whereas Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves couldn’t prolong their sequence past 5 video games.
Some consider Kevin Durant and his new Rockets squad can accomplish what others couldn’t. NBA journalist David Dennis Jr. factors to the Golden State Warriors’ 2022 championship journey as the proper template for Houston’s potential success.
Dennis argues that if Stephen Curry could lead on a much less offensively gifted workforce to glory, Durant needs to be able to the identical feat with higher supporting items round him.
“Kevin Durant has to go on the market and be one of the best scorer in opposition to the OKC workforce. He has to dominate within the playoffs this yr and get them to a championship as a result of I’ve seen Stephen Curry do this with the Warriors workforce that didn’t have a variety of offensive weapons,” Dennis defined.
“Jordan Poole was quantity two. It was Wiggins there too, and he went into Boston in recreation 4 and ripped out that workforce’s coronary heart and put up monster numbers and possibly one of the best highway efficiency we’ve seen,” Dennis added.
The 2022 Warriors featured championship expertise with core gamers like Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Inexperienced, and Andre Iguodala.
Nevertheless, Thompson was getting back from main accidents, whereas Iguodala was effectively previous his prime. Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins supplied Curry’s main offensive help.
This example differed dramatically from the 2015-2018 dynasty when Curry had Durant alongside him, plus prime Thompson and different elite function gamers.
Durant’s scenario in Houston presents even higher circumstances. He’ll have Alperen Sengun, who arguably possesses extra expertise than Poole throughout that 2022 run.
The Rockets additionally characteristic promising gamers like Amen Thompson and skilled veteran Fred VanVleet, who can sometimes explode offensively.
The Rockets undoubtedly have the expertise to compete on the highest degree subsequent season. Time will reveal whether or not Durant can carry this workforce to championship glory like Curry did together with his 2022 Warriors squad.
