The Houston Rockets made a change to their starting lineup before Wednesday’s home preseason game versus San Antonio by inserting Danuel House Jr. as the starter at small forward over Eric Gordon.
Head coach Mike D’Antoni announced the news during his pregame media session with reporters. He did not commit to it as a long-term move, but said the Rockets want to “get a look” at how the rotations work with House starting and Gordon leading the bench unit.
D’Antoni told reporters he views Gordon “as a starter” regardless, since he would still play major minutes in either scenario. The move returns Gordon to his famed sixth man role, from which he won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2016-17 with the Rockets.
If it holds, the move makes the Rockets larger, more athletic, and defensive minded in the starting lineup with the 6-foot-7 House starting instead of the 6-foot-4 Gordon.
It also makes it easier for D’Antoni to accomplish his recently stated goal of having two of Houston’s three primary guards (Gordon, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden) on the floor at all times, since Gordon will likely replace whichever of Westbrook or Harden is the first to be subbed out in the first and third quarters.
Houston’s defensive efficiency — and especially its rebounding — fell off significantly from their league leading 2017-18 season (65-17) to the 2018-19 campaign (53-29), with D’Antoni citing the lineup replacement of 6-foot-8 small forward Trevor Ariza with Gordon (Ariza left in free agency in July 2018) as a key reason.
To that end, the presence of a longer and more physical body in House might help reverse that decline.
House, now 26 years old, averaged 9.4 points (41.6% on three-pointers) in 25.1 minutes per game with Houston last season. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Gordon scored 16.2 points (36.0% on three-pointers) in 31.7 minutes per game.
Wednesday’s home game versus the Spurs is the fifth of six total exhibitions for the Rockets, with the preseason finale coming on Friday in Miami. The regular season begins on Thursday, Oct. 24 at Toyota Center in Houston versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
