The three-point shot wave may recede? Rockets lead the league s new trend with the success of the double center lineup

Over the past decade, the NBA has undergone a huge change. Gone are the days when traditional power forwards, sometimes even centers. The teams began to change, no longer prioritizing dominant inside players who can attack at low posts, but instead turning to an offensive system that focuses more on the outside. The Rockets were once the pioneer of this new sport. They led the NBA's three-point change with Stephen Curry and the Warriors. In the 2010-11 season, the team that averaged the most three-point shots per game was the Magic, with 25.6 shots per game. Fast forward to the 2017-18 season, when the Rockets achieved the best 65 wins in team history and led the league with more than 42 three-point shots per game.

That was an NBA record at the time, but it was just the beginning. Last season, the Celtics led the league with an astonishing 48.2 three-pointers per game. The Nuggets, which ranked last in three-point shooting, also averaged 31.9 shots per game, still 6 more times than the Magic, which led the league 15 seasons ago.

As mentioned earlier, the Rockets were once the pioneer of three-point shooting. Just as their involvement changed the offensive style of each team ten years ago, they are now changing the basketball landscape again, and this time they re-express the importance of center position.

At the beginning of last season, the Rockets used a traditional roster in most cases. A season before that, the Rockets got Steven Adams before the trade deadline, and despite knowing he would miss all the rest of the season due to injury, they hope he can make an impact in the 2024-25 season. For most of the first few months of Adams' injury truce, the Rockets allowed him to slowly get back on his form.

Adams had minimal influence during that time, but it all changed in a game against the Mavericks in early February. That game was Anthony Davis's debut on the new team, and Davis was traded to the Mavericks in the amazing deal that sent Luca Doncic to the Lakers.

In the first half, Davis dominated the game, he was everywhere on the court and helped the Mavericks build a huge lead at the start of the game. However, the situation in the second half was completely different, as Ime Uduka made an adjustment that played a major role in the success of the Rockets' remaining games of the season. Uduka has been experimenting with a double inside lineup all season, and despite the small sample size, he decided to let Steven Adams and Alperen Shinkin play together.

Although the Rockets' counterattack failed, the combination of Shin Kyung and Adams is the main reason why the Rockets can still maintain a glimmer of hope at the end of the game. The double inside lineup later became one of the Rockets' best lineups, because each team was not used to dealing with two centers on the court at the same time.

Adams dominated rebounds as always as he had throughout his career, which opened up a breakthrough for Shin Kyung, as opponent teams would send two, sometimes even three players to get a spot with Adams to prevent him from grabbing offensive rebounds. In the first round showdown between the Rockets and the Warriors, the combination of Shin Kyung and Adams became the focus.

The lineup is the main reason why the Rockets were able to fight back from a 1-3 despair and drag the series into a tiebreak battle, because the Warriors were helpless when facing Adams and did not have enough personnel to match the Rockets' inside lineup.

Although the Rockets eventually lost the tiebreak, they have proved that the double center lineup not only works, but also shines. The Rockets' three-point shots dropped from 12th in the league in 2023-24 to 20th last season as they relied more on the double-in-the-line lineup throughout the season. Due to the dominance Adams and Shin Kyung showed on the court, the Rockets played their best season in rebounding in more than 50 seasons.

Rockets believe in this lineup so much that they signed Clint Capela as the third center. Usually, in modern NBA games, the team's lineup depth does not reach three centers. But it is reported that the Rockets will use Capela and Adams at the same time and continue to use a double-inside lineup.

The Athletic reporter Kelly Iko recently reported that other teams in the league have noticed this and have begun to apply it to their own rosters, and teams like the Thunder — who sometimes put Chet Homgren and Isaiah Haltenstein on the court at the same time — have also begun to embrace this style of basketball.

The teams once averaged 50 or more three-pointers per game, which was unheard of 15 years ago. But with the recent success of the Rockets and the operation of this offseason, you may see this trend begin to reverse, and thanks to the Rockets.

Author: Lachard Binkley

Translator: GWayNe