ESPN sees Jalen Green as Rookie of the Year, Rockets with worst record

ESPN’s expert panel is bullish on Jalen Green as the NBA’s top rookie for the 2021-22 season, but not on the Rockets as a team.

In a panel of NBA experts at ESPN, rising stars Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. clearly have their share of admirers. However, the panel does not expect their individual success in the 2021-22 season to translate into a greater winning percentage for the young Houston Rockets.

Green, who was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2021 first round, is their consensus choice for Rookie of the Year. With 72.2% of first-place votes, Green easily tops Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, who ranks second with 27.8% of votes. Though Cunningham was the No. 1 pick, it could be argued that Green is more ready for the NBA after spending a year in the G League as part of the league’s new “professional pathway” program. By contrast, Cunningham played last season in college at Oklahoma State.

It’s also worth noting that Green outplayed Cunningham at the NBA’s 2021 summer league, particularly in their head-to-head meeting.

Meanwhile, Porter Jr. — now expected to start alongside Green in a “backcourt of the future” for the Rockets — ranks third on the ESPN panel’s list for 2021-22 Most Improved Player, trailing only Michael Porter Jr. of Denver and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City. Now 21 years old, Porter Jr. is entering his third NBA season, which is the type of profile that often points to a potential breakout year.

Though the sample was limited, Porter Jr. averaged 16.6 points and 6.3 assists in 32.1 minutes during 26 games for Houston last season.

But even with the love shown to Green and Porter Jr., it’s clear that the ESPN panel sees the rebuilding Rockets as still too young for it to result in much improvement at the team level. The panel projects the Rockets to finish the 2021-22 regular season with a 22-60 record, tied with Oklahoma City and Orlando for the NBA’s worst mark.

If that’s the case, the silver lining for the Rockets is that they have full control of their own first-round draft pick in 2022. That could provide an opportunity to add another young star next to Porter Jr. and Green.

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