Tag: Mike D’Antoni

As bench deepens, Ben McLemore makes his case with shooting

Minutes are suddenly hard to come by in Houston. But with Ben McLemore shooting 46.1% on 3-pointers since Jan. 8, he’s in a good spot.

Rotation minutes aren’t easy to come by these days for the Houston Rockets, now that the team is fully healthy and with all roster spots filled.

With that in mind, reserve guard Ben McLemore is doing everything he can to ensure that he’s not the odd man out.

Eric Gordon made his return from a two-week injury absence in Saturday’s victory at Utah, while newcomers Jeff Green and DeMarre Carroll further add to the bench options for head coach Mike D’Antoni.

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Nonetheless, even in what was arguably Houston’s most important game of the 2019-20 season given the Western Conference playoff race and a potential head-to-head tiebreaker with Utah hanging in the balance, McLemore still earned 13 key minutes off the bench. More accomplished veteran options, such as Thabo Sefolosha and Carroll, didn’t play at all.

How did he do it? It’s quite simple, actually. On the NBA’s most 3-point happy team in attempts per game, McLemore made all four of his treys for 12 points, giving him nearly a point per minute played. Only James Harden and Russell Westbrook scored more points for the Rockets.

Speaking postgame, D’Antoni said of McLemore:

The first half, he didn’t guard well. That got him on the bench a little bit quicker than normal.

But then he stepped up. He’s rebounding, and he does a lot of things that people don’t see. And he is, in the last two games since the All-Star break, he’s 7-for-7 [actually 7-of-8] on threes. So, he’s playing. That’s a quick shooter. He’s just got to keep getting better defensively. He’s been really good for us all year.

In 21 games since Jan. 8, McLemore has averaged 10.9 points in 23.0 minutes per game. More impressively, he’s scored those points on 51.3% shooting and a blistering 46.4% clip from 3-point range. For the season overall, he now leads the Rockets in 3-point accuracy at 39.2%.

As D’Antoni referenced, McLemore’s challenges come on other end of the floor. At 6-foot-3 and with a slender frame, he doesn’t have the same defensive versatility as many other options on Houston’s bench.

But if McLemore continues to shoot this well for the league’s most aggressive team from 3-point range — all while doing the little things that D’Antoni craves, such as his four rebounds in 13 minutes Saturday — it’s going to be quite hard for the 27-year-old to lose his spot in the rotation.

His durability is also an asset, with McLemore and P.J. Tucker being the only Rockets to have played in all 56 games this season.

It all makes for quite a comeback story, considering that the former 2013 NBA Draft lottery pick was largely viewed as a bust entering this season. As a result, he had to take a contract that was only partially guaranteed.

Just a few months later, McLemore’s deal is fully guaranteed for the season, and it appears inevitable that the 2020-21 option on his contract will be picked up, as well. Given McLemore’s shooting and athleticism, he’s a major bargain at a league-minimum salary — and yet another excellent find in the depths of free agency by GM Daryl Morey.

As for the team, Houston (36-20) has now won seven of its last nine games. McLemore and the Rockets will look to keep that momentum rolling when they host the New York Knicks (17-39) on Monday night at Toyota Center, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Central.

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