Aaron Holiday was the Houston Rockets’ last free agent signing in 2023, which typically indicates a looming minimal role for a player. Much like Josh Okogie, who was the Rockets’ final signing this summer,
who isn’t expected to garner much playing time this season. Holiday was brought in at the request of Rockets coach Ime Udoka, who was tasked with adding proven veterans to a Rockets team, at the time, that largely mirrored an AAU team. Along with Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jeff Green that same summer– two of which have championship experience. Holiday has operated as an emergency option, playing spot minutes when players have rested on back-to-backs or in blowouts, when the games have largely been decided. Or in the case of an injury to starting point guard Fred VanVleet. Which, brings me to my next point. VanVleet’s fateful ACL injury has left the Rockets largely without answers. They don’t quite have the ability to add an external body. They don’t have any vacant roster spots and are $1.2 million away from being hard-capped, which isn’t quite enough to offer the vet minimum. The only other point guards on the roster are Reed Sheppard and Holiday. Sheppard is in line for an increased role — we’ve heard it all summer. Amen Thompson will log a significant amount of minutes at the point, along with the wing, as he’s been mainly used to this point. They can’t get all of the point guard minutes. Holiday will play quite a bit more than the 12.8 minutes that he received last season. He’s a proven three-point shooter at the NBA level. In fact, he and VanVleet were the Rockets’ best shooters last season, at 39.8 percent from three, albeit on a low number of attempts (2.9). The year before, in his debut season with the Rockets, he made 38.7 percent of his long-range attempts (2.8). The Rockets ranked in the bottom ten in long-range shooting and failed to add experienced three-point specialists, relying instead on organic growth and improvement. Holiday’s shooting could help soften the blow of the absence of VanVleet’s three-point shooting. Yes, I know, they are very different players. Holiday doesn’t have VanVleet’s playmaking chops. At all. In fact, he’s typically not looking to get his teammates involved, rather seeking to score. But on a team devoid of shooting, his fringe 40 percent from three might prove beneficial in an increased role.
