Although the Houston Rockets went all in this past offseason, the overarching concern had been their lack of guard depth. The Rockets had just Fred VanVleet, Reed Sheppard, and Aaron Holiday at the point,
although they loaded up on wings and big men. Sheppard was viewed as a question mark, based on his showings as a rookie, and Holiday has always been an emergency alternative. That calculus looks a bit different now, with VanVleet out of commission with a torn ACL. Sheppard now is jockeying for a starting role in the lineup, and Holiday seems like a lock for 20-23 minutes per night. Amen Thompson can fill in some, but with all that’s on his plate, the Rockets don’t seem likely to ask him to initiate the offense full-time. Much of the talk has been about the Rockets’ need to add an additional body at the point guard spot. We’ve even heard speculation about a potential Russell Westbrook reunion, although the Rockets don’t have a roster spot to offer him, nor do they have the cap space. However, after the early showings from the Rockets’ preseason (which is now halfway over), that player may already be on the roster. The name’s Davison. JD Davison. The 23-year-old Alabama product didn’t come with much fanfare when the Rockets signed him to a two-way deal. Then again, VanVleet wasn’t injured at the time. Just a handful of years ago, Davison was one of the top prep players in the country. Just a year ago, he was THE top player in the G-League, nabbing MVP after averaging 25.1 points, 7.6 assists, 5.3 rebounds, 48.3 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from deep, and 74.2 percent from the charity stripe. But you can only put so much stock into the G-League. This preseason, however, Davison has done a little bit of everything. We’ve seen him drive to the lane and throw the occasional lob, we’ve seen him get out on the break in transition for the highlight dunk, and more importantly (and most consistently), dude has been lighting it up from three. I mean, an absolute flame-thrower. (But you should only put so much stock into the preseason also). You just can’t ignore what he’s done thus far. In the Rockets’ preseason opener against the Atlanta Hawks, the man couldn’t miss. He kept knocking down threes, to the tune of 5-of-7 from deep (and 6-of-9 from the floor) and scored 17 points in just 22 minutes. Against the Utah Jazz, Davidson cut down his long-range attempts, but his court vision and high IQ was still on display. Through two games, Davidson is averaging 12.5 points, 56.3 percent from the field, 54.5 percent from three, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 0.5 turnovers. He’s been shooting well, defending well, and protecting the ball. Sound familiar? Look, it’s just the preseason, so the level of competition has to factor in some. I’m old enough to remember Chris Clemons lighting it up in the Summer League and preseason, only for it not to continue during the regular season. But desperate times call for desperate measures. And Davidson has legitimately looked good. He certainly has more upside than Aaron Holiday, who would ideally not be playing 20 minutes on a team with championship aspirations. And he brings more to the table than Holiday, preseason or not. Ime Udoka has to be thinking long and hard about making Davison the back-up point guard for the Rockets, behind Sheppard (although he’s been outplaying him too, thus far in the preseason).
