Fast eyes and quick hands, Rockets have a 50 million contract to get the front line, past experience helps them become the best choice

After the free agent market has been opened, dozens of signings have been reached in less than two hours. Of course, the Rockets are not willing to fall behind. When the trading market just opened, they won the league's high-quality 3D player Finney Smith with a four-year, $53 million contract. Everyone affectionately called him "electric fan".

It is not difficult to find that Finney Smith should be the target person the Rockets have targeted very early, because the agreement between the two sides has made Smith the first player in the league and needs to change teams next season. Previously, the Lakers also wanted to keep this forward who played a stable performance, but after having two super maximum salary contracts with James and Doncic, the 4-year offer of $53 million was a bit unmatched.

After people sign Smith, many people are very puzzled why the Rockets don't supplement the missing ball holders in the lineup, but have to find a forward player for the team with a large contract like the full middle class. Is there some overlap in resources? But if you think about it carefully, maybe the Rockets' management decision is more reasonable.

First of all, most of the ball holders in the team were in the hands of Van Vleet, Jaylen Green and Shin Kyung last season. By next season, Van Vleet and Shin Kyung's scenes should not change much, but compared to Jaylen Green, Durant has a large or small ball holding ratio, which should be easy to judge. What other players may need to do is to hand the ball over the frontcourt to him. So after the transaction, the Rockets' ball rights allocation has become more tense than last season.

Don't forget that there is also Amen Thompson who was growing rapidly last season. Judging from Uduka's training method, he wants Amen to become a team that can contribute on both offense and defense in the future, so Amen's ball rights should also increase next season. Therefore, except for Shin Kyung, Van Vleet, Amen and Durant, the rest of the players do not need much ball-holding ability. They only need to defend well, stay on the outside, and hit those shots in open positions steadily.

The Rockets chose Finney Smith to sign this time, and another important reason is his past growth experience. Smith, who was selected as the NVAA Division's All Rookie Team in 12 years, played for 4 years in college, and averaged 14.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in the last season. He still lost the election in the 2016 draft, and then a two-way contract from the Mavericks changed the fate of Finney Smith.

Finney Smith is a smart person who knows his own situation better than other players. From the first time he entered the league, he never hoped to score explosively on the court. He knew that the only way he could stay in the league was to defend hard and do all the small things well. It is also true that Finney Smith averaged 20.3 minutes of playing time as a rookie season, only scored 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds, shooting percentage was only 37.2% and three-point shooting percentage was only 29.3%. Even so, he played in 81 games that season.

In the second season, Finney Smith played only 21 games due to injury, and in the following season, he seized the opportunity again, averaging 7.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals per game. What really changed its qualitatively should be the playoffs in 2019-20. Finney Smith averaged 10.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals as the starting player, with a shooting percentage of 44.2% and a three-point shooting percentage of 36.7%. This allowed him to gain a foothold in the team completely.

In the first five seasons of his career, Finney Smith's salary never exceeded $4 million. It was not until he reached the Western Conference Finals with the Mavericks in the 21-22 playoffs that he won a four-year, $52 million contract. Now he has received another four-year, $53 million contract. As a undrafted pick, Finney Smith's total salary in his career has exceeded $100 million, which is definitely a success for him. The Rockets signed Finney Smith this time, perhaps because they believed that he could help the team in terms of style, playoff experience, and field mental strength. Most importantly, they always know when to do what. What do you think of the Rockets' operations for signing Finney Smith? Welcome to like, follow, and leave a message to discuss!