The Rockets are fighting the Pelicans! There is no suspense about the rotation, 2 injured players are traveling with the team, and only one player is missing from the 18-man lineup.

Tomorrow morning, that is, at 8 o'clock in the morning on October 15th, the Rockets will challenge the Pelicans away from home. Today the Rockets have boarded a plane and headed to New Orleans. The Rockets take this away game very seriously. Because in the eyes of coach Uduka, the next two preseason games can be regarded as regular seasons, and the Rockets will give the starting players more playing time. According to Uduka's previous revelation, the playing time of each of the Rockets' starting five will rise to about 30 minutes. It can be seen that the Rockets have now found the best starting model.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Rockets' starting lineup should be like this in the opening game of the new regular season: the two starting point guards in the backcourt are Amen Thompson plus Shepard, Durant is the small forward, Smith Jr. is the starting power forward, and Shen Jing is still the starting center. There should be no suspense about this starting five. The question is who the Rockets' rotation will be in the next game against the Pelicans.

From now on, in addition to the starting five, the Rockets also have Aaron Holiday and Davidson at No. 1, two players who can attack well and defend well. Although the two have average passing ability, they can shoot, hold the ball and defend. As substitutes for the No. 1 position, there should be no suspense about this. For the shooting guard position, the Rockets' substitute should be Okogie. There are reports that Okogie may play a more important role, because now that Finney Smith is out due to injury, the Rockets have to reuse Okogie. Okogie also performed quite well in the two preseason games, worthy of his basic salary.

In addition, the forward substitutes include Ethan and Jeff Green, two new and old players. With Finney Smith unable to play and Tate being troubled by an ankle injury, Jeff Green and Ethan will play important roles at the 3rd and 4th positions until Finney Smith and Tate return to the team. The two injured players mentioned just now, Finney Smith and Tate, have been troubled by ankle injuries. They will not play in the remaining two preseason games, which is tomorrow morning's game against the Pelicans, and a few days later when the Rockets go to the Atlanta Hawks away game.

However, although these two injured players cannot play, they will still travel with the Rockets lineup to the away game in New Orleans. I believe that these two injured players will also travel with the team in the next game between the Rockets and the Hawks. Although they cannot appear on the court, they can listen to the tactical arrangements and see the situation on the court next to Uduka, and become familiar with the Rockets' tactical changes. When the regular season comes, once the two of them are able to play, their understanding of tactics will not lag too far behind.

In addition, the Rockets also have Adams and Capela at the center position. They will also be Shen Jing's first substitute. In some cases, they can even form a twin tower to play with Shen Jing. As a result, the Rockets' rotation basically has no suspense. The remaining fringe players, such as Crawford, Matthews and Harris, will find it difficult to get a chance to play in the rotation, but once the Rockets face injuries and absences, these three players will also have the opportunity to step in.

In addition to Tate and Finney Smith who will travel with the team, the Rockets are currently missing only one person in the 18-man lineup-veteran VanVleet is still recovering from injury. He has not joined the Rockets and cannot follow the Rockets to the away game. But after VanVleet is able to move freely, I believe he will go to the Rockets' home court to cheer for his teammates.