Scored 3 points on 1-for-6! Refused to renew his contract with the Rockets. Fortunately, Stone didn t get involved. Ethan couldn t get 122 million.

In the opening game, the Rockets narrowly lost to the defending champion Thunder by 1 point. Judging from the game process, the Rockets' offseason signings were effective. Durant provided the Rockets with offensive capabilities many times today. Compared with Jaylen Green's sluggish performance in all five games against the Thunder last season, he was unable to play high-end games. Durant's role on both ends of the offense and defense is obvious. Why the loss is still due to physical problems and the team lacks a point guard. This is where Van Jordan's value lies.

Without Van Jordan, the Rockets would not be able to engage in positional warfare and attack. They basically rely on pushing and counterattacking, and the Thunder are very good at this. In positional battles, the Rockets' style of play is that Shen Jing serves as the point guard and Durant plays in isolation. Sheppard is still too weak at the moment, and will be attacked by whoever is facing him. It will probably take some time to practice before he becomes a defensive vulnerability. But Shen Jing's growth is undoubtedly the biggest surprise of today's loss. He scored 39 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. He scored a terrifying 5 of 8 three-pointers. After training in the European Championships, Shen Jing's mentality and strength have reached a super level.

Durant's biggest problem now is that he doesn't have good three-point shooting. In the preseason, his three-point shooting percentage was only 18%, and he was 0 for 4 in the opening game. But the good news is that against the Thunder, these problems are not big for the Rockets when facing weak teams. They can completely rely on hard power to defeat them. The top five of death still need to be adjusted. In addition, the Rockets have solved the salary problem. Durant cut his salary and renewed his contract with the Rockets for 2 years and 90 million. Shen Jing renewed his contract for 5 years and 185 million in advance last season. At present, this contract is a waste of money. In addition, Smith also renewed his contract with the Rockets for 5 years and 122 million. This season is the last year of his rookie contract. The new contract will not take effect until next season. The basic framework of the Rockets has been established.

The Rockets retain the main framework at a low price, and open the way for Amen Thompson to renew his contract. The most embarrassing player on the team at the moment may be Ethan. If there is a chance later, you can consider packing him and replacing him with a point guard. Before the contract renewal deadline, the Rockets had been trying to negotiate with Ethan. It was estimated that it would be either 80 million in 4 years or 90 to 100 million in 5 years. But Ethan is not satisfied, because he thinks he is not inferior to Jia Jia, and he also wants 122 million in five years, but the Rockets feel it is not worth it, so the two sides are planning to talk again in the offseason next year. But judging from the current situation, not renewing the contract with Ethan may not be a bad thing.

Before today's game, Ethan also said that he wanted to take on a more important role in the Rockets, not just a substitute. Ethan even asked Uduka to arrange tactics for him, but the facts before him were obvious. Facing a high-end game like the Thunder, Ethan made 1 of 6 shots in 21 minutes and only scored 3 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block. He made 3 turnovers. Judging from last season's regular season performance, Ethan was indeed stronger than Smith. However, Ethan's flaws were exposed in the playoffs against the Warriors, and his performance was not as efficient as Smith.

In other words, in low-end games, Ethan will perform better, and in high-end games, Smith is a more energetic player. Ethan will expose problems on both ends of the offense and defense. Everyone has always said that Ethan and Leonard have similar physical hardware, including height, wingspan and position. But Ethan doesn't have Leonard's ability to hold the ball in isolation, and he has never developed his back-up mid-range shot. Then in terms of 3D attributes, Ethan can only deal with low-end games. The most important thing is that Ethan is too confident in himself. In fact, the Rockets' annual salary of 20 million is not low. Ethan himself is an older rookie, already 24 years old, with no potential to tap.

In next year's offseason, there may not be any team willing to give Ethan a contract that exceeds that of the Rockets. Ethan is indeed not very good at golf. He can disrupt the game, but he really doesn’t know how to pass the ball in a tactical system. In fact, if they had known this earlier, the Rockets might as well have traded Ethan and Jaylen Green for Durant and kept Dillon. At least Dillon still has the ability to attack independently, and his defense is also very good. Fortunately, Stone is good at negotiating and did not give Ethan a big contract. Otherwise, Rockets Space would be under pressure. Ethan's body is also fragile. He has no chance of Leonard's life, and he has Leonard's disease. He doesn't play in back-to-back games this season. Do you think any team will give him an annual salary of 30 million? I see Xuanhu.