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The Houston Rockets are now 2-2 in the regular season following Friday night’s 106-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Although the squad has achieved several noteworthy wins, there is still room for development in many areas. Last night, the Spurs were trailing the Rockets by 21 points before nearly losing the lead as a result of problems on both ends of the court.

Houston blew an 18-point lead in their opening against the Charlotte Hornets, so it was nice to see the lead not fade. Noteworthy is the fact that the squad is free of personnel issues. Houston made great progress last season, improving their record by 19 wins to 41-41, so that much is evident.

The problem is how the playing time is distributed. The youthful team that Ime Udoka has coached for the past two years is full of potential, and they are all quite gifted.

With Steven Adams and Reed Sheppard on board, he is still figuring out lineups, but the narrative of Amen Thompson is intriguing. In Houston’s first four games this season, Thompson has seen 21.2 minutes of playing time per game, down from 22.4 minutes in the same period last year.

Since Udoka hasn’t given Thompson a lot of playing time, the Rockets’ defeats reflect that. As a starting forward, Dillon Brooks has been less effective than Thompson.

Despite playing an average of 33.8 minutes per game, his field goal percentage is 35.9%. In contrast, Thompson’s field goal percentage is 39.1 percent.

And while he and Brooks both play perimeter defense, Thompson is leading the team in assists and blocks per game. If we look at the Rockets’ starting lineups with the highest net ratings and at least three minutes of play per game, we see that Thompson is in the top two and five of the top eight.

If Houston wants a forward who can do it all and relieve pressure on other players, they need Thompson. He started every game last year and contributed significantly to the Rockets’ strong defense.

He had a career-high 13.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and a plus-minus of 41. Now is the moment for Udoka to start giving Thompson more playing time.

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