On Friday night, Adrian Wojnarowski announced that Kenneth Faried’s days with the Brooklyn Nets are over and that he will be signing with the Houston Rockets after clearing waivers.
With the Rockets rolling with a skeleton crew of a rotation right now, Faried will be a welcomed addition to the team. With that said, let’s take a look at his fit with his new team.
Performance So Far
Faried is averaging the lowest amount of minutes per game in his career (9.8/game) to go with a mere 5.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest. These stats make it seem like he’s no longer the player that he once was with the Denver Nuggets. When you look deeper into his situation, however, you’ll realize that the only thing holding him back has been his opportunity with the Nets.
The Nets have Jarrett Allen and Ed Davis in addition to Faried in their center rotation. Both of whom are better fits at what the Nets are trying to do. Per 36 minutes, Faried is putting up 18.6 points and 13.4 rebounds. So it’s not that Faried has been bad with the Nets, it’s just that he’s had too much competition to fight with for playing time. With the Rockets’ current situation, that will be no problem at all.
Role With the Rockets
Faried essentially translates into a smaller Clint Capela. They both are bouncy players that rebound and play good interior defense. Faried should have a seamless transition into the Houston offense where he will be setting screens and finishing lobs from James Harden and Chris Paul (when he returns).
Defense is where the Rockets will see the biggest jump in talent from their current backup center Nene to Faried. Nene is a dinosaur in this league now. He can really only guard bulky centers, which hinders the Rockets’ ability to freely switch players on defense. With Faried, the Rockets will be able to switch a lot more like they do with Capela. Faried can hold his own with small forwards and can handle most power forwards and centers. The only centers he really has problems with are the big, bulky seven footers. But if teams try to put those guys on the court, the Rockets will just feast on them on the offensive end.
Faried should be a solid pickup for the Rockets in what will hopefully be the first of a few buyout pickups for them this year.
All stats logged from Basketball Reference
