Finished! The Rockets sign another 3D defensive champion, and the 14-man iron chain formation is officially released! Shepard becomes the weakest link

During the offseason in 2025, the Houston Rockets can be said to have done a very good job in strengthening their work.

Before the draft, the Rockets and the Suns completed a big deal with Durant, bringing the superstar back to Houston, and the Rockets finally have their own core star. Although he is a little older, Durant is still the top giant in the league, and this deal is destined to greatly increase the Rockets' strength.

In addition, in the absence of Dillon Brooks, the Rockets dug up the 3D forward Finney Smith from the Lakers with a four-year contract to make up for the defensive vacancy brought by Dillon's departure.

In fact, there are many people who can defend the Rockets. They also have defensive players such as Amen, Ethan, Jabbarry Smith Jr., Tate, etc.

Rockets also completed the contract renewal between Smith Jr. and Van Vreett this summer, and the lineup has basically not changed significantly.

It is worth mentioning that on July 23, the Rockets completed another signing, and this time, they signed another defensive player.

According to famous reporter Shams, sources revealed that the Rockets signed 3D wing Okogi 3.1 million yuan a year.

According to reports, Okogi signed a basic salary contract.

Okogi was the No. 20 pick in the first round of 2018, playing for the Suns and Hornets last season. He played in 40 regular season games last season, averaging 15.6 minutes per game, scoring 7.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals, and shooting 34.8% from three-pointers.

So far, the Rockets' 14-man roster has been officially released. Houston has created a set of iron chain formations, and defense is simply a terrifying existence. Any team in the league will have a headache when they face them.

After introducing Okogi, the Rockets have 14 formal contract players. Their total salary next season is 194.7 million, which is 1.2 million from the hard salary cap. The team's 14 formal contract players meet the requirements of the league and the space is just enough. According to this year's situation, even if you sign a player with a basic salary, you will have to pay at least 1.27 million yuan.

In addition, the Rockets currently have Kevin Harris, a two-way player, and two-way quotas. The salary of two-way players next season is 636,000, and the two-way contract is not included in the salary cap. The current lineup of the team is as follows:

defenders: Van Vritte, Shepard, Amen, Aaron Holiday, Okogie.

Forwards: Durant, Finney Smith, Jabbarry Smith Jr., Ethan, Tate, Jeff Green.

Center: Shin Kyung, Adams, Capela. The weakest link in this lineup is actually Tanhua Shepard. In this lineup, except for veterans Jeff Green and Holiday, only Shepard has the worst defense. It can be said that among the players who can enter the rotation lineup, the only thing that is worrying is Shepard's defense.

This shows how terrible the depth of the Rockets' lineup is.

Now, the Rockets no longer have any other space to complete the signing and signing, and their offseason operation has officially ended. The Rockets will compete with teams such as the Thunder, Nuggets, Clippers and others under the leadership of Durant and Uduka with strong defense.

I am still very optimistic about this kind of defensive team. Because, in the playoffs, defense is the foundation of a team.

The Rockets' defense was strong enough last season. They had a fierce round of hand-to-hand combat with the Warriors, but because the offense was too poor and there were no star players, they eventually lost to the Warriors.

This year, the Rockets got Durant without losing defense, which is very worth a look.

Let's see if the Rockets can soar into the sky after the start of the new season!