Houston Rockets at Minnesota Timberwolves 10/20/21 - NBA Picks & Predictions

The Houston Rockets open their NBA regular season on the road Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center. Houston was 17-55 last season and finished 15th in the Western Conference. In the offseason Houston acquired Daniel Theis via free agency and drafted Jalen Green, Alperan Sengun, Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher. Sterling Brown, Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk are no longer with the Rockets.

Houston is expected to start Kevin Porter Jr and Jalen Green in the backcourt, while Daniel Theis and Jae'Sean Tate will be the starting forwards with Christian Wood at center. Eric Gordon, Josh Christopher and DJ Augustin are expected to be the first three of the Houston bench. Green is expected to make the biggest impact for the Rockets after averaging 17.9 points per game in the G League, while Porter Jr. and Wood will be the biggest producers on offense.

Minnesota was 23-49 last season and finished 13th in the Western Conference. During the off-season Minnesota added Taurean Prince, Patrick Beverley and drafted Leandro Bolmaro. No longer with the Timberwolves are Jarrett Culver, Ricky Rubio and Juancho Hernangomez. D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards are expected to be the starting backcourt, while Malik Beasley and Jaden McDaniels will start at forward and leading scorer and rebounder Karl-Anthony Towns will start at center.

The first three off Minnesota's bench are likely to be Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie and Naz Reid. Minnesota has an excellent trio of scorers in Russell, Edwards and Towns, but the three must remain healthy all season for the T-Wolves to be competitive. Minnesota (Towns and Edwards) and the Los Angeles Lakers are the only two teams in the NBA that have more than one player on the roster that was a No. 1 overall pick.