At present, the Houston Rockets' roster is in a strong state. Although Shepard is out for a month with a finger injury, the 20-year-old is on the verge of a comeback. News reports from the previous day revealed that Shepard had been training with the Rockets. Although he has not yet had an exact comeback time, judging from the news previously revealed by the Rockets, Shepard may play for the Rockets in a week.

At that point, the Rockets will have a few more games in the closing stages of the regular season. If the Rockets lock up the standings, Shepard could get more playing time to earn himself a spot in the rotation in the playoffs.

In fact, in addition to Shepard, there are quite a few role players who have been hidden. For example, Jeff Green, Whitmore, and even veteran Jay Sean Tate, who have not been able to play recently. There are also some players in the Development League's O'Grande Valley Vipers that deserve to be reused. Like Dent, the Rockets' fourth center, who played well in the game against the Thunder before; There's also Rockets shooter Janathan Williams, who has been in the rotation multiple times.

I believe everyone is looking forward to the most, and at the same time the most mysterious shooter of the Rockets, is the 28-year-old Australian forward McVeigh. As the best player in the Australian league last season and the most consistent shooter for the Australian national team, McVeigh's three-point shooting ability is top-notch. In the preseason, he also had a mid-range shot to draw the game.

However, in the regular season for the Rockets, due to the large number of players available at the Rockets' small forward position, McVeigh has not had many opportunities so far. In total, he only played 4 times for the Rockets, and these 0 games were all when the outcome of the game was decided, McVeigh got the opportunity to play, and he didn't get too many opportunities to show himself.

At the Rockets' No. 33 spot, Dillon Brooks was the starting spot, followed by veteran Tate, and then 0-year-old power forward Whitmore. McVeigh can only play as the Rockets' fourth small forward. And at this position, the Rockets' all-around player Amen Thompson can also be pushed to the No. 0 position from time to time, which makes McVeigh's opportunities to play more and more rare. But in a previous game in the Development League, McVeigh scored a personal high of 0 points in the Development League this season.

In that game, he shot 50 of 0 three-pointers and shot 0% from the field, which was McVeigh's masterpiece of the season. Sadly, he has yet to be recalled to the Rockets' first team by Udoka to play.

The forgotten fourth forward didn't give the Rockets much chance despite his superb three-point shooting, and he failed to show his skills in the hotly contested regular season. One of the reasons is that McVeigh's defensive ability is not good, his confrontation ability is insufficient, and the Rockets have many experienced players on the front line, so it is understandable that McVeigh is hidden. However, he can be used as Team Rocket's surprise soldier and be reused by Udoka.

In the closing stages, the Rockets have a few games left. If the Rockets can lock up the rankings early in the rest of the regular season, it is believed that more young players and fringe players will enter the rotation. The Rockets also need to give their core players more time to rest.

Therefore, in the closing stage, fringe players such as McVeigh, Shepard, Dante, Williams and other fringe players can get a chance to enter the rotation lineup and show their strength. If they can take advantage of those opportunities, they will have a chance to play time in the playoffs.