Houston’s Summer League campaign is underway. Things are largely progressing as expected. Already, there have been notable highs and lows. That’s hardly surprising when discussing a team almost entirely reliant on the scoring production of two extremely young players. Cam Whitmore and Reed Sheppard both came out of the gates in rip-roaring fashion. While there have been some lows since the duo looks bound to buckle and swash their way right through next season.
Highs And Lows: Houston’s Swashbuckling Summer League Duo
The Highs
Prized new draft pick Sheppard was the one who immediately turned the most heads. His mechanical-looking dribble appears as if it belongs to someone forty years his senior, but he was surprisingly effective in using it to navigate traffic in the lane. It helps when the first concern of the defense is to close out on any potential jump shot. That is a concern that Sheppard instills at will. Obviously, this is Summer League rather than actual NBA-level competition. Still, Reed pulled off the kind of midrange jumpers and tight interior passes that give a promising impression of his decision-making prowess.
The first two teams that the Rockets played were the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Wizards. The expectation, after crushing performances against each of them, was that Whitmore would already be done. Not that he had much opportunity to demonstrate any major new developments in his game. He was too busy catching alley oops and generally converting everything at the rim. But he was doing that last year.
CAM WHITMORE DUNK PARTY IN THE FIRST HALF
– Reverse windmill
– Two-hand poster13 PTS, 4 REB, 4 STL, 2 AST
ESPN2!#NBASummerLeague
pic.twitter.com/bQiXpUSy4c— OutOfSightSports
(@OOSSports) July 14, 2024
Whitmore’s numbers didn’t quite match what Jabari Smith Jr was able to produce in his limited Summer League run last year. Still, head coach Ime Udoka might be more inclined to run regular season offense through a rim-seeking missile rather than a LaMarcus Aldridge-style post-up specialist, which was how Smith was allowed to play at that time. As a primary scoring option off the bench, Whitmore could even conceivably enter Sixth Man of the Year consideration. But a Whitmore-oriented offense has issues. And those would be put on display in the next game.
The Lows
Houston’s Summer League duo ran aground badly in a lopsided contest against the Detroit Pistons. Whitmore especially, as he converted only once out of 15 attempts from the field. Somehow, he still made that singular field goal look absurdly impressive. A self-created and frankly inexplicable dunk off of a drive. Your eyes were still telling you it was a layup by the time your ears caught up to inform you of the sound it had made.
But Whitmore still has significant decision-making limitations on the court. Detroit opted to focus hard on Sheppard and Whitmore. Whitmore, in particular, seemed determined to force the matter regardless. That checks out with his habits last season as well. He averaged only 0.7 assists per game last season, along with one whole turnover. Obviously, part of that comes from his limited touches.
Whitmore didn’t take on a creation burden outside of transition, and his finishing abilities were much needed on a team with limited long-range shooting threats. But if he’s ever going to develop into the star that he looks like he ought to be, then it’s the decision-making that he’s going to have to work on. Likely, the very reason Houston’s front office opted to extend Whitmore’s Summer League is that he’s capable of having games like the one that he just did.
Sheppard didn’t have the same eye-catching egregious shooting splits, but he still found his effectiveness stymied in game three. To his credit, he did make a lot of the correct passes. Teammates simply weren’t ready to reward Reed for his reads. He did look slightly overwhelmed in man-to-man defense at times, however. The same abundance of easy interceptions isn’t available to pad steal numbers with from October onward.
Houston’s Summer League Is Going According To Plan
It may be worth noting that the Detroit game occurred on the second night of a back-to-back for Houston. It’s obviously even more worthwhile to note that the data thus far comes from one week of Summer League. Players all go through a pattern of good stretches followed by bad games. Not just young players either. Unless you’re LeBron James or Kevin Durant, it’s just something to get used to. You can merely hope that the good stretches start to last a while and that the bad games don’t come at inopportune times. For the Houston front office, game three of Summer League is just about the most inopportune time imaginable.
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