The Rockets open Summer League with a game against Bronny James and the LA Lakers
The Houston Rockets will begin their trek through the Summer League tonight.
Last summer, Houston made it to the championship game and Cam Whitmore was named MVP. It was the first time Houston had seen success in the NBA’s premier event in Las Vegas. For the complete roster and schedule, see here.
The two players that most Rockets fans will be excited to see are the two players they acquired during the draft period, Reed Sheppard and AJ Griffin. Sheppard’s play likely won’t translate to Summer League success since in his current iteration, he’s probably better off the ball and shooting off actions. Griffin is even more of an enigma, though he might play a bit of a similar role as Sheppard with the big club. For now, he’s a third-year pro playing in the Summer League, which should be a warning to him that his position is perilous. He’s almost certainly the 15th player on Houston’s roster. Therefore, he’s the guy that the Nates (Williams and Hinton) and Jermaine Samuels Jr. are chasing.
Whitmore will probably see a similar usage to Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason last year, where they both played in Houston’s first game and were promptly shut down. Whitmore is the only returning player whose spot on the roster is wholly secure, so there’s little reason for him to play too many minutes.
Tip-off is at 6:30pm CT on ESPN