The Dispirit of Summer League
Two small-ish Kentucky guards taken in the top ten of the NBA draft, once friends, or at least teammates, and now, perhaps the least bitter of foes! VSL Rockets battling for a chance to make the VSL playoffs! A joyous reunion with Daishen Nix! Ok, fine, Daishen Nix in another team’s uniform, which is great!
More basketball! At least that, right? More basketball!
If you love basketball, and you love the Rockets, you might want to stop reading right there. That’s about as good as this one got. That is to say, from a Rockets perspective far, far better in theory than practice. Practice, which they say makes perfect, was clearly lacking on the part of the Rockets, who devolved into the basketball equivalent of unsalted, overcooked, oatmeal. Bland, forgettable and indigestible.
First off, Cam Whitmore did not play. Yes, the Rockets might have to chosen to see if Cam who did in fact pass it last game (but didn’t shoot it, well, he shot it, but dismally) was shut down. Reed Sheppard would be playing with a bunch of fringe NBA guys, or simply non NBA guys. Right now we have to unfortunately include AJ Griffin in that number. More on him later.
I didn’t watch this one live, and this is something I rarely say about Rockets basketball, but I wish I hadn’t watched this game at all. It really was that bad. Not comically bad. Not so bad it’s good. Not bad in a way that shows flashes of promise, or hope. No. It was stultifying. It was inept. It was so boring a 40 minute montage of blown Cam Whitmore dunks would have been much better. You probably couldn’t make such a montage if every dunk was unique, but even a loop would be more interesting.
I have said that I have a lot of sympathy for Vegas Summer League guys, most of whom are simply fighting for jobs, rather than taking a test drive before NBA training camp starts. My sympathy dies a little when guys can’t or won’t set a pick, or move a little without the ball. When basic PNR just doesn’t happen.
As far as the Dueling Kentucky guards thing went, well, Reed Sheppard started out 1 of 7. Then he went 8-10. He had a huge number of turnovers, 9, but you really can’t lay all, or even most, of those at his feet. Many of them were turned over in anticipation of teammates making the right read, the proper move, or indeed, any plausible basketball move at all.
Still it was 20pts on 9-17 shooting, but 0-5 3pt (with basically no off ball attempts, concerning but not alarming, given his shooting form), 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2stl, 1blk. So, actually, not that bad under the circumstances.
Cam didn’t play, so he came away looking good in that regard.
AJ Griffin continues to baffle me. His stat line looks fine 5-10, 2-6 3pt, 5rbs, 1ast, 1stl for 15pts. I see some things Griffin does and they look like they’ll work in the NBA, and other things wouldn’t work much of anywhere. He may truly be a player who needs structure, needs a set of principles for his movement without the ball (which he needs to do much more of). He’s a reclamation project, and there’s a lot to like, and a lot to worry about. The price was low to take a look.
Between N’Faly Dante and Orlando Robinson, it’s sort of pick your poison. Robinson has been around the NBA for longer, with Miami, known for player development, and he’s not in Miami anymore. He’s a more forceful player, and a better scorer, but seems to do very little in a team context, rather than a “Make Orlando Robinson Look Good” context. That’s not really what an NBA team looks for in a third center.
Dante played 8 fewer minutes, but had one fewer rebounds, the same number of blocks, and three fewer fouls. He’s not been in an NBA context at all, and seems to try to do team oriented things like “Set a pick for your guard who is being harassed.” But it feels like Rockets VSL coach Garret Jackson preferred the “Do something forceful.” with Robinson rather than “Do something useful.” with Dante. Not that he was terribly useful, but it looked more like he was attempting to play a team game.
As far as Rob Dillingham, it’s easy to see some of his NBA level skills. But 6-21 isn’t a great shooting line. He did have 6 assists to 3 turnovers, and the TWolves seemed more organized than the Rockets, if not exactly a precision machine.
Daishen Nix appears to be too good for Summer League and not good enough for the NBA. This suggests at foreign league, where perhaps his well-remembered defensive cluelessness would be overshadowed by his real offensive skills and he could flourish. In baseball terms you’d call him a “AAAA” player. Minnesota desperately needs someone to dribble, organize offense and get his own shot, so I suspect Daishen will remain with them this season. Whatever happens, we won’t see him playing 900 minutes for this Rockets team.
The rest of the Rockets sort of demonstrated why they’re deep bench players.
This was a tough watch.
One more VSL game. I hope it looks better than this one.