Summer League Rockets Roll Lakers 99-80

In the featured ESPN Vegas Summer League game of the day, ESPN’s Doris Burke and Mark Jones came mostly to talk Bronny James’ Vegas debut and JJ Reddick, with a dash of Dalton Knecht thrown in. The Houston Rockets’ Reed Sheppard, Cam Whitmore and company came to play basketball.

It’s somewhat difficult to account for Summer League games in a useful narrative fashion, so I’ll mostly talk about individual players, and a few things I thought were interesting.

The game started out close, with the edge going to the Lakers, though at the time I suspected that might be due to LA playing in the California Classic and actually having had the chance to play together longer, and in a real game setting. My sense was that the Rockets roster was just much more talented than LA’s overall and it would show.

The Rockets returned the Reigning Summer League MVP (a dubious sort of title to possibly repeat) Cam Whitmore, along with their Deep Bench Goon Squad of of Nate Williams, Jermaine Samuels and Nate Hinton. To be fair, they aren’t really goons, more like blocky guys around 6’5” who have a wide range of skills, though none at high or even middle NBA levels, a high motor, and a relentless, physical, style of play either defending or attacking the basket. They all have some fatal flaw in their games, mostly shooting. But as the last guys on an NBA bench, you could do a lot worse. You’ll always get toughness and effort from them.

More interestingly the Rockets featured the third pick in the NBA draft, Reed Sheppard, AJ Griffin, traded for the 2-44 pick, and unsigned free agent out of Oregon, N’Faly Dante. Kira Lewis Jr is also along for the ride, trying to resurrect a once-promising NBA career derailed by injuries and the Curse of The Pelicans (which is: everyone will be pretty good, always hurt, and it will never amount to anything).

As the game wore on the Rockets superior talent and depth began to show.

Particularly the talents of Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore.

You’ve probably heard me gush about Whitmore before, but my enthusiasm for his ascent into potential stardom is still in full bloom. Whitmore started the game taking bad shots, not defending much, and never passing. Perhaps there were words said about this at halftime, as Whitmore was a changed player in the second half, showing his penchant for spectacular dishes (if not too many meat and potatoes assists). He also grabbed boards, smashed dunks, and played well overall. He was, without question, the best athlete on this particular court.

Whitmore has the superstar quality of racking up stats in what appears to be an off night. He played under 28 minutes but scored 20 points on 8-17 shooting (mostly a product of 1-6 3pt attempts) as 7-9 looks good and grabbed 10 boards, dished 4 assists (all in the second half I think) and grabbed 4 steals.

Ok, but you came to read about Reed, right?

Sheppard scored 23pts on 9-17 shooting, grabbed 4rbs, dished 5ast (against 4 TOs though two really weren’t his fault I think). He also got one steal and three blocks. This discounts how many passes he deflected, and dribbles he disrupted somewhat. The “Stock” stat of steals and blocks is more appropriate here.

But you can read a box score. What’s important here is that Sheppard went 4-6 from three, and two of those shots were both off the bounce, and from about 30 feet or more. If you were worried about NBA range, don’t. It’s there, and then some. If you go under a screen for Sheppard, he’s going to let it fly, and he’s going to cash it. The outlier 3pt shot? It’s still lying outside expectation.

He also cooked the 6’7” Dalton Knecht on a gorgeous Curried hesitation move. No, really, watch this. Dalton Knecht isn’t a guy brought to the VSL to fill out the roster, he’s a 23-24 year old drafted in the first round. (Overall he looked good, his shot is real, and he’ll be able to play off the bench right away for the Lakers I think, given his height and shooting touch.)

Sheppard, really, truly, might just be able to shoot the ball like this. The shot is quick, and it’s pure. The form is simply textbook. Reed (his mother Stacy’s maiden name, like a good Southern young man) did, of course, prove he was human. He made some mistakes, he was too ambitious with some passes, he underestimated the quickness of his opponents and played too close to them, and got burned a few times. He expected cuts that never arrived, and sometimes got a bit lost. He also dunked in transition, no problem, on a slick “I only do highlight assists.” pass from Whitmore.

What Sheppard mostly did, though, was look exactly like the no-brainer best prospect of the draft, and maybe the best shooting prospect in years. If you wondered if he can play point, he can. No, he’s not an NBA starter yet, but he certainly looks like he will be. It’s only summer league, but he looked like a 19 year old cross between Steph Curry and Chris Paul. No, really. It’s in play.

What else?

AJ Griffin flashed both greatness and grossness. Superior athleticism on the attack, and utter bafflement on defense. He’s a third year player in VSL. He simply HAS to look better than his 8pts on 2-7 shooting, 2 boards, 0 assists, 2stl, 2blk in almost 29 minutes of Summer League action. He’s still only 20 (about 3 years younger than Knecht) but this was discouraging. If he was open, Sheppard would have found him.

In other news N’Faly Dante looks like an NBA player. Not a high level one, most likely, but he’s got an “NBA Body” at muscular 6’11”, 265lbs with a great wingspan. He was at Oregon 5 years, and it shows. He processed the game well, worked hard, and unselfishly, guarded decently on the perimeter, and had a spectacular chase down block. His stat line mostly showed rebounds and blocks, but he set hard picks, and was incredibly active. His speed looked good, too. If you’re worried about a 3rd center, worry no more.

Bronny James doesn’t look much like an NBA player at this point. He’s trying to speed up his 3pt shot, and it’s all over the place. It’s a nice story, but another year in college would have helped him, I think.

To the general disappointment and perhaps surprise of ESPN at al, the Rockets won this one going away.