NBA Summer League is a valuable opportunity for upcoming teams to evaluate their future stars, and the Houston Rockets should be thrilled with what they saw from their young players this summer in Las Vegas. Their record was a mixed bag but wins and losses don't matter in Summer League. What matters is performance. The Rockets should be thrilled with the performance their 2024 lottery pick, Reed Sheppard, put on tape. They also saw enough from second-year player Caam Whitmore to be excited about his ability to contribute in the future. Let's dig into Houston's Summer League results.
Reed Sheppard should have been the first overall pick
Going into this year’s draft, there was little to no consensus on who might be selected with the first overall pick. Rumors in the hours leading up to the draft coalesced around French wing Zaccharie Risacher, and he ended up being the first overall pick. However, the pick never felt like a sure thing and there still is not a clear route to stardom for Risacher. He was largely chosen because he was viewed as a safe pick with a high floor.
Ironically, that’s often the exact type of player you want to avoid when picking first overall. It’s rare for a high-floor player to also have the highest ceiling in the class, and Risacher’s upside may be limited. Sheppard could be viewed as having a high floor due to his outstanding three-point shooting but there were plenty of question marks surrounding his size and athleticism.
The former Kentucky guard has addressed these questions during Summer League, and the Rockets should be thrilled with the early returns on their investment.
His shooting has been great, but that was as advertised. The team doesn’t seem to care too much about his percentages in NBA Summer League, nor should they. What the Rockets are focused on regarding Sheppard’s shooting is his ability to create space at the NBA level. With his size and athletic limitations, one of the biggest concerns with Sheppard was that he wouldn’t be able to do much more than knockdown wide-open looks.
During Summer League play, Sheppard has shown an incredible knack for creating separation and converting contested looks. The incoming rookie has also shown an ability to get by defenders and get to the rim, where he can convert difficult looks. He’s made a ton of acrobatic layups and even thrown down a few dunks.
Perhaps the most important thing about Sheppard’s performance, though, is his vision and passing ability. He’s shown the potential to be a true floor general, which would have several implications for the Rockets. Perhaps most importantly, it would allow the team to build around Sheppard at the point guard spot with Jalen Green as the shooting guard.
Sheppard excelled in the areas he was expected to, and he also addressed doubts from the pre-draft process. He earns an A+ for his Summer League play, and he should have been the first overall pick.
Cam Whitmore can be a real contributor
Whitmore had an up-and-down performance in this year‘s Summer League play, but he showed growth in many ways and has the potential to be a real contributor for the team. Whitmore has always been an aggressive scorer, and that did not change during NBA Summer League. The wing was hunting for scoring opportunities and getting shots up early and often.
This led to mixed results. He put up a great performance early in Summer League play with a 20-point game on efficient shooting. However, the second-year guard struggled in his most recent performance. He only managed to record five points and seemingly missed nearly every shot that he took.
The team pulled Whitmore out of competition after that, benching him for the next game, and then making the decision to shut him down entirely. There’s no reason to read too much into this, though.
Sure, it’s possible that the team shut Whitmore down because they were upset with his play. However, teams don’t usually put a ton of stock into Summer League performances anyway, and it doesn’t make much sense for them to care so much about one game that they would shut down a young and talented player.
The more likely explanation is that the coaching staff didn’t want to risk Whitmore hurting his own confidence with another less-than-stellar outing. They also didn’t want him to attempt to shoot his way out of the slump, which could only mire him further in his struggles, shake his confidence, and take opportunities away from Sheppard.
Whitmore didn’t even have to play in NBA Summer League. The most likely explanation for his inclusion on the roster is that the Rockets simply wanted him to get some shots up in a game-like atmosphere before training camp started.
With Whitmore having accomplished that goal by putting up a decent performance already in Summer League play, there was no need to keep him on the court for longer. The new objective would be to let Sheppard get his time to shine.
Sheppard and Whitmore were able to learn each other’s tendencies
Another goal was to get Sheppard and Whitmore on the court together so the two young potential cornerstones could feel each other out and start to learn the others' strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies.
With this goal achieved, there was no good reason to keep Whitmore on the court. Despite his struggles in what ended up being his final Summer League performance, this was a valuable experience for the young wing. The team is expecting a breakout performance from Whitmore, and he is capable of delivering.
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