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Highs and lows: Houston’s swashbuckling duo at Summer League

Theo

Houston’s Summer League campaign is underway. Things are going largely as expected. There have already been some notable ups and downs. That’s hardly surprising when you’re talking about a team that relies almost entirely on the scoring output of two extremely young players. Cam Whitmore and Reed Sheppard have both gotten off to a flying start. While there have been some downs since then, the duo seems destined to cave and claw their way into next season.

Highs and lows: Houston’s swashbuckling duo at Summer League

The hights

Sheppard, the new draft pick, was the one who immediately turned the most heads. His mechanical dribble looks like it belongs to someone 40 years his senior, but he was surprisingly effective at navigating traffic in the lane. That helps when the defense’s first concern is shutting down any potential shot. It’s a concern Sheppard instills at will. Of course, this is Summer League rather than NBA-level competition. Still, Reed made the kind of mid-range shots and tight interior passes that give a promising impression of his decision-making prowess.

The first two teams the Rockets faced were the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Wizards. After putting on crushing performances against each of them, Whitmore was expected to be done by now. He didn’t get many opportunities to showcase any major new developments in his game. He was too busy catching alley-oops and converting everything that came his way at the rim. But that’s what he was doing last year.

Whitmore’s numbers haven’t quite matched 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 the regular-season offense with a rim-seeking missile rather than a LaMarcus Aldridge-style post-up specialist, which was how Smith was allowed to play at the time. As a primary scoring option off the bench, Whitmore could even eventually enter Sixth Man of the Year consideration. But a Whitmore-oriented offense has issues. And those would be on display in the next game.

The socks

Houston’s Summer League duo came up short in a lopsided game against the Detroit Pistons. Whitmore in particular, as he converted just one of his 15 attempts from the field. Somehow, he still managed to make this singular and absurdly impressive field goal seem like a self-created, frankly inexplicable dunk on a drive. Your eyes were still telling you it was a layup by the time your ears informed you of the sound it made.

But Whitmore still has significant limitations in his decision-making ability on the field. Detroit has chosen to focus on Sheppard and Whitmore. Whitmore, in particular, seemed determined to force things no matter what. That’s also true of his habits from last season. He averaged just 0.7 assists per game last season, with just one turnover. Of course, part of that comes from his limited touches.

Whitmore hasn’t taken responsibility for creation outside of transition, and his finishing abilities have been a must on a team with limited long-range shooting threats. But if he wants to become the star he appears to be, he’s going to have to work on his decision-making. It’s likely that the reason Houston management chose to extend Whitmore’s Summer League is because he’s capable of putting on games like the one he just had.

Sheppard didn’t have the same spectacular shooting, but he still saw his efficiency diminish in Game 3. He made a lot of decent passes, which is to his credit. His teammates just weren’t willing to reward Reed for his reads. He did, however, look slightly overwhelmed in one-on-one defense at times. The same abundance of easy steals won’t be available to pad steal numbers come October.

Houston Summer League proceeds as planned

It’s perhaps interesting to note that the Detroit game came on the second night of a two-game stretch for Houston. Of course, it’s even more interesting that the data so far comes from a week of Summer League. All players go through a cycle of good stretches followed by bad games. And not just young players. Unless you’re LeBron James or Kevin Durant, it’s just something you have to get used to. You can just hope that the good stretches start to last a while and the bad games don’t come at inopportune times. For Houston management, the third game of Summer League is about the most inopportune time imaginable.

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