According to reporter Ryan Vickery, the Houston Rockets' rising star on the wing, Cam Whitmore, and AJ Griffin, another rising star on the wing that the team just acquired from the Atlanta Hawks on draft day, will represent the Rockets in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in July.
In the NBA regular season this season, Whitmore played a total of 47 games for the Rockets, averaging 18.7 minutes per game, averaging 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.4 blocks per game, shooting 45.4% from the field, 35.9% from three-point range, and 67.9% from the free throw line. In the NBA regular season this season, Griffin played a total of 20 games for the Hawks, averaging 8.6 minutes per game, averaging 2.4 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.1 steals and 0.1 blocks per game, shooting 29% from the field, 25.6% from three-point range, and 100% from the free throw line.
Whitmore was the Rockets' pick at the No. 20 pick in the first round of last year's draft, and in fact he was the MVP of last year's NBA Summer League. Whitmore was also creditworthy last season, with a decent scoring explosion and an impressive body and athleticism. If nothing else, Whitmore should only play in one or two of those games, and his abilities have been fully utilized, and he doesn't need to go through a game like Summer League to improve his confidence.
Griffin was selected by the Hawks with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft. Although he performed very well in his rookie season, Griffin's playing time plummeted last season due to various factors, and his performance was not ideal. Although he will be a third-year player next season, given Griffin's performance last season, he may really need more games to regain his form and confidence.
In addition to Whitmore and Griffin, the most interesting player on the Rockets' summer league roster is undoubtedly this year's Tanhualang, freshman backcourt player Reed Sheppard from the University of Kentucky. On top of that, the Rockets also signed the undrafted player on a two-way contract after the draft, and the University of Oregon's fifth-year center N'Faly Dante, the top interior player in the NCAA, is also worth paying attention to.