Summer League is in progress. The Rockets have finished one game. The Rockets' next opponent will be the Thunder led by Chet Holmgren. The matchup between Smith and Chet is also very interesting. The Rockets lost to the Magic by 14 points in the previous game, and Smith was also completely defeated by Banchero. Will Smith regain face from Chet in the next game? Worth the wait.
But the most worrying thing is the position of the main point guard in the Rockets summer league. Daishen-Knicks 's performance has proved that with his ability, he is only suitable for the development league. In NBA, Knicks can only be the Rockets' third point guard at best. On the other hand, the Rockets' No. 29 rookie Taitai Washington performed well. Although his statistics in the previous game were only 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Washington's ability to read the game and sort out the offense was far superior. Knicks.
Washington has the ability to become the Rockets' starting point guard, but it is limited to the summer league lineup. The Rockets' real starting point guard is still Porter Jr. Since Wall left the team, Porter Jr. has truly become the core of the Rockets' No. 1 position. Porter Jr. played 61 games for the Rockets last season, averaging 15.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 31.2 minutes per game, shooting 41.5% from the field, 37.5% from three-point range, and 64.2% from the free throw line. Overall, although Porter's statistics are okay, his style is not particularly suitable to become the Rockets' main point guard.
Porter Jr. is not a superstar with Harden 's passing and personal offensive abilities. Compared to Harden, Porter Jr. is also good in singles, but he lacks Harden's ability to create offensive opportunities for his teammates. ability. According to NBA reporter Zach Lowe, as far as he knows, Porter Jr. has had "very preliminary" early contract renewal conversations with the Rockets, but now it seems that there is no substantive result.
We know that Porter's rookie contract will expire next summer, so he renewed his contract with the Rockets in advance and became Porter's first choice. However, the Rockets are not in a hurry. They may want to observe Porter's performance before making a decision on whether to renew his contract. After all, the Rockets have welcomed many new players in the new season. Whether Porter can have a chemical reaction with these players is still unknown.
But another famous reporter, Tim McMahon, is not very optimistic about Porter's future with the Rockets. The famous reporter said that someone in the NBA told him that no one thought Porter Jr. was qualified to be the Rockets' starting point guard. Perhaps being the sixth man on the bench for the Rockets would be more suitable for Porter's style.
Don't look at it. Porter "preliminarily tested" the Rockets on the contract renewal issue, but in fact there was no progress at all, and Porter could only wait. Judging from various signs, the Rockets are still very hesitant about Porter's contract extension. After all, Porter is not a reassuring superstar, and the problems of many mistakes and few assists last season have been bothering Porter and the Rockets. Team.
But as McMahon said, turning Porter into the Rockets' sixth man and playing the previous role of Gordon next to Harden may have better results. Porter Jr. can lead the second team, and he also has strong scoring ability. In the game against Bucks , Porter Jr. scored 50 points by himself, becoming the youngest Rockets player to score 50 points in a single game. player of. If Porter returns to the bench from the starting point guard, not only will Porter's statistics not drop too much, but his ball rights may also increase because he serves as the core of the bench.
