On July 12, Beijing time, today's Rockets' summer league opponent will be the Thunder led by Chet Holmgren, although Chet played amateur games after last season's summer league and caused injuries and season reimbursement, but Chet's state after gaining weight is still quite good. In the summer league game against the Jazz, Chet easily cut 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks, showing the potential of a first-class interior, but in the next summer league game against the Rockets, the Rockets' power forward Jabari Smith, small forward Ethan and the Thunder's Chet may all take turns.
However, this cannot hide the outstanding performance of all three of them in the summer league, all three are rookies in the class of 2022, Chet is the No. 2 pick, Smith is the No. 3 pick, and Ethan is the No. 17 pick. However, Chet has not played for a year due to injury, so he will still play as a rookie next season, while Smith and Eason have already played one season in the NBA.
For the rest of the Summer League, the Rockets' Smith and Eason may not play again, because their performance in the first two games is too good, Ethan is averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds per game, Jabari Smith is even more exaggerated, he can average 35.5 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists per game.
It is precisely because Smith and Ethan performed too well in the summer league, so the two of them together with Chet were selected into the best team of the summer league of American media "TA" expert Zach Harper, although the summer league has not yet been played, but the performance of the dual core of Chet and the Rockets is still remarkable, and it is well deserved to be selected as the best team of the summer league! In addition to the three rookies of the previous class, Peyton Watson of the Nuggets and Shavery Cooper of the Cavaliers were also selected, and if memory serves, both of them are outside players.
The Rockets are the only team in the league to have 2 players named to the All-NBA team, and here we can congratulate the Rockets as well. Although the Rockets' record last season is really not good enough, but in terms of developing players, Ethan and Smith have indeed been cultivated by the Rockets, at least in the summer league, Ethan and Smith have a crushing advantage in the game, and the bright data of the two and the Rockets' 2-game winning streak are the best footnotes!
Next, even if they don't play in the summer league, the Rockets' Smith and Eason can't relax their training. Don't be complacent about playing a "superstar" level in the summer league, we know that the Rockets' record last season was quite poor, and Smith and Eason had ups and downs.
The level of the Summer League is indeed not high, and there is no advantage compared to the Development League, so the Rockets' dual core needs to train harder, especially with new characters such as VanVleet, Dillon, and Randale, improve together, and then play in the regular season of the new season, which is what the Rockets are most looking forward to.