[Video] Royce White's First NBA Basket (UPDATED: Full Royce Highlights)

I disagree that defense at the PG position is not that important. You don't need to be a stalwart defender but at least don't be a liability & Kyrie is the personification of defensive liability.

 

Next to Terrence Jones.

 

D-Mo has looked good in some stretches, I hope he back ups Asik. Terrence Jones looks good in some stretches I hope he backs up Patterson. Royce White handles the ball very well you have to wonder if he can play point and back up Lin.
With Lamb and Delfino also coming off the bench we have a nice rotation. Most likely Douglas or Machado will back up Lin at the point.

 

Irving was a top notch defender in college. Give him more than his rookie year to showcase his ability. I guarantee you Chris Paul was not the defender he is today in his rookie year. Both their games will be predicated on playing passing lanes and being on-ball pests, rather than having pure lateral quickness enough to stop all penetration. Defensively they both have potential to be top 5 at their position.

 

Well he's still a young rookie and that was his first ever game in the NBA so he didn't do so bad. Many high lottery pick's have terrible starts in their NBA career. He didn't do so bad. The thing is, at the beginning, they kinda had him off as a spot up shooter which he isn't.

I think that whenever Lin sits down, White should be in the game and every time the Rockets get the defensive rebound, they should give White the ball and let him bring it up instead of Tony Douglas or Scott. I think Royce should handle the ball a lot more with Lin sitting down and have him start the fast break. Because whenever Lin sits out, TD is ok with the ball but I don't think he can run the break as well as Royce can...

 

Hopefully the Rockets would utilize him this season. I think he won't get that much minutes in his rookie year but he would be in this team's future plans. IMO, his best role is similar to a Lamar Odom, a forward that handles the ball for a good amount when the main PG isn't.

I think he would take a lot of pressure off of Lin by handling the ball more and when the Rockets starts a fast break, they should find him and let him do his thing. He is very unique and talented. Like I said in my post before this, that was only his first game and he did very well. He didn't score many points or grab many rebounds but he shows a lot of potential and promises.

He's a unique player and the Rockets should use him in a special way. They should run plays off of him and use him more in the offense. He can be the primary ball handler in the 2nd unit. With him being the primary ball handler in the 2nd unit, the Rockets should have success but that will take time. He's still a young rookie with plenty to learn.

But so far, our 4 rookies in Lamb, Jones, White, a D-Mo all looked great so far in the preseason. They are all very different and each brings different things to the table. Lamb looks like a potent scorer who can handle the rock well, Jones looks like an energizer for the team who gets lose balls, hustle plays, does the dirty work and brings length, athleticism and crazy talent to the team. D-Mo looks like a solid scorer for a 7 footer and many have said he looks like a rookie Dirk Nowitzki. We'll see how that pans out. But Royce has so much possibilities to be a great unique player. Like an Lamar Odom but much tougher..

 

Stop this. Stop this now.

 

If he doesn't turn into charles Barkley then he wont be in rotation

 

I totally agree to give Irving more than his rookie year to showcase his ability. But in that same vein lets give Kyrie more than his rookie year before we start saying he will be a top 3-5 pg in 2 years. That's my point.

 

Irving is a beast roxxy and I guarantee u will come back to this thread and admit u were wrong about the people saying he's gonna be a top 5 pg in 2 yrs. I don't see how that's unreasonable when u account that cp3 and dwill were the 2 best pg in the game by yr 3 same with rose and Westbrook and rondo.

If you look at the history of the league most superstars if not all were top 5 at there positions by yr 3 it's very rare for it to happen later on in a players career. So in all reality it's pretty standard for a good player to be top 5 by yr 3.

 

Royce in transition is a thing of beauty...

Lebron esque

Have royce as Pg off the bench...he can defend pf

 

Really, superstar potential?

Name one thing that Terrence can do that you see being a top 5 skill for his position, ever?

I like Terrence but I don't really see him being much more than a plus contributer for his position. I hope I'm wrong.

 

McHale should bring in White before every transition and then take him out afterwards.

 

Though I wouldn't say defense at the PG is unimportant, it's certainly the least important of the positions.

Potential defensive impact decreases from the 5 to the 1, so even if you had the best defender in the league at the 1, it would hardly transform your team defense. Likewise, teams can win with PGs who are great offensive players but terrible on the other end (Nash). You can't say that as much about the other positions.

Granted, you'd prefer your PG to not be terrible on that end, but with the rules today mixed with the talent level, the players known as the top defensive PGs (i.e. Rondo, Lowry etc) can't exactly lock down Westbrook/Rose types, or even the guys a level below them. A good PG will get where he wants to - unless the opposing team makes a concerted effort with team defense to shut him down (i.e. Miami on Rose in '11).

 

He does not defend or rebound well enough to be a starter. I do not see this part of his game improving much..... Rodney Rogers here we come!

 

We really haven't seen enough of his game to hang any kind of comparison on him. I'd like to see him play more to properly evaluate his ability to contribute and in what way his contributions will matter.

You know what they say, past performance is no indication of future results.