It doesnt matter how many minutes these guys had last year the point is they had a year's worth of preparation and practices to get it right. If you are saying the team that won the GLeague championship had nothing to do with the SL team then the question is why didnt the Rox include the dominant GL players to the SL team instead of the scrubs? My assumption is Deng, Clark, Hartenstein and Duval were their best GLeague players otherwise why not bring in those other guys for a closer look? These guys had the edge over their peers because they had a year to play and oractice the system yet apart from Harty and Clemens everyone else has stunk. The team looks lost out there and seem to be playing pick up ball, if there was already a great system in place shouldnt these 4 guys at least know what to do? You are confusing talent with system the Rox got high offense but that's due to us having James Harden and Chris Paul, 2 of the best playmakers in NBA history. The "system" seems to be Harden and Cp3 take turns going ISO and everyone else stand at a corner...I dont think that's a system as much as just leaning on Harden and Cp3 to do everything. In RGV we had Hartenstein and Clark who had signed NBA contracts, basically we had 2 NBA players playing in the Gleague so it wouldnt surprise me if RGV had a talent advantage over their opponents in the GLeague. Like I said the SL is a good way to test the system because almost all teams were fresh, you learn which systems are intuitive and easy to implement and which are not. Add in the fact our team had 4 guys who were familiar with the system then they should be blowing others out not getting blown out. Now your argument seems to be Clark, Duval and Deng all just suck so no matter what system it is they will suck. But again the Rox were the ones who brought them in if they suck ass why didnt they discover it last year and got other guys who were better?
No way is this guy gonna be any good He's ball hogging it up in SL , when he does try to pass it's usually intercepted . He's a 5'8" shooting guard .
i been watching him. hes gotta great shot. a quick spot up shooter. i think hed be a good gordon replacement in the near future
True but he might be the worst finisher I've ever seen. I feel like he gets inside and then misses every layup, or gets blocked because hes 5 feet tall.
This guy shoot 35.7% on threes in his last college year. And you know who has the exact similar body build and similar 3 pt %? Russel Westbrook. He is the real target of Morey. All the trade talk is just nothing but smoke
Typical early jitters. He drives. Everything is clustered together like trash ball. He's avoiding the midrange deferring to coaching. Name one player that is driving and finishing well out of halfcourt sets in summer league? Transition...yes. half court the paint is a cluster. He shot 57% from 2 in college and had like a 47% FTR. That means he goes inside and gets fouled or finishes. Take away his midrange shots and he's probably 1.5 PPS at the rim (since you count the fouls and free throws as a possession) . Big question... how much will translate? I believe he'll be fine. He's got the right combination of shooting, speed, quickness, strength, and athleticism to make it. Yes he's short. Everything else is there. And he'll have more space to operate with when he's left one on one in the NBA. The worst part of his game is he is used to doing everything offensively. He cannot do that in the NBA. He'll have to find his niche, and move the ball better, while also playing off the ball. And of course he'll have to defend. We're learning nothing by watching him in this environment. Need to see him with the big boys.
This dude is a shorter Gerald Green. Ballhog with bad shot selection and can't pass. He can light it up but doubt it translates to the actual NBA.
I think he has potential as a 3 point chucker off the bench. IF he can get his shot up over defenders then he'll be ok. Can he adjust to not being a major scorer and getting limited minutes? What is his 3 point % in the corners and off of a pass? He shot 11 3's game in college and made 35.7% last year. In limited minutes with much fewer shots it's possible that his % would increase a bit, esp if given passes from Harden or Paul. The 13th-15th spots on a roster are so bad that he might be worth one of those spots.
Gordon is a tough as nails defender. Did you see him lockdown D. Mitchell and light him up? Yeah the kid might make the roster but it's summer league please don't replace the former 6th man of the year with a 5'8" scorer from Campbell that hasn't scored on against a real playoff defense.
Nate Robinson is the comparable. Nate had a fine career. Clemons has better character than Nate. Doesn't have Nate's playmaking at this point. But he's superior to Nate everywhere else.
This guy is pretty good, and catches Alley-oops better than Capela. For the people who say its only summer league, what about him being 3rd all time in NCAA Div I scoring? I think a lot of times people judge by the measuring tape vs on the court production. If so, measure his vertical or his 3pt range, cause both are nearly off the charts. I'll take an undersized guy with skills vs a tall chickenhead anyday.
i never said the kid was better than gordon. obviously gordon better... the word on the street has been gordon on the block. so, if he's moved and we dont get a guard in return, he looks good so far as a prospect to replace him if he had to.
I'm not sure what you're talking about. You're talking like it's the Vipers team that is performing badly in the summer league. It's Hartenstein and Clark from the Vipers and Clark only played 10 games (including the playoffs) for RGV last year. Edwards played 4 min the first game and 8 the third. Duval played 10 minutes the first game and 3 the second game. Those two guys have barely been on the court. Duval didn't even play for RGV in the regular season, he played for the Bucks G-League affiliate. He only joined RGV for the playoffs and barely played. The Vipers starting lineup for the playoffs was Edwards, Hartenstein, Michael Frazier, Dakarai Tucker adn Gary Payton II. The only one of those guys that's really played in the summer leage is Hartenstein. During the regular season, the Vipers had guys like House, Terrance Jones, Caboclo , Zhou Qui playing minutes. Why aren't Frazier, Tucker and Payton II playing in the summer league? I have no idea but it has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion of the validity of the Rockets offense. My argument hasn't changed. My very first post in the thead I said "Or it means that the talent level of this particular team isn't very good. Do you think the current summer league team would be successful running any system?". That's been my point all along, this summer league team isn't very talented. It's a 2nd round pick and a bunch of undrafted guys. It's not too surprising that they are overmatched. It's also not 4 guys that are familiar with the system so they should be blowing people out. It's Hartenstein and Clark. Edwards and Duval have played a combined total of 25 minutes over three games. You can have the greatest system in history but if you don't have talent to implement it, then you won't be successful. If our summer team did have 4 guys from the Vipers and we played a healthy Pelican's squad with 3 first round picks, would you really expect us to win just because we knew the system? Who did you expect to be scoring for our summer league team? Clemens and Hartenstein are pretty much it. Clark's not a scorer, he's more of a defensive player and spot up shooter. Who's going to get the ball to him for open shots? Ponds is the only other guy that might really score and he's been so-so. If you assumed that Deng, Clark, Hartenstein and Duval were our best G-League players, you were incorrect. Deng didn't even play with RGV, Clark barely played and Duval barely played. The G-League team runs the same offense and has been very successful so it's not just having Harden and CP3. If the offense is totally reliant on Harden and CP3, then why have the Vipers been so successful? In the summer league, you're taking a look at players that may be able to help you in the future. Either with the Vipers or Rockets. That doesn't mean that you're putting together a balanced team with depth. You could put together a team of NBA role players and they might look terrible because they don't have any scorers or creators. That doesn't mean that those same guys don't have a role in the NBA. Clark's the perfect example. He's a 3&D guy that can't create his own shot. If you're relying on him to be one of your primary scorers then you've got an uphill battle. That's not his role in the NBA and unless he's playing with good offensive players, he's not going to look that good. He's our 3rd leading scorer in the summer. It's not even a question as to if the Rocket's system works. All you have to do is to look at the rest of the league. Every team has imitated it and changed to shoot lots more 3's and reduced the amount of midrange that they shoot.
The fact that a guy is the 3rd leading scorer in DI history doesn't guarentee that he's an NBA player. All you have to do is to look at the career scoring leaders. Freeman Williams, Alphonso Ford, Mike Daum and Keydren Clark are all top ten in career D1 scoring. Clemons is interesting. He's certainly got range and he's shot the 3 at 50% this summer. As everyone has already mentioned, defense will be the issue with him. He's been fun to watch.
