With two well-reviewed selections in the top 20 of the first round, few teams felt a more immediate jolt from the 2023 NBA draft than the Houston Rockets. It showed on the court at summer league, and particularly in strong showings by No. 4 pick Amen Thompson (pre-injury) and No. 20 choice Cam Whitmore, who won MVP.
Even so, summer league games aren’t nearly equivalent to what each rookie will see in the 2023-24 regular season. Besides an obvious jump in talent and age, those real games also feature real uniforms, as opposed to each team’s scaled-down version worn in the summer.
