Players extend practice session
The Rockets had planned a relatively light practice Thursday, emphasizing drills, video and walkthroughs before Friday’s scheduled long workout and Saturday’s scrimmages before breaking camp. But when Thursday’s session was over, players wanted to keep working.
That led to customary extra shooting drills for some and extra conditioning for others. Most of all, there was a long session of one-on-one among frontcourt players Danuel House Jr., Christian Wood, K.J. Martin and Alperen Sengun.
“I love it,” Wood said. “Everybody has that competitive edge. It’s just good to have on a young team. You don’t really see that a lot. We get out there and compete. You don’t have to worry about everybody going out there and not giving 100 percent effort. I feel like this training camp is all about all the young guys giving 100 percent. That’s really going to make us better.”
Players were free to leave at the end of practice, making Rockets coach Stephen Silas happy to have his plans for a short workday scuttled.
“That’s our group,” Silas said. “It’s amazing. We had a bunch of guys playing one-on-one. We had guys on the elliptical on the side. We had guys engaged watching the one-on-one. That’s just the spirit of our group, which is great.”
Still, Silas was even happier with the day’s planned work, to the point he could pick up the pace in introducing concepts.
“Our film session today was great,” he said. “They were giving me the answers before I could even post the questions. That shows we have a smart group that listens, a group that responds. Hopefully, we’ll be able to progress a little faster than I thought because I didn’t know how they would be able to grasp the concepts.
“We’ve been very bland with what we’ve been doing, but so far, so good.”
Sengun makes debut at camp
Sengun practiced for the first time in training camp after several days out with an illness. But the day’s lighter workout did make it difficult to gauge Sengun’s conditioning after he missed the first two days of practices.
“He is back, but he definitely needs to get up and down the floor a little bit,” Silas said. “He’s playing one-on-one, which is great to see. But as far as us getting organized, it’s going to take him a couple days. He’ll be fine.
“We didn’t do much today. We watched some film. We walked through some stuff. As far as him playing, we’re going to have to monitor his minutes tomorrow.
“We did some shooting drills. He was fine in that. In one-on-one, it seemed like he was moving well.”
Even his one abbreviated practice was enough to get the attention of a veteran.
“He looked good,” Wood said. “We didn’t get to really do much today but a bunch of shooting. I got to play against him one-on-one for the first time. It was good. He has great footwork. He’s good at using his body. He reminds me of a smaller ( Nikola) Jokic. So he was good out there.”
Porter: I’m bigger than advertised
With his first Rockets training camp, guard Kevin Porter Jr. took a moment to clarify a few things.
His nickname “Scoot” is not about the way he plays basketball. He has had it since he was the size of a basketball. And 21 years later, he said he is bigger than often said to be.
“I had an auntie that gave me that (nickname,)” Porter said. “I didn’t crawl when I was little. I kind of scooted on my back. She called me ‘Scooter.’ ”
Though the Rockets and the NBA list Porter as 6-foot-4, he said he is taller than that.
“I’m 6-6,” Porter said with a laugh. “I don’t know why people say I’m 6-3, 6-4. If you put me, JG ( Jalen Green, who is listed as 6-6) right next to each other, Gup ( Josh Christopher, 6-5) anyone that’s listed 6-6, I will be taller than them.
“I’m 6-9 with the hair.”