Scrimmage will cap camp
GALVESTON — After four days of classes, the Rockets will complete the week of training camp with the first testing of the season.
Saturday’s practice before breaking camp will be entirely spent scrimmaging in an effort to apply the lessons from drills and video work in some competition, a welcome change before heading back to Houston and the start of the preseason schedule on Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.
“It’s been a good four days,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “We’ve been working on a ton. We’ve been doing a lot of technique stuff, a lot of organizational stuff. Now, it’s time for us (on Saturday) to just play.
“We’ve been doing drills. They’ve been great during the drills. They’ve been attentive. They’ve been going hard and trying and all that stuff. At this point, Saturday, our fifth day of training camp, we’re going to just play and hopefully get three quarters in where they can kind of use the things that we’ve been talking about. Then, we can use some film to support that and teach a little bit more on the back end of playing.”
Silas said, “it has been a really, really good camp.” It has not included two-adays, a trend in the NBA with information that it is best physically to limit the load on players in the initial practices.
“When I first came into the league, we did like a week of two-a-days,” Silas said. “But the performance team along with experts … a lot of teams, I would say most teams, are going away from two-adays just because of the load on the players and kind of introducing them to playing again and doing five-on-five and banging, it doesn’t bode well for them to do two-a-days for their bodies.
“So, we’re not doing them. We have optional shooting in the evening that some guys participate in. But as far as the group stuff, it is just one practice.”
With such a young team, the Rockets could have long practices throughout the season compared to the shorter, walk-throughs veteran Rockets teams have used in recent seasons. But Silas said he has been encouraged to see how attentive his team has been through the long, teaching portions of practices.
“Veteran teams already know. ‘What are we doing this for?’” he said. “The younger guys are learning and listening. It’s new for them so they’re paying more attention.”
Green eager for preseason
Heading into Saturday’s final day of his first NBA training camp, rookie Jalen Green said the week in Galveston “has been everything I expected, honestly.”
That does not mean it has not brought adjustments.
“It’s a lot faster than the bubble in the G League,” Green said. “It was a halfcourt team in the G League. We started picking up on the offensive side. I’m a fast player so I have to get back in the flow of that. It’s been fun, though.
“The biggest thing is probably defense, trying to figure out the closeouts. People are a lot faster, quicker, able to score. And then, just trying to figure out to be more decisive on offense, coming downhill. Scoot ( Kevin Porter Jr.) is the one, I’m playing the two. I have to be more aggressive.”
With the Rockets to finish camp on Saturday with their most extensive scrimmage time of the week, Green said he especially looked forward to Tuesday’s first preseason game to test progress against an opponent.
“Mostly, I’m eager to see us playing together,” he said. “How we’re going to tip off, how we’re going to start off. (Thursday) I think was the first day out of this week we locked in on defense. I’m excited. First game we’re going to play in a minute. We’ve been scrimmaging but everyone knows the plays on this team so you can’t really get off how you want to. It’s going to be exciting. Yeah, I’m excited.”