Rising Stars goal for youngsters
As the Rockets wrapped up their morning shootaround on Wednesday, a handful of players hoped that the team’s lone trip to Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse this season won’t be their last. Rookie center Alperen
Sengun and second-year forward Jae’Sean Tate said they would welcome a chance to play in the Rising Stars Challenge during the NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland in February, invitations that should they come would have them play against one another if the NBA keeps the format of the previous Rising Stars games. Second-year forward
K.J. Martin said he would welcome a chance to be in the dunk contest. Rockets rookie guard Jalen Green has previously said he would like to participate in an All-Star weekend dunk contest.
“It’d be cool,” Martin said. “It would be fun, a good experience. Every time they came on when I was younger, I always used to watch them. I’ve been to a couple All-Star games. That’s a fun experience.”
For Tate, a Toledo native who played at Ohio State, playing in Cleveland would be an added bonus.
“Anytime you come back to your home state, where you’re from, and there’s a lot of family around that comes to the games, just be present, I think that would be awesome,” Tate said. “(Sengun) would be on the World team, for sure. That would be pretty dope. I already go against him almost every day, it’d be fun.
“That would be a cool accomplishment. We’ll just see but right now, my focus is just try to get as many wins as possible.”
The NBA has not announced the format for the Rising Stars challenge. Most recently, it pitted a team of first- and secondyear international players against a team of first- and second-year players from the United States. The game was not played last season in a scaled back All-Star weekend because of COVID.
Among second-year players, Tate is sixth in scoring, fifth in rebounding (fourth if excluding International players), and seventh in assists (seventh if excluding international players.) His play has never been measured entirely by statistics, as was understood when he was a firstteam All Rookie selection last season.
Sengun is 10th in scoring among rookies, but fourth among international players. He is seventh in rebounding, second among international players. He is seventh in assists, third among international players. “Of course, I’d like that,” Sengun said. “I really want to be there.
“It would be great to play against Jae’Sean. Also, we could play with Jalen, if they would choose me. But I really want to play with both of them.” Silas urges precautions
Amid a surge of COVID cases around the NBA, Rockets coach Stephen
Silas spoke to his players on Tuesday about best practices to stay healthy, especially when in public.
Though every Rockets player has had two doses of COVID vaccinations and boosters, he warned about the outbreak around the league.
“Based on what’s going on around the league, we have to do what’s best for our group and best for the individuals in our group,” Silas said. “We’re taking precautions even though we’re fully vaccinated and everything. It’s necessary because look around the league. It’s not just one guy on a team, it’s five, six, seven, eight guys.”
The Chicago Bulls have had 10 players in health and safety protocols, forcing the NBA to postpone both scheduled Bulls games this week. The Rockets are scheduled to play in Chicago on Monday. The Nets have had seven players unavailable.
More than 50 NBA players have entered into health and safety protocols, roughly 40 in the past two weeks, with more than 40 missing games. Close to 30 are still considered out. The G League also postponed two games last weekend when too many players were unavailable because of health and safety protocols, with the Windy City Bulls forced to skip next week’s G League showcase event in Las Vegas.
Daily testing is scheduled to begin for vaccinated players without booster shots on Friday. All coaching and staff members that come in contact with players were required to have booster shots by Wednesday.
Guard D.J. Augustin was the only Rockets player to be in health and safety protocols this season, missing two games after he produced an inconclusive test when his daughter had COVID. But he returned quickly after producing a series of negative tests.