Houston Rockets sign some exciting undrafted free agents

The Houston Rockets didn’t make any major player-related moves during last night’s NBA Draft. They are, however, signing some of the guys that didn’t get selected.

The Houston Rockets, as it normally seems, had a pretty boring draft night yesterday. They didn’t make any major moves, outside of the team actually releasing the jerseys that will be worn next season.

As per usual, though, the team went straight to work on talking to some of the guys that went undrafted. They have found success from this in the past as recently as last year with Gary Clark. He ended up playing in 50+ games for the team last year and signed a multi-year deal.

The Rockets have signed a decent few of these guys to play with the Summer League team next month. Two in particular, though, stand out as guys that could eventually make the roster and contribute to the squad.

Shamorie Ponds

One of the players signed by the Rockets is a junior guard out of St. John’s, Shamorie Ponds. Ponds was a solid player in his college career and should excel in the pros as he starts to make that transition.

His 3-point shooting was up-and-down while at St. John’s, but he certainly has the ability to score the basketball. He averaged nearly 20 points a game throughout his career and shot 45.3% overall this season.

He can also contribute in many other ways, too. He averaged over 5 assists a game this year and over 2 steals as well. The only real knock on him is his size at 6’1, but he could still be someone that finds minutes in Houston at some point.

Chris Clemons

Another electric guard that the Rockets signed is Chris Clemons out of Campbell. Chris can certainly light it up on any given night and should be a good scorer no matter what level he’s playing at in the coming seasons.

He is the third-highest scorer in Division I history for college basketball, scoring over 3200 points throughout his four-year career. He averaged 30.1 points per game on 44.8% shooting this year and shot 36.3% from downtown throughout college.

The one glaring problem that was likely why he went undrafted is that Clemons is just 5’9. He still has found the ability to get his shot off, though, which is why I’m confident that he can be an NBA player, hopefully with Houston. He’s athletic, too, and can even catch alley-oops. Check out the highlights below from a game against Georgetown.

Others

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle also reported some guys that will be joining the Summer League squad as well:

Rockets have agreements with undrafted free agents William McDowell-White, Moses Brown and Chris Clemons to play on the summer league team next month, per source. Rockets roster spot, tbd.

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) June 21, 2019

Summer League is going to be super entertaining this year, with the Rockets having a team consisting of these guys along with the likeliness of Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein. Be sure to stay tuned for coverage of all that fun stuff!