Houston Rockets: Chris Clemons deserves a chance with team

The star of the Summer League for the Houston Rockets was undoubtedly the undrafted pure scorer out of Campbell. Does he deserve a look with the team for the upcoming year?

The Houston Rockets are finished with the Las Vegas Summer League after ending it with three straight wins. They improved a ton from the first two blowout losses they had at the hands of the Mavs and Blazers and it was overall a nice showing from the young guys in the organization.

Throughout it all, though, there was one shining star that really started turning the heads of the fans. Chris Clemons out of Campbell was absolutely incredible and took over the Summer League for the Rockets. Does he deserve a look with the actual team after a strong offseason?

His success

When the Rockets initially added him after he went unselected in this year’s draft, fans instantly started researching his insanely good college career, in which he was the third-leading scorer in the history of NCAA Division I. It was tough not to be excited for the Summer League as this dude could play.

He didn’t disappoint, and he was actually even better than expected. He averaged 20.8 points a game, playing all five of the contests for the Rockets. The most impressive part about this, though, was his long-range shooting. He finished the league shooting 43.6% from deep, showing that he wasn’t afraid of the NBA shot. Clemons also had this awesome play in the final game, showing that he’s more advanced than the average undrafted guy.

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1150234710678724609

That shot doesn’t come from some guy that deserves to be in the G League all year, searching for a shot somewhere. It comes from a guy that should get a chance with the Rockets, whether he plays minutes or not, to continue to develop into a great player.

Much like he did in college, he continued to outscore the prospects that were picked in the draft this year. The only first-round pick that he didn’t outscore this year was Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who had a heck of a Summer League himself.

Clemons has shown time and time again that he deserves to play at the highest possible level of basketball. After a strong Summer League, he’s one step closer to achieving that. His height of 5’9 likely stopped him from being drafted, but teams are kicking themselves now after not taking a chance on him. Thankfully, the Rockets did. Chris has a message for those teams, too.

“They messed up.”

Chris Clemons (@idropcoldbucks) tells @ALaForce his message to teams that have passed on him after an 18-point, 10-rebound performance to finish out his #NBASummer campaign. pic.twitter.com/4RfmPDx0Nc

— NBA TV (@NBATV) July 14, 2019

Let’s hope that he continues to play strong when he gets to training camp and the preseason because Chris Clemons deserves a chance to play with the Houston Rockets this year. Will it happen?