Rockets: Scoot Henderson receives preferential treatment at Amen Thompson's expense

Although the Houston Rockets entered the season with hopes of landing the top overall pick to select prized lottery talent Victor Wembanyama, Lady Luck had different plans. The Rockets landed the fourth pick in the draft lottery and selected Overtime Elite guard Amen Thompson.

Thompson is an unproven player at this juncture, outside of an impressive showing in the Rockets' opening Summer League game, so concocting his rank among the current iteration of the league's point guards would be a rather daunting task. As would any rookie at any position because we simply haven't seen anything.

Again, unless you're using the Summer League as the basis for the rankings, which wouldn't quite be the best way to make that assessment. But again, if that is the basis then Thompson would rank fairly favorably based on what we saw from him in Vegas.

Scoot Henderson receives preferential treatment at Amen Thompson's expense

Well, it seems the rules only apply to Thompson and not to Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson, based on the latest point guard rankings from Hoopshype's Frank Urbina. In a new article ranking the top 24 point guards in the NBA, Urbina included Henderson but not Thompson.

What's more, Henderson ranked 18th, just two spots behind Rockets free-agent signee Fred VanVleet, who is a proven All-Star and NBA champion. Urbina's assessment of Henderson seems eerily similar to how one would describe Thompson.

"Henderson’s outside jumper is a work in progress but besides that, he’s an outstanding prospect – a lead guard with tenacity, top-notch speed and athleticism, two-way toughness, lateral quickness and solid playmaking skills."

Maybe it's just me but it sounds like Henderson stole Thompson's entire flow. Word for word, bar for bar.

And this isn't so much about where Henderson is ranked, but rather why Thompson didn't crack the list at all, seeing how the player description is essentially the same for both players. Hell, the last time these two went head-to-head in Vegas, Thompson was the better player, posting a statline of 16 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 steals while shooting 6-of-13 from the floor and 1-of-1 from long-range.

So where is the Thompson love?

If you're going to give it to Henderson before he's played an actual NBA game, you've gotta keep the same energy with Thompson.