Rockets wing Amen Thompson is viewed as a future star, and he believes playing alongside Kevin Durant will speed up his development. He talked about joining forces with one of the most productive scorers in NBA history during a recent Summer League interview with Vanessa Richardson of Space City Home Network (hat tip to Ben DuBose of Rockets Wire).
“He’s going to make my life a lot easier,” Thompson said. “He’s one of the greatest players ever, one of the best scorers ever. … Definitely going to be passing it to him a lot. They’re going to be double teaming him, so I’m going to be cutting off the back of it.”
Thompson was a first-team All-Defensive honoree in his second NBA season and finished fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. He also showed improvement on offense, raising his scoring average to 14.1 PPG while shooting 55.7% from the field.
Thompson is looking forward to the influence Durant will bring to Houston as a veteran leader.
“I just hear his work ethic is different,” he said. “I feel like I have a different work ethic, too. Combining that, I think it’s gonna be fun.”
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks are very happy with the Summer League performance of Ryan Nembhard, who signed a two-way contract after going undrafted out of Gonzaga, per Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. He averaged 11.7 points and 6.7 assists in three games before being shut down and showed that he’s capable of running the offense. “You guys saw it,” Summer League head coach Josh Broghamer said. “Ryan didn’t have to prove anything else. Everyone knows we got a steal in him. He can play on the ball, off the ball, he’s going to be a hard-nosed defender — and we’re very excited about him going forward.”
- Pelicans rookies Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen displayed their unique skills in Las Vegas, but they both have things to work on, observes Rod Walker of NOLA. Fears showed his quickness, elite handle and athleticism, but he didn’t finish well at the rim and only shot 18.2% from three-point range. Queen has a deft shooting touch and passing ability for a big man, but he suffered a torn scapholunate ligament that required surgery and will keep him out of action until October.
- Grizzlies guard Ja Morant may not be off the hook in a lawsuit filed by a teenager he punched in 2022, according to Lucas Finton of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A judge ruled in April that Morant couldn’t be sued because he acted in self-defense, but an appeal in the case is set to be heard in late August.
The rockets will be very tough next season
FVV Thompson KD Jabari Sengun
They are going to be really good defensively and then on the other side, KD remains one of the best scorers ever. FVV is the perfect floor general type of point guard that also chips in with points himself. Thompson will continue to improve here. Sengun is a 20 points per game guy. Be interesting how he goes as a clear number 2 option and Jabari is a nice stretch big, kinda John Collins like but better on defence.
Off the bench Reed is ready to step up, DFS and Tari Eason bring the 3 and D skillsets and will each play plenty of minutes. Clint Capela is there at the back up 5.
I honestly think their bench as a starting 5 wouldn’t be the worst team in the league.
West is looking very competitive especially with the improvements from Denver, Clippers and Mavs. OKC are the champs and after that there is still GSW and Minny. Rockets fit somewhere in there making up 7 of the playoff sides.
Which has the Lakers, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Spurs and Kings all battling for that last post season spot.