Though they’ve been informally practicing for weeks, Tuesday was the first structured practice for the Houston Rockets, who are working in nearby Galveston for the first week of their 2021-22 training camp.
For head coach Stephen Silas, it was the first official team event pairing veterans like Christian Wood and Eric Gordon with the new class of first-round rookies drafted in 2021 — headlined by No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green. Tuesday’s practice was also an NBA-first for Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher, but fellow rookie Alperen Sengun was not feeling well and did not practice. (The team says it was not related to COVID-19.)
“It was a long, hard practice,” Silas said. “Today was just the first step, but we did a lot. We competed a lot, we taught a lot.”
“It was a great practice for a first day,” Silas concluded of the Rockets. “Very spirited. For guys to hang with me for that long of a practice, it says a lot about them, but it also gives me an inclination as to where we can go. We can really improve pretty quickly.”
Five-time All-Star John Wall was present on the sidelines. But as expected, Wall is primarily working as a mentor to the younger Rockets, since he and the team came to a mutual decision for him not to play this season. At 31 years old and often needing the ball in his hands to be effective, Wall isn’t an optimal fit with the group’s rebuilding plans, yet his contract is presumably too large to be traded elsewhere at this time.
Here’s a roundup of videos and quotes from the team’s post-practice interviews — with Silas, veteran guard DJ Augustin, and second-year forward KJ Martin made available to media. Training camp resumes on Wednesday, also from the Galveston Island Convention Center.
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Lead photo by Brian Barefield, Big Sarge Sportz