Tag: Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Rockets’ affiliate Rio Grande Valley to play in G League ‘bubble’ season

The Vipers are among 18 G League franchises who will participate in the unique season, which is set to begin in February at Disney World.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who are an official affiliate organization of the Houston Rockets, are among the 18 franchises set to participate in the unique 2020-21 season for the NBA G League.

The G League will begin its 2020-21 campaign in February at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, similar to the NBA’s “bubble” format utilized to complete the 2019-20 season.

“It is disappointing that the Vipers will not be able to host games at Bert Ogden Arena this season, but the work of the team will continue,” said Rene Borrego, CEO and president. “By participating at the single-site, the Rockets and Vipers will be able to evaluate another group of talented players in hopes of identifying talent for the next level. While this is certainly not what our fans are accustomed to, it will be good to be able to see our team back on the court representing the Rio Grande Valley.”

The Vipers’ roster for the truncated 2020-21 “bubble” season has yet to be announced, though rookie guards Mason Jones and Brodric Thomas — who are each currently on two-way contracts with the Rockets — will be eligible to participate. Former NBA forward Josh Huestis also signed with Rio Grande Valley on a G League contract. From Houston’s perspective, it’s an opportunity to evaluate younger players and allow them to develop under the tutelage of a coaching staff selected by the Rockets.

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These are the 18 G League franchises (out of the usual 28) who will participate, according to Friday’s official announcement.

Agua Caliente
Austin Spurs
Canton Charge
Delaware Blue Coats
Erie BayHawks
Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Greensboro Swarm
Iowa Wolves
Lakeland Magic
Long Island Nets
Memphis Hustle
Oklahoma City Blue
Raptors 905
Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Salt Lake City Stars
Santa Cruz Warriors
Westchester Knicks
G League Ignite

The season will consist of 18 teams — 17 NBA G League teams and G League Ignite — with the top eight teams advancing to a single-elimination playoff run. In addition, NBA teams with no G League affiliate will have the opportunity to assign roster players and transfer two-way players using the league’s flexible assignment and two-way rules.

Team staff and players going to the Disney campus are expected to arrive at home markets for physicals and onboarding, followed with their arrival to the Orlando site. The site will consist of strict safety and health protocols for all G League teams and staff, including social distancing, mask wearing, hand hygiene, and regular COVID-19 testing.

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Former NBA forward Josh Huestis joins Houston’s G League affiliate

A 6-foot-7 forward who spent three seasons in Oklahoma City, Huestis will play in the G League this year with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

Former NBA forward Josh Huestis has joined the official G League affiliate (Rio Grande Valley Vipers) of the Houston Rockets, per Nicola Lupo of Sportando. The 29-year-old played with Bayern Munich in the EuroLeague and Bundesliga last season.

The NBA G League will begin its 2020-21 campaign in February at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, similar to the NBA’s “bubble” format utilized to complete the 2019-20 season. The Vipers are among the 18 G League franchises who have committed to participate.

Huestis was drafted at No. 29 overall in the 2014 NBA draft by Oklahoma City. Known for his versatile defense, Huestis played three seasons with the Thunder and became a rotation piece during the 2017-18 season, averaging 2.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game. Of his 76 games played in the NBA, 69 came in that 2017-18 stint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHJW4wQzNZ8

While Huestis will play for Houston’s G League affiliate and can be used as they see fit, the Rockets would have to offer him a separate contract in order for him to eventually become an option for the NBA team.

Houston’s two-way contracts, which allow two players to go back and forth between the NBA and the G League, are currently given to rookie guards Mason Jones and Brodric Thomas.

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Rockets signing guard William McDowell-White for G League

The 22-year-old guard had a limited role with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers last season, and the Rockets want to continue his development.

The Houston Rockets signed 22-year-old guard William McDowell-White to a contract, ESPN’s Olgun Uluc reported Friday.

“This is expected to turn into a deal with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the NBA G League, where McDowell-White will look to build on last year’s limited season,” Uluc tweeted. The Vipers are Houston’s affiliate organization for developmental purposes.

In 17 games with the Vipers, McDowell-White had a small role, averaging 3.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 11.8 minutes per game. He also played on Houston’s 2019 NBA Summer League squad.

McDowell-White was first signed by the Rockets after going undrafted in 2019. According to scouting reports, he’s well regarded for his size, passing, and defensive ability. After being ruled academically ineligible at Fresno State University, the Australia native spent the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons with Baunach in Germany’s second division.

A foot injury limited McDowell-White to just seven games in his final season overseas. In those games, he averaged 10.4 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.1 steals in 23.3 minutes.

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Rio Grande Valley Vipers credit Daryl Morey for G League affiliations

Morey helped pioneer the affiliation model between NBA teams and the G League, which has boosted the development of prospects and systems.

Over 14 seasons in Houston, outgoing Rockets GM Daryl Morey is extremely respected for his accomplishments at the NBA level.

While the Rockets didn’t win an NBA title with Morey as GM, they were a clear success story by almost any measure. They ranked No. 2 in the league in overall wins, and they currently have the NBA’s longest streak at eight consecutive playoff berths. They never had a losing season.

But Morey’s creative brilliance has had implications well beyond the Rockets, and even the NBA. For instance, in his early years as GM, Morey was part of a group that pioneered the idea of hybrid affiliations between NBA G League franchises (then D League) and parent NBA teams.

In a setup reminiscent of minor league “farm teams” for Major League Baseball, the arrangement now allows NBA teams with affiliate partners to better control the environment in which their young prospects develop. In Morey’s case, it also allowed him to test some of his analytics-driven principles on the court before fully deploying them in the NBA.

This weekend, following the news of Morey’s planned departure from the Houston organization, the team’s G League affiliate in South Texas (the Rio Grande Valley Vipers) composed a note of appreciation.

Here’s how it reads:

Prior to the 2009-10 season, Daryl Morey was part of a groul that pioneered the idea of hybrid affiliation in the NBA D-League. That idea launched the Vipers toward their first of three championships in 2010, followed by trophies in 2013 and 2019. Daryl’s basketball operations leadership made the Vipers the winningest franchise in G League history.

Numerous players and coaches earned call-ups [to the NBA] in the systems that he guided. RGV was the lab for the layups and 3-pointers that led to the fast-paced Rockets offense that we watch today. Vipers fans won so many tacos and tamales that we had to adjust our partnerships.

Daryl, thank you for your contributions not just to our team, but to the Rio Grande Valley. We wish you the best in your next chapter.

In addition to the G League titles, marquee NBA players to have played in Rio Grande Valley during Morey’s tenure with the Rockets have included Clint Capela; Patrick Beverley; Montrezl Harrell; Marcus Morris; Aaron Brooks; Sam Dekker; Isaiah Hartenstein; and many more.

Meanwhile, coaches with the Vipers over that span have included 2020 NBA Coach of the Year and 2019 champion Nick Nurse (Toronto), as well as several highly regarded assistants such as Chris Finch (New Orleans), Matt Brase (Houston), and Joseph Blair (Minnesota).

As of last season, only two NBA teams (Portland, Denver) did not have an affiliation with a G League club. Morey’s push to use the G League for direct developmental purposes has clearly had a major impact.

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Daryl Morey on rotation minutes for Hartenstein: ‘Not this year’

In a Facebook Q&A, the Rockets GM indicated that seven-footer Isaiah Hartenstein isn’t likely to get any more rotation minutes this season.

Assuming the 2019-20 NBA season eventually returns from its current hiatus due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, don’t expect any major changes from the Houston Rockets with regards to their rotation.

In Sunday night’s Facebook Q&A with Daryl Morey accompanying a documentary film about the 2007-08 team, the Houston GM was also asked several questions about his 2019-20 squad.

One player frequently discussed was 21-year-old seven-footer Isaiah Hartenstein, who has played well in limited stretches this season but fell out of the rotation upon Houston’s transition to a smaller lineup.

Here’s one such exchange:

Question: Is there any talk around playing Hartenstein when Russ [Westbrook] goes to the bench, to help Harden?

Morey: Isaiah has had a great season, but Mike [D’Antoni] has mostly settled on his rotation. So, not this year.

With 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker now Houston’s starting center, the Rockets have frequently touted the virtues of increased floor spacing as significant for Westbrook, given that it opens up more driving lanes.

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However, many fans have wondered whether having a lob threat and the element of vertical spacing might be beneficial to backcourt co-star James Harden. Here’s how Morey responded to that inquiry:

Question: Daryl, do you believe ‘small ball’ should be played the entire game? It seems like the minutes Russ sits, there should be a big in there with James, since he seems to be the one most affected by not having one — since there is no lob or pick and roll threat.

Morey: I leave that to Mike [D’Antoni], maybe top offensive genius in NBA history. The lob threat has been minimized very dramatically given how teams are guarding us.

Over a seven-game stint in the team’s rotation from Dec. 28 through Jan. 11, Hartenstein averaged 9.3 points (67.4% shooting), 8.1 rebuonds, and 1.1 blocks in 18.6 minutes per game at center.

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But Hartenstein fell out of the rotation as the Rockets began downsizing in late January, and he’s been inactive for 10 consecutive games while spending most of his time with the G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers. In 14 starts with the Vipers this season, the 2017 second-round pick is averaging 24.9 points (58.1% FG) and 14.8 rebounds in 32.6 minutes.

Another factor working against Hartenstein is the calendar. The Rockets will likely only have a small handful of regular-season games to play, if any, following the COVID-19 hiatus, which makes any drastic change to the team’s rotation or playing style difficult to envision (barring injury).

However, the Rockets do hold a team option on Hartenstein’s contract at a very inexpensive salary figure of $1.7 million for the 2020-21 season. Thus, he might still get another opportunity down the road.

Morey’s comments can be viewed in the comments section beneath the team’s Facebook video stream of the 2007-08 documentary.

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https://www.facebook.com/17729777319/videos/211060600122839

Michael Frazier makes 2019-20 debut with G League’s Vipers

Guard Michael Frazier, who has a Two-Way deal with the Rockets, made his 2019-20 debut Tuesday after missing over two months with an injury.

Rockets guard Michael Frazier, who is with Houston on one of the team’s two Two-Way contracts, made his 2019-20 season debut Tuesday night with the NBA G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

The 6-foot-3 guard had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting (53.8%), including 4-of-9 (44.4%) on three-pointers, along with seven rebounds and three assists in his 26 minutes. The Vipers, who are Houston’s official G League affiliate, won the game over the Iowa Wolves, 142-128 (box score).

Before the 2019-20 season began, the 25-year-old Frazier was given one of Houston’s two Two-Way contracts, along with 5-foot-9 rookie guard Chris Clemons. A player on a Two-Way contract is primarily a G League player, but he can spend up to 45 days with his affiliate NBA team.

Before Tuesday, however, Frazier had yet to play for the Rockets or Vipers in any preseason or regular-season game this fall. The team listed him as out with a right ankle injury, and Frazier recently elaborated on the nature of it to The Athletic‘s Kelly Iko.

Iko wrote:

Frazier revealed to me that he had injured a tendon in his right foot on the first day of training camp. The injury happened due to a collision with a teammate, but the ankle had been in a great deal of pain then.

Frazier explained that they had proceeded with caution, not wanting to put any pressure on it as he rehabbed, but now he’s good to go.

That first day of training camp was back in late September, which means Frazier missed more than two months in total due to the injury. But he’s back now, and once he is fully back in basketball shape, he might get a look at the NBA level sooner rather than later.

Of Houston’s 14 players under standard contracts, three (Eric Gordon, Nene, Gerald Green) are not with the team at the moment due to long-term injuries. An additional two (Austin Rivers, Tyson Chandler) are out for the time being due to illnesses, and Clemons has already used more than two-thirds of his allotment of NBA service days.

At Tuesday’s practice, the Rockets had only eight total players.

Thus, assuming his play at the G League level warrants it, Frazier might soon have an opportunity with the Rockets — since unlike Clemons, the service clock on his Two-Way deal is still at 0 days.

Frazier, who played college basketball at the University of Florida from 2012 through 2015, originally signed with the Rockets in April 2019. He was named as the G League’s 2018-19 Most Improved Player after averaging 16.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game last season with the Vipers.

During the Vipers’ championship run in the 2019 G League playoffs, Frazier averaged 21.0 points and 4.8 three-pointers made per game on 49.0% shooting from the field. In February, he was a member of the USA Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team and averaged team-highs of 17.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in the two games.

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