Recently, the Rockets have been on a strong run. After defeating the Nuggets, they are currently the team with the longest winning streak in the league, reaching five consecutive victories. During this period, Jalen Green, who averaged over 30 points, is undoubtedly the top contributor. The versatile warrior Amen Thompson, who has performed well on both offense and defense, should be credited second. Coming in at third, Whitmore is perhaps a player that must be mentioned.
If you watched the Rockets' games a week ago, you would always feel that Whitmore was out of place with all his teammates. At that time, he had just re-entered the rotation not long ago. Even when he scored 27 points against the Pelicans, there was no smile on Whitmore's face. In an interview, he even expressed that his playing time was unstable and he felt very lost.
Especially in the game against the Wizards, Whitmore made 6 out of 8 shots to score 17 points, helping the team defeat their opponents. However, after the game, he walked straight back to the locker room without any interaction with anyone. Post-game, he stated that winning against the worst team in the league was nothing to be happy about. Whitmore's dejected body language was also captured by the NBA officials, and it was even made into a highlight reel, suggesting that the Rockets were experiencing a personnel struggle within the team.
Even though head coach Udoka had come forward to say that these were intentional provocations and there were no problems within the team, most people still chose to believe what they saw. It wasn't until the third matchup of the season against the Grizzlies that people realized that Whitmore was also trying to integrate into the team, and everything was getting better and better.
In the third encounter with the Grizzlies this season, the two teams played very fiercely. As a substitute player, Whitmore made 6 out of 9 shots to score 16 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist. Whenever the opponent widened the point difference, Whitmore would use his precise outside shooting to maintain the gap for the Rockets, which led to the team's successful comeback in the last quarter.
Seeing his teammates working so hard on the court, Whitmore was also affected. He cheered for his teammates by waving towels on the sidelines, a scene rarely seen in him during the season. In the recent game against the Nuggets, Whitmore came off the bench and made his first three-pointer, followed by a rare smile on his face. Throughout the game, he could be seen actively interacting with his teammates, and his performance of 16 points and 9 rebounds was also outstanding.
After the game, he even campaigned for Jalen Green to be an All-Star, stating that Green is already an All-Star player and his performance on the court is incredible. After the injuries to Xiao Jia and Ethan, Whitmore has become the most stable firepower output point on the team's bench. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the third contributor to the Rockets' winning streak.
Now, not only does the Rockets have excellent results, but Whitmore, the only unstable member of the team, is also becoming happier in this team. Currently, there is only the No. 3 pick in the 24th draft, Shepard, who has yet to find his game form, which is quite worrying. At the beginning of the season, even if Shepard performed poorly, Udoka would give him an average of more than 10 minutes of training time, even at the cost of demoting Whitmore to the Development League.
However, the coaching staff gradually discovered that Shepard couldn't help the current Rockets on the court, so they removed him from the rotation. Now that Whitmore has steadily established his rotational identity, the situation is completely different from the start of the season. If Shepard wants to regain his position, he must show enough performance on the court.
Last week, Shepard was demoted to the Vipers and performed brilliantly in three games, especially scoring 49 points in the first game, which renewed people's expectations for him. However, in today's game against the Nuggets, his performance was still disappointing, missing all three shots, appearing hesitant on the offensive end, and only recording 1 rebound and 1 assist throughout the game. In contrast, Jonathan Williams, who also came off the bench during "garbage time," scored 9 points with 4 out of 4 shots in less than 6 minutes of playing time, along with 1 assist and 1 steal. If Shepard could perform like this, why would he fear not getting playing time? Do you think Shepard still has a chance to succeed in the future? Feel free to leave your comments and discuss.