Earlier this week, the Houston Rockets released an exclusive behind-the-scenes video showing the team’s 2023 summer league journey, as narrated and told by rookie forward Cam Whitmore.
Whitmore, who had unexpectedly fallen to the No. 20 overall draft pick in the 2023 first round, was the NBA’s summer league MVP in Las Vegas. He was the most consistent star for a Houston squad that went 5-1 before losing in the championship game to Cleveland.
“It’s obviously a great honor to be named MVP of summer league,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said in the team’s newly released video. “He was very deserving. We wanted Cam to play his best, to play hard, and to be really aggressive, and he did all of that.”
“It felt like that it was meant to be,” Whitmore said. “There was a reason I dropped to [pick] 20. Now, I’m the summer league MVP. I knew it wasn’t for nothing. All the work is paying off.”
It won’t be nearly as easy for Whitmore, who is still just 19 years old, in the upcoming 2023-24 regular season. But in his closing comments, Whitmore acknowledged that he is looking forward to learning the NBA game and plans to lean on newly acquired veterans — such as Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks — for guidance.
Officially, the opening of 2023-24 NBA training camps in early October marks the beginning of a professional career for rookies such as Whitmore. But in Houston, it feels as though the journey is already underway. The team’s complete video can be viewed below.
Story originally appeared on Rockets Wire
