Important Takeaways From Houston’s Summer League Blowout

Keysen HendersonSun, July 19, 2026 at 2:00 AM UTC·3 min read

The Houston Rockets unfortunately saw their Summer League championship hopes cut short after a slow start yesterday. Only scoring nine points in the first quarter doomed them from the jump, as they actually outscored the Memphis Grizzlies in the subsequent periods.

Bruce Thornton really struggled shooting the ball all night, finishing with only eight points on 2/12 shooting. Those two makes were actually both three pointers too, but he missed another five of them. Give credit to Grizzlies guard Javon Small for making it difficult on Houston’s rookie.

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I was still impressed by Thornton, though, as he had us on triple-double watch in the Summer League. He was only outrebounded by Cam Boozer (who’s 10 inches taller), and got seven dimes with only one turnover. Eight points doesn’t look as bad when you also have eight rebounds and seven assists. A Jason Kidd triple-double is still a good thing.

It also makes me question whether the missed shots actually had anything to do with defense. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in, and every hooper has dealt with that frustration.

Regardless of whether or not that aggressive defense forced Bruce Thornton to have his worst performance thus far, it gave us an unexpected player leading the team in scoring. I think it was strangely for the best, too.

I made note of some hesitancy and lack of aggression in my previous Summer League review on Roundtable, but there was none of that tonight. After seeing his team miss their first six shots and turn the ball over twice, Quadir Copeland finally decided it was time to be a little more assertive.

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With the scoreboard reading 0-7, he had a strong left-handed drive and euro-step finish at the rim to get Houston on the board. Taking matters into his own hands. I was disappointed to see him get pulled out with the rest of the starters shortly after, though.

Understandably so considering their start, but thankfully it didn’t change anything in Copeland’s game. He immediately got to it with a steal and assist on a transition three from Bruce Thornton in the second quarter. That aggression was there all night for him.

He scored 15 points through three quarters, but his team was still down by 16 points when he checked in for the final time. So once again, he got right to it and had his prettiest move of the day, driving past Cam Boozer for a wild reverse layup.

Unfortunately his nine point fourth quarter performance was too little, too late. Houston outscored the Grizzlies by five in the last ten minutes, but still lost by 11 points.

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Copeland finished with 24 points on 9/13 shooting from the field, draining 2/4 from deep, and still coming away with two more steals. I liked what I saw him his best game yet, and hope to see him get two-way minutes this season.