The Rockets have opened up a spot on their 20-man training camp roster by waiving Australian combo guard William McDowell-White, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Houston now officially has 18 players under contract, but has reached deals with a pair of players who will fill the final two spots on the 20-man squad. The Rockets can now formally complete those deals with Ryan Anderson and Jaron Blossomgame.
McDowell-White, who signed with the Rockets in July, spent the last several years playing for teams in Australia and Germany. Having started his career with the Sydney Kings in 2016, the 6’5″ guard spent a season and a half with German club Brose Bamberg, leaving the team earlier this year to prepare for the 2019 draft.
While it seems McDowell-White won’t attend training camp with the Rockets, the team now has his G League rights, so he could end up playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s NBAGL affiliate.
Meanwhile, the field appears to have been set for a competitive camp in Houston, Feigen notes in a full article for The Houston Chronicle. The Rockets project to have four spots on their 15-man roster up for grabs, with Anderson, Gary Clark, and Isaiah Hartenstein in position to grab three of them due to their significant partial guarantees. The team also has both two-way contract slots open, with Blossomgame, Michael Frazier, Shamorie Ponds, and Chris Clemons vying for those spots.
The only real question is which players get the two-way contracts, although Clemons and Ponds should be the favorites. There’s no point in keeping a full 15-man roster, so it’s highly unlikely that either Ben McLemore or Anthony Bennett will make the team.
Morey has said he expects to carry 15, as noted in the linked Feigen article. We’ll see if they stick to that.
Since they’ll be cutting Nene at some point I guess that makes sense.
McLemore also has a partial guarantee of 50K which balloons up to 500K if he makes the opening night roster.
Yeah, I didn’t mention him because I don’t view that $50K guarantee as “significant” but he’s probably the frontrunner for spot No. 15.
They could also choose to free up a little bit of cap space and just carry his $50K in dead money. It’s not like he will get anything more than garbage time. Someone like Anthony Bennett or Michael Frazier would be a cheaper option with more upside.
Why would WMW waste the season playing in the NBAGL when he keep playing in Australia or Germany where he will be paid much more & will gain more experience playing against better players.
Not sure what his priorities are, but if his goal is to play in the NBA, he’d have a clearer path from the G League (he could get an in-season call-up as opposed to having to wait until an international contract expires).
Would really like to see Clemons make the team. Excellent shooter.