Royce White Makes Rocket Debut
Finally, how Royce White got to the game was a non-issue. Getting there was the easy part.
White would be an advocate for his cause, but he could be a player again, too. After his much-discussed absence from training camp and three games missed while he tried to catch up from the time lost, White got in a preseason game for the first time midway through the first quarter Monday night, then struggled before showing glimpses of the potential the Rockets saw in him when they made him the 16th pick of the draft.
They were flashes, far from enough to turn things back around with the Mavericks well on their way to a 123-104 blowout of the Rockets. They were not even enough to change how he felt about his night. But they were a start, a chance to outrun the initial nerves.
“I thought I played pretty bad,” said White, a 6-8 forward. “I seemed to be out of place a lot. I tried to catch a rhythm, just working at it. As far as today goes, I didn’t think I played well at all.”
White, 21, played nine minutes in the first half without getting a rebound or assist. He missed his three shots. But in the second half he made a few plays. He got his first bucket when he grabbed his first rebound and took it the length of the floor through a Jae Crowder foul for a three-point play.
“I felt a little more relaxed,” White said of his 13 second-half minutes. “The first six minutes just felt like a big blur, me just running really fast and kind of just being out there.”
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