How Bruce Thornton Can Make an All-Rookie Team This Year

The Houston Rockets have a fully stocked roster heading into the 2026-2027 NBA season, which is accredited to Rafael Stone and the rest of the front office. In particular, they’ve really built out the backcourt depth after that was their Achilles’ heel for all of last season. One might say there’s a little too much depth in that area, though. 

It’s completely understandable, as nobody wants a repeat of what we got last year. Point guards, or ball-handlers in general, still play a very important role in this position-less league. Everyone saw how Houston struggled with Şengün and Durant being de facto point guards, so why not take some pressure off of them? 

That certainly seems to be Houston’s goal based on their most prominent additions this summer. The return of Fred VanVleet was virtually a given, but bringing in Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic was a different story. Their shooting capabilities played a role in the Rockets’ pursuit of them, but I also believe it’s because they can handle the ball. 

They’re more comfortable with the ball in their hands than Amen Thompson might be, and the same can be said about 31st overall draft pick, Bruce Thornton. Despite his size, I’d still categorize him as a combo guard. We saw him comfortably playing with other small guards in Summer League with no issues, but I would be a little surprised if he got the same opportunity in many regular season games. 

Opposing guards would be licking their chops if they see Thornton and VanVleet or Reed Sheppard defending them. He can get minutes with Marcus Smart and Amen Thompson behind him, but I doubt Ime Udoka would trust many other pairings. And rightfully so. 

That limited number of pairings obviously means Bruce Thornton can only really play a limited number of minutes, maybe even only a limited number of games. Unfortunately, not much other than his contract will be guaranteed. 

I can see a world where he earns himself serious backup minutes, but that will inevitably have to cut into someone else’s playing time. Unfortunately, the obvious victim is Fred VanVleet.

While he has the third highest salary on the team, he’s also one of the only players without any money on the books beyond this year. In a sense, FVV is expendable. It’s cruel to say, but that’s the business of this league. He’ll be on the trading block before a guy like Reed Sheppard, who still has room to grow. 

This is one of the only ways I could see Bruce Thornton truly being a standout rookie. My doubts aren’t due to a lack of talent on his part, but rather due to the great depth on this roster and in his position. It will be tough for him to be one of the ten most impressive rookies, though I do think he will turn some heads whenever he does get his opportunities. 

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