Analyzing Bruce Thornton's Performance in the Preseason To This Point For the Rockets

The Houston Rockets have played their first two games of the preseason as they took on the Dallas Mavericks twice in Macao, with the two teams each earning one victory.

Focusing on rookie guard Bruce Thornton, he made his Rockets debut on Friday and played on Sunday as well, so let's take a look at how he performed and consider what that could mean for his role this season.

During Thornton's Rockets' debut on Friday, he tallied 13 points, zero rebounds, two assists, zero steals, one block, two turnovers, and zero fouls in nine minutes of action. In terms of efficiency, Thornton shot 4/6 from the field, 3/3 from beyond the arc, and 2/2 at the free-throw line.

Then in Thornton's second NBA game on Sunday, he tallied nine points, zero rebounds, zero assists, one steal, zero blocks, zero turnovers, and three fouls in 18 minutes of action. Now shifting focus to Thornton's shooting, he shot 2/6 from the field, 0/4 from three, and 5/7 from the free-throw line.

Overall, Thornton performed pretty well in his first two NBA games which is a great sign  when considering the fact that he has started his career in the NBA with two games in Macao which is not easy at all, especially for a rookie.

So far, Thornton has converted on three of his seven attempts from beyond the arc which is a good position for him to be in as his three point percentage works out to about 42.9 percent and proves he can be a solid floor spacer.

When looking at Thornton's game in the bigger picture, his scoring and defense were his top two strengths coming out of college and to this point in the preseason he has been able to lean on those strengths as he has scored 22 points in addition to recording one steal and one block.

Even after a solid start to the preseason, it is not highly likely that he will have a major role in this rotation as the Rockets have solid depth at the point position, including veteran guards Fred VanVleet and Marcus Smart.

That is not to say that Thornton has played badly or that he will not get himself into the rotation at some point. It is simply very hard to get into the rotation in the NBA, especially when competing with players like VanVleet and Smart, who have a ton of high-level NBA experience.

For Thornton, the best thing he can do is take advantage of each opportunity he can to score consistently overall, especially from three and continue to his defensive ability to cause havoc and show that can contribute in a way that could very valuable for the Rockets.

So, as Thornton and the Rockets head into the final preseason game, it will be interesting to see how much he plays and what kind of impact he makes. If he is able to shine, he could find a way to carve out a role in the rotation for the regular season, which could be huge for his future development.