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Rob Gray: "It means a lot to keep wearing Houston across my chest."
Posted: July 6, 2018 -- 7:33 am.
Houston Cougars alum, guard Rob Gray, didn't accomplish one of his goals: to be drafted into the NBA; however, that minor setback has not deterred Gray from reaching his ultimate basketball goal of playing in the NBA.
Last week, Gray was invited to join the Houston Rockets' mini-camp roster in preparation for NBA Summer League 2018 in Las Vegas which runs from July 6-17 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Thursday afternoon, Gray was among a few of the invitees who spoke with the media before the team flew to Las Vegas.
"It means a lot to keep wearing Houston across my chest. I've grown fond of the city. Just thankful to be here," Gray said.
Gray mentioned he speaks with Damyean Dotson, former UH teammate, and current member of the New York Knicks.
Gray said Dotson's advice to him is to "be myself; be aggressive; play hard...do things that, ultimately, affect winning; so, pretty much the same thing we learned at UH."
Rockets' assistant coach Roy Rogers will coach the team in the Las Vegas Summer League; and, thus far in the three days of practice, Rogers admits he notices Gray has a chip on his shoulder.
"I see Rob has a chip on his shoulder because he feels like he should have been drafted. I love having guys on my team that feels like he has something to prove. We've got a lot of guys that, even though you were drafted, you may not be happy where you were drafted."
Below are the players invited to mini-camp in advance of the NBA Summer League:
No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
D.O.B. |
Prior to NBA / Home Country |
NBA Exp. |
| 58 | Deng Adel | F | 6'7" | 200 | 2/1/97 | Louisville / South Sudan |
R
|
| 26 | Markel Brown | G | 6'3" | 185 | 1/29/92 | Oklahoma State / USA |
3
|
| 59 | Gary Clark | F | 6'8" | 225 | 11/16/94 | Cincinnati / USA |
R
|
| 57 | Trevon Duval | G | 6'3" | 186 | 9/3/98 | Duke / USA |
R
|
| 6 | Vincent Edwards | F | 6'8" | 225 | 4/5/96 | Purdue / USA |
R
|
| 67 | Shannon Evans | G | 6'1" | 172 | 7/19/94 | Arizona State / USA |
R
|
| 56 | Rob Gray | G | 6'1" | 185 | 4/3/94 | Houston / USA |
R
|
| 55 | Isaiah Hartenstein | F-C | 7'0" | 249 | 5/5/98 | Zalgiris Kaunas / USA |
R
|
| 65 | Danuel House | F | 6'7" | 215 | 6/7/93 | Texas A&M / USA |
2
|
| 2 | R.J. Hunter | G | 6'5" | 185 | 10/24/93 | Georgia State / USA |
3
|
| 0 | De'Anthony Melton | G | 6'4" | 200 | 5/28/98 | USC / USA |
R
|
| 60 | Roger Moute a Bidias | F | 6'6" | 206 | 4/22/95 | California / Cameroon |
R
|
| 21 | Chinanu Onuaku | C | 6'10" | 245 | 11/1/96 | Louisville / USA |
2
|
| 9 | Zhou Qi | F-C | 7'1" | 210 | 1/16/96 | Xinjiang Flying Dragons / China |
1
|
Note: Player commitments are subject to change.
For the first time, all 30 teams will participate in NBA Summer League 2018. Each team will compete in three preliminary round games from July 6-10 before being seeded in a tournament that starts on July 11 and concludes with the championship game on July 17. Each team is guaranteed to play at least five games.
Below is the Rockets schedule for the preliminary round of the NBA Summer League (remaining schedule to be determined):
Date
|
Opponent
|
Central Time |
Location
|
TV
|
| Friday, July 6 | Indiana Pacers |
2 p.m.
|
Cox Pavilion | NBA TV |
| Sunday, July 8 | Golden State Warriors |
6:30 p.m.
|
Thomas & Mack Center | ESPN2 |
| Monday, July 9 | Los Angeles Clippers |
10:30 p.m.
|
Thomas & Mack Center | NBA TV |
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