Dorsey attempts to prove worth

The grace period, if there ever was one, was over.

Joey Dorsey had played in just three NBA games, and not many more practices. It was time, however, to work and perform like a NBA player among the summer-league hopefuls.

Dorsey was so far removed from the Rockets’ rotation, that when Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo went out for the season during the playoffs, Dorsey still could not get playing time. A second-round pick on a crowded roster, he has another chance to demonstrate his potential to contribute to the Rockets and knows if he shows nothing this time around he could quickly run out of chances.

Dorsey may not have reached his summer-league goal — “to dominate” — but he has played well in the ways the Rockets expected a year ago. Through four NBA Summer League games, he might not have proved himself, but he has earned another long look. He defended with strength and tenacity, ran the floor with energy, and most of all, hit the boards hard.

“This is why I worked out so hard, to prove to them they did draft a good player,” Dorsey said. “Everybody was sitting around, talking about I might never play in the NBA. I’m just trying to prove to everybody that I am dedicated to playing basketball. I want to show them that I do want to play this year.”

Heading into tonight’s summer-league finale, Dorsey is the tournament’s top rebounder, averaging 12.8 boards in 31 minutes per game. He averages 9.5 points on 59.1 percent shooting. He also has shown the rust accumulated in a season spent sitting out with plantar fasciitis and growing out of shape.

Waiting on timing

“I’ve been trying to tell everybody that,” Dorsey said. “Like, sometimes I have a wide-open dunk and I’m hesitant to go up and dunk. I’m looking to pass because I haven’t played in a while, but I’m getting back to it. It’s timing. That’s it. Once I get my timing back, I’ll be good.

“My conditioning, it’s not there yet. But I’m playing well, trying to rebound, block shots and everything. It’s coming along. I’m starting to box out and go after every rebound.”

Dorsey showed no hesitation Wednesday, finishing a spin move with a slam on his first touch of the game. It was, however, his only basket of the first half. The 6-8 center twice grabbed rebounds of missed free throws in the first quarter, but had only one other rebound in the half. He had a pair of strong blocked shots, coming over to help defensively. But he threw an elbow after fighting for position, drawing a technical foul.

Led by Chase Budinger’s 17 points, the Rockets held on for an 87-82 victory over the Trail Blazers to move to 4-0 in summer league. Dorsey had a stronger second half, getting eight rebounds to finish with 11, along with nine points and three blocked shots.

Two out of three not bad

The Rockets will want more from him. But with Dorsey showing far more in four summer-league games than he did in his three NBA games — and all the months on the team before and after those games — they finally have reason to consider him heading in that direction.

“Joey’s doing well,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “We wanted three main things from Joey. We wanted a defensive presence. We wanted rebounding. And we wanted to cut out the mental errors.

“On the first two, he did what we wanted. He really impacted the game defensively and he really helped out on the boards in a major way. Mental errors, he probably has to cut those in half, but overall, a lot of progress from a tough first year.” 

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