​The Rockets didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2026 Draft. Instead, they traded up as far as they could into the second round to draft Bruce Thornton at pick No. 31. Three games into Summer League, that swap already looks like the best value move of their offseason.The Rockets said they were getting a steady, low-mistake floor general out of Ohio State. So far, that’s exactly what they’ve gotten — plus a scoring burst nobody outside Columbus fully saw coming.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBruce Thornton didn’t ease into his first professional game. He detonated in it.Against Denver on July 10, he dropped 27 points — the most ever by a Rockets rookie in a Summer League debut. He shot 7-of-18 from the field, 3-of-8 from three, and never missed a free throw, going 7-for-7. Houston won 97-86, and Thornton was a game-high plus-20, better than anyone else on the floor.Numbers that clean don’t happen by accident. Afterward, Thornton put it plainly: “It’s just a blessing to be in this position.”The shot didn’t fall as often against Toronto two nights later: 6-of-17 from the field, 1-of-2 at the line. Houston lost, 102-89.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut scoring wasn’t the story. Thornton finished with 17 points, six rebounds, six assists, and a game-high five steals, flirting with a rare 5-by-5 line before four turnovers took some shine off it. Down seven late in the fourth, he chased down a loose ball, dove for it, and turned the possession into an assist.That’s not a highlight-reel play. That’s the kind of play Ime Udoka notices. Two games in, Thornton was averaging 22 points and four steals a night — the exact profile of a player who makes a roster spot hard to take away.Philadelphia came in to the third game against the Rockets unbeaten. It didn’t matter.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHouston controlled this one from the opening tip and never let go, running the unbeaten Sixers off the floor 90-64. It was the most complete team performance of the week for the Rockets, and Thornton did it on the fewest shot attempts of his three games. He finished with 18 points, two rebounds, four assists, and two steals, needing just 26 minutes and nine shot attempts to get there. Thornton went 5-of-9 from the field, easily the cleanest efficiency mark of his young Summer League career.That’s the number that should jump off the page. Through two games, Thornton needed 18 and 17 field-goal attempts to get his points. Against Philadelphia, he got 18 points on half that volume, in six fewer minutes, with Houston never needing to lean on him to carry the offense.A blowout win will do that. But it’s also exactly the kind of game an evaluator wants to see from a scoring guard — proof he can produce efficiently within a system, not just when the shots are falling and the usage is high.The bigger story might have been what Houston did defensively. The Rockets held a Philadelphia offense that had cracked 100