LAS VEGAS -- Away from the game, Sam Dekker needed to do something. Anything, really. He was recovering from herniated disc surgery, which ended the small forward’s season with the Houston Rockets after three games.

Dekker, a first-round draft pick by the Rockets, couldn’t participate in summer league games last season ,and once the regular season started, before the surgery, he sat the bench and rehabbed while learning the NBA game.

Sam Dekker has been showing his athleticism in summer league games after recovering from back surgery. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

Dekker couldn’t even get out of bed without being sore, which is a hard thing to digest for a 22-year-old. So just two weeks after surgery in mid-December, Dekker said he made one of his best life decisions: He bought a dog.

Dekker purchased a puppy with a husky mix, naming him Riggins, after the fictional running back Tim Riggins on the TV show "Friday Night Lights."

Dekker needed the dog to calm his nerves because he’d played basketball since he was a kid, and now, living his dream as a professional, he was unable to play.

“He actually kept me sane,” Dekker said of his dog. “He kept my mind off the game when the guys were on the road. I would kick it with him and the strict thing was, ‘Sam, you got to keep walking, you can’t be sitting down.’ Having a puppy, you’re going to be doing a lot of walking and not watching. That was the best decision I made: Something to take my mind off being hurt and the game, just get away. It still ate at me not being able to play, knowing I could have made an impact.”

Dekker has returned to the game he loves, fully recovered from back surgery, and in the first three games of the Las Vegas Summer League he has showed the athletic ability the Rockets love about him. Dekker has scored on dunks, drives to the basket, and, of course, a few outside shots.

He needs a well-rounded game to break new coach Mike D’Antoni’s playing rotation this season, if he doesn’t spend time in the D-League.

“It’s very refreshing to be on the court again and play the game,” Dekker said. “One thing I got to realize, there will be some kinks in the road just getting back to the form I want to be in, and I’m very hard on myself and I got to realize I got to relax a little bit. I’m just playing basketball and it will all come back. I’m feeling good and I’m feeling confident and just happy to be on the court and doing what I love.”

After missing the majority of last season, Dekker is understanding the simple things in life, like getting out of bed and playing basketball pain-free.

“Probably getting out of bed without being hobbled,” Dekker said of what he cherishes most. “That’s one thing, waking up, ‘Oh, I can bend my legs.’ That’s a good way to start your day. The most gratifying thing is waking up and not having any soreness and rolling out of bed and just being ready to go -- we kinda take that for granted. But when you have an issue like that and you're hobbled and trying to mask everything, it sucks. Being able to get up and feel good and take on the day is pretty gratifying.”