The Rockets are experimenting with Kelly Olynyk playing alongside Christian Wood before facing a decision on Olynyk this offseason, writes Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
Acquired from the Heat in the Victor Oladipo trade last month, Olynyk has a $12.5MM expiring contract. He has been playing well since coming to Houston and may be raising his value on the free agent market. Iko suggests the Rockets have a limited figure in mind to offer Olynyk and want to take a long look at how his game meshes with Wood’s.
“It seems like they’re getting better every game,” coach Stephen Silas said of his frontcourt combination. “They’re both getting their opportunities, obviously. … They’re starting to play well together and figure it out. There’s a lot I could tell them as far as where they need to be on the floor, but when you play five-out basketball, it’s hard to tell a guy where they should be all the time. They’re both two smart guys; they’re figuring it out. It’s a work in progress, but I like what I see so far.”
There’s more from Houston:
- In a radio appearance today on SportsTalk 790, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone promised the organization will be “aggressive” on the trade and free agent markets this summer, but his goal remains to “build really smart,” relays Ben DuBose of USA Today’s RocketsWire. “We do think we can be competitive very quickly. We would hope to field a much more competitive team next year,” Stone said. “But in terms of how long the rebuild takes, a lot of that depends on how long it takes us to acquire a player or two who have the ability to be truly elite. Maybe we even have one or two of those guys on our roster. But it’s not a one-day process.”
- John Wall returned to the court tonight after missing the past four games with hip, hamstring and knee issues, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Silas said Wall’s minutes will be limited, but he didn’t provide a specific number.
- Sterling Brown has earned Silas’ faith in any role, Feigen writes in a full story. Brown signed a one-year deal in the offseason and will be back on the market this summer. “I trust Sterling as a starter (or) coming off the bench,” Silas said. “He’s been super, super consistent for us this season. Him as a starter, him coming off the bench, he’s very steady.”
Olynyk turns 30 in a couple of weeks, that’ll limit how much he gets this summer.
Unless a team with cap space wants to give him a big contract there won’t be very many suitors who can pay him more than the Rockets can with his bird rights.
Olynyk has a nice game, he can put up numbers if given the minutes but can handle being a depth piece on a contender.
Lol
His age isn’t that big a problem considering his game has never relied on athleticism
I don’t think cap room will play a major part in Kelly Olynyk’s market. I seriously doubt he will get a bigger offer than the mid level exception. I could be wrong. Worse decisions have been made than a team offering Olynyk a 3/42MM deal or something, but I wouldn’t do it.
Olynyk will get 4 years around 18-20 mil annually this off-season. Quality rotation C/PF can fit on almost any team. Sad to see Miami traded him.
Surely his agent will argue that he’s worth that much, but I doubt that any of the teams with enough cap space to make such an offer will come even close to that. Whatever limited figure the Rockets have in mind can’t possibly be that much higher than the $12.5M/year amount of his current contract.
Houston’s offer will most likely be closer to the $8M-$10M/year range.
The force is strong with KPJ. A new hope in Houston.
Olynyc is a rotation guy. He can play with Wood. Rockets have talent, but there is no elite guy there yet. Wood is solid but his D is still a work in progress. Rockets would be wise to get a D guy backing him up or play next to him at PF. Rockets get their pick this yr that can be an elite player. At the minimum he will be a starter. Wall is also a key. Get him healthy and strong. He can help a team like CP3 did Suns, to get to next level. Much easier to move next yr by TD. Also they have Blazers pick and Bucks pick. So potentially 3 picks in 1st rd. That top 4 pick if they keep it, Is The Big One. Knicks found Quickly in a bad draft yr at 25. Their scouting system does their job. They can find talent with those picks. There is nice talent between 18-22. Exum and Porter can be rotation guys too. I think next yr they clean up the roster, draft well. And things will get better sooner than later.
Lucky for Houston their schedule over the next 21 games is probably the hardest in the NBA. Playing the Clippers three times; Utah, Denver, and Milwaukee twice; also road games at Phoenix, Portland, and the wounded Lakers; plus a home game against the Sixers. If they can lose all 13 of those games that puts them at 50+ losses and gives them a pretty decent chance of retaining their top-4 lottery pick.
Top 4 pick …… Any of These Players is a great pick
Cade Cunningham
Jalen Green
Evan Mobley
Jalen Suggs
Jonathan Kuminga
Scottie Barnes
All these players are major talents imo. All 19 yr olds. So some will show sooner than others. Jalen Green might just be the Next One.
Cade could be Ben Simmons with a jumper
No, those all suck.
Good grief. Why post that the top 5 look good. Why else would they be top 5. Your other post was useless too, Rockets will be tanking.
Being so attached to any youth is creepy for an adult.
Kelly is a good rotation piece – Im sure a few teams are disappointed he’s not getting a buyout
If he’s a mid level guy (which he probably is) I kind of doubt Houston keeps him unless they want to overpay. Seems like if the money is the same Kelly would sign with a team that’s closer to contention