Longtime Rockets assistant John Lucas won’t be part of Ime Udoka’s staff but he’ll remain in the organization, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. He’ll move to a front office role, working as an assistant to GM Rafael Stone.
Lucas, a former Cavaliers, Spurs and Sixers head coach, joined Mike D’Antoni’s staff in Houston during the 2016/17 season and has been with the franchise since then.
We have more on the Rockets:
- Houston’s first-year offer to Mavericks free agent Dwight Powell was higher than the $8MM Jock Landale will receive next season as part of his four-year, $32MM contract agreement with Houston, Marc Stein reports in a Substack post. Powell decided to take the Mavs’ three-year offer, even though it totaled only $12MM. Only the first year of Landale’s contract is guaranteed — it’s probably safe to assume the same was true of the offer for Powell.
- Speaking of Landale, he knows he has to show the Rockets he’s worthy of getting the full value to his contract, he told ESPN’s Olgun Uluc. “I felt as though I’d worked my way to when I played and when I played heavy minutes, I always produced,” Landale said. “If I can get the trust of a coach who has the front office behind me, and they’re all supportive of the decision, absolutely I believe I can play to that contract. I also feel that, given it’s non-guaranteed, there’s no ability for me to take my foot off the gas, and I feel that’s really important and plays into my character a bit. I’ve still got to earn everything.”
- While they paid an extremely high price financially, the Rockets finally have a much-needed stabilizing presence, leader and offensive connector in Fred VanVleet, Kelly Iko of The Athletic writes. Houston’s offense lacked cohesion and control in recent seasons and VanVleet’s presence should change that.
Rockets going hard for 30 wins this coming season.
Can say the same about the Sixers
Lol. U clearly know nothing.
Back to back 50 plus wins seasons say you are wrong about your upcoming prediction.
76ers could have that by trade deadline rockets will have that entire season
Lol! Ngl that was funny but, Come on man sixers atleast have a superstar.
The 76ets have two superstars, problem is one don’t wanna be there, if they don’t get a decent return for Harden and soon, they’ll be lucky to win 45 games.
Bringing in who they brought in is to help push and mold these young guys. The rockets said all along that they wanted to bring in complimentary players. This team is going to be really good in a couple years if they can get the most out of their draft picks they’ve had over the last 3 seasons. And if you’re a Philly fan, you should know all about a rebuild, you were in one for almost a decade, and if the sixers aren’t careful, they’ll be headed for another…
This is all I want to know
Harden don’t want Rockets or Rockets don’t want Harden?
Rockets never wanted harden. That was put out by hardens camp to try to create leverage. It never came from the rockets.
You hold what position with the rockets ?
I think Harden wanted the Van Vleet deal and rockets didn’t feel comfortable with 3-4 years of Harden.
No worries. The beard would have quit on them after one season.
Rockets still have another move to make. Move Porter ……
Fred VV will help a lot. Rockets need that stability on offense. Udoka and the vets will bring that. It will take time. I give them a half yr. We should start seeing improvements. Plus 30 wins is a reality. To me Green, Smith, Amen are all going to be special. Sengun is also a solid piece.
KPJ is a good young player that can play and defend multiple positions, averages 20, 6, and 5, and is still just 22 years old. He’s also their best shooter, there’s no reason to trade him. Let him keep getting better, especially with a team of good coaches and player development gurus on Ime’s staff.
Probably to soon to trade either but if we’re to pick between trading Green and Porter I’d pick Green. He’d net a bigger return yet Porter is a more efficient shooter and better playmaker.
Defend …. really. His TO are high. And is not guy who plays within the offense. His stats have improved. But anyone’s stats would on the Rockets. He’s not a team player. And has always had attitude issues. It’s why only his first yr is guaranteed on his 4 yr contract. He does have talent. But will never accept being the third guard. I wouldn’t want him around my young talent.
Well it’s a good thing you aren’t running the Rockets cuz we can care less about what you want.
He hasn’t “always” had attitude problems. You’re right, as a 19 yr old he didn’t handle things well in Cleveland. Then a year later he had an argument with the rockets coaching staff in a game. And then met with the coaches and really grew from that and has been a great teammate since. This national narrative that he’s an awful teammate just isn’t true. The guys on the team love him. And there was no offense to play within. It was a team of all new players under the age of 21. There wasn’t a ton of sets they were running. Part of that was coaching, part of that was these guys just needed to learn how to play together, how play an NBA schedule, how to be adults. People have unrealistic expectations for a team full of kids who’ve barely played together.
There’s always a set. It’s the NBA. Porter has always been vocal about getting his. Yes immaturity is probably most of it. But there’s a reason his contract is not guaranteed. As a player. He’s a combo guard who can score. He won’t accept coming off the bench. And now even Dillon making more than him. He can’t handle that either. He’s not about team. He’s all about I. You will learn soon.
Al those are all assumptions you are making. And pretty wild ones at that. I’m not sure what you want me to say, “nuh uhn”…? I’m not sure why you think that way, but over the last year and so far this summer, he’s been a great teammate and very supportive of his teammates. And he’s saying all the right things. So since I don’t know him personally, I can only go off of what I’ve seen, and there’s nothing that indicates any issues. And while I also think he’ll come off the bench, it wouldn’t surprise me if his minutes don’t change much because he can be used in so many different ways/lineups, like several of their young players. Again, I get that the national narrative from guys who have no connection to the rockets has been that he’s a problem, but everyone close to the organization says he’s not. Who do you think actually knows?
Everyone is saying this except for you. Maybe you need to watch more videos because they’ve all said exactly what I was just repeating what I heard.
And I’m only replying to your 1st comment. I’m not reading the rest of your mumbo jumbo bs because you’re WAY out in left field all by yourself if you think KP is going to start.
Why are you directing this comment at me? I didn’t say anything about KP. I think he would make an excellent 6th man and a very good chance he would win 6th man of the year. No way will he start over Green, VanVleet and Thompson.
Rockets looked desperate this offseason and the team still doesn’t look that great. The only thing they accomplished was overpaying for mediocre additions.
They had to spend the money under the new CBA. Guys aren’t lining up to go and play in Houston, or for a rebuilding team so they were doing to have to overpay. They got FVV on a 2 yea deal with a team option, and Brooks is deal is structured with bonuses and incentives a lot like KPJ’s (except more guaranteed) and at best will be 20 a year. Remember that guys like Bruce brown, who is smaller, not as good of a defender, and the same level of shooter are getting 22 mil a year, so the Brooks deal isn’t as “crazy” as it was originally reported to be. Just like FVVs deal wasn’t originally reported to only be the 2 year with the team option
I understand they had to spend money, but
In that case they should have just brought back James harden. Atleast he will fill the seats and you will have a chance to make the play-in or playoffs. This rockets team will be picking top 5 again in next years draft.
But James harden isn’t a good leader and isn’t a good teammate. Also his style of play is not at all what Ime and the rockets are trying to build. They want to be tough defensively and move the ball on offense. That’s not harden. Again, these moves aren’t because they’re trying to make the play in game for the next couple of seasons (seriously why would that be your goal??), they made these moves to try to push and develop their young guys into becoming the guys they think they can be, and a team that will be a real threat in a couple of years. You have to build that, it doesn’t just happen over night.
Brown shot .358 from deep last season and .404 the season before while Brooks .326 and .309 so Brown is definitely a better shooter. I’ll give the edge to Brooks on defense and size but Brown makes up and pulls way ahead of Brooks in attitude.
If they shot 100 3s, Brown makes 3 more… and trust me, I get that people don’t like brooks because of the way he acts, I’m with you on that, but he was second team all defense and at his size can guard multiple positions. You can decide who you’d rather have, my point to make was giving you a salary comp from a similarly skilled player.
The Rockets also won the draft. How’d philly do?
Good for van vleet for finessing the rockets. IMHO he is a poor mans Kyle Lowry.
No offense lucky, but based on your comments, you don’t seem very knowledgeable. Maybe just read what other people say and don’t comment as much?
Aww did I hurt your fweelings?
Took you that long to think of a comeback? :D
Apparently you don’t know anything about how the salary cap works? Every team has to use up 90% of their cap space or pay a hefty fine. The Rockets or our fans couldn’t give a rat’s @$$ if we overpaid for VanVleet. We didn’t have anyone else to use the cap space on.♂️
Yeah that works. Overpay everyone. And set the example for my young talent. I can give you ten players they could have. And still have FVV and Brooks. They overplayed their hand thinking Toronto would come close to offer. Cause FVV wanted to stay. But why overpay Brooks. Nobody was going to pay him.
I’m so glad that you ain’t running the Rockets. We wouldn’t have signed any players, lost our entire cap and payed a huge penalty. Here’s how the cap works since you have no clue. link to youtu.be
Here’s another for ya in case the last one was too complicated. link to youtu.be
In case you don’t know teams that are rebuilding have to overpay to get anyone to come over. None of the free agents we signed would have came over if the teams they were coming from could match it. God you are really an idiot if you can’t understand that.
I read a “report” that the Brooks 4 for 80 isn’t really 4 for 80. There’s bonuses and incentives that can get him there but are unlikely. So much like we didn’t know the FVV was actually a 2 year deal with a team option at first, let’s wait and see the specifics before making a final judgement. But I agree, I’m not thrilled about it being 4 years, but with the cap increasing 10% each year and his contract decreasing each year, those last two years of his deal may end up looking like a bargain.
I knew all that and I’m glad that you do too. I’m so tired of trying to explain everything to these ignorant fans that have no clue but you have to explain it to them to try and defend it. All these Monday morning quarterbacks coming out of the woodwork saying they had a better plan on how to spend the cap. Good grief these trolls just looking to start an argument because they’re life is so miserable so they have to find someone else to make them as miserable as they are.
Yeah sorry I wasn’t replying to you, the website posts are replies kinda funky so sometimes it looks like we are replying to a different comment than the one we are actually replying to. But I think you and I are on the same page on a lot of things Rockets. And I agree, unfortunately there are very few people willing to have a conversation and try to learn something. Most people are just trolls looking to start an argument or think they’re experts on a team they don’t even follow.
Oh, okay. Thank you for that. The comment came up on my email so I assumed you were replying to me. No problems!! Have a good day!
And I apologize if I made any rude comments to you by getting you confused with someone else. There is a troll on here that has really raised my ire.
Rockets Rumours…
I can see these posts being mostly positive until 10 games in when the smoke starts billowing out of the dumpster…
No John Lucas is a silent shot at Kevin Porter Jr despite the fact he was clearly Houstons best player by far.
What do you mean John Lucas is a silent shot at KPJ?
These moves were only to season the “Rockets core” of young players. There was no way Harden was coming back to Houston. I think the Rockets beefed up their defense and that was a major issue the last 3 years. They still have guys who can shoot while adding much needed defense. I was hoping Lopez would sign on with Houston. Tough to see TyTy, Martin Jr, Garuba, and a few others go through trades or releases. I am totally shocked they kept Matthews. I figured Nix would stay and Matthews would be out. Not sure what they see in Matthews, but I hope it’s good.
I can see this team hitting 56 wins this year. With a tougher defense instead of trying to out shoot every club, it seems reasonable amount of wins. If they get a play in, it’s a bonus. I just want to see this core of Eason, KPJ, Jalen Green, Sengun, Tate Jr, and Christopher start putting it all together this year. Jalen Green I am not so keen on having around. I didn’t care for Steve Francis either. Both are very similar in my eyes, just Francis could play defense.
Key word “was”. That was last year and Green was undisciplined under the lame Silas. He has several people to either lead him on how to be a serious pro or will bring out his full potential now. You clearly just live in the past and aren’t able to see one day into the future.
It’s more about past and present. The future looks dim for Jalen Green. He was always shoot first player. He has shown that even at the NBA level. Stop being delusional and see Green for what he is. A bench piece
Spoken like someone who doesn’t watch. He’s 21, in the top 1% athletically, and only getting better. It’s so funny how quickly people write guys off, only to be wrong. Go back and look at what people said about steph curry, jaylon brown, etc. there’s not a lot of 20 year olds that are able to do what he did last season. Now he’ll get to be on a team with better spacing and tempo, the sky is the limit for this kid. People either just don’t know, or easily forget that teams are contending with a bunch of 20 year olds. Guys don’t win until their mid to late 20s at their earliest, and that’s with a mix of good veterans. This is the first season we get to see these guys play with any good veteran players with a good coach. Most people with common sense would take a wait and see approach. Casuals would say he should be traded or cut because he wasn’t an all star in his first season. It’s pretty obvious which category you fall into “pirates fan”.
Jabs at usernames, just shows how little you know about much of anything. You pathetic attempt to insult me, says all I need to know about you. We hold different opinions and I am sticking to mine. In the G League, Jalen Green was only a shooter. That goes to say the same in the NBA. Green couldn’t guard a high schooler, let alone Steph Curry or any NBA talent. Last several years, Green couldn’t even guard against the worst players in the league. Seriously, stop having this guy so high on the pedestal.
I called you pirates fan so you’d know I was talking to you and to also point out that you’re probably not a rockets fan. So I don’t think you watched too many rockets games… so forgive me if I don’t consider your evaluation of any of their players to be valid, or carry any weight.
Hahaha. Because of my user name you assumed I wasn’t a rockets fan. Again, you have no idea what is going on. So pitiful you are?
Your opinion doesn’t matter when it comes to who’s starting and who’s the backup. The Rockets’ coaching staff knows a hell of a lot more than you and Green is starting and KP is his backup. Green was not under the right circumstances last year which contributed to his underwhelming performance. He’s going to be twice as good this year with 2 good PGs setting him up in the right position to succeed. Something that KP failed miserably to do as he is a shoot first guard. He will never play PG again unless there is an injury to one of our true PGs.
Lol, I just read an article where Rockets are now exploring a trade of KPJ. That’s how so much better KPJ is than Green. LMAO
A respected head coach may pull a lot out of the most unlikely players. I will wait to see what Porter and Brooks can do before I dismiss them.