Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Harden, Rockets, K. Johnson, D. White, Mavs

December 17th, 2020 at 2:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Within his latest look at the James Harden saga in Houston, Sam Amick of The Athletic writes that the Rockets star’s “ball-dominant style, defensive reputation and personality” appear to be limiting the amount of interest on the trade market. Teams not on Harden’s reported wish list have concerns about both cost and fit, says Amick.

“Harden is a terrific scorer, but not a champion,” one front office executive told The Athletic. “He isn’t a two-way player and (he’s) hard to play with. … He is so used to getting his own way, I think there are concerns he can negatively affect a team’s culture.”

While Harden’s preferred landing spot – the Nets, Sixers, Bucks, and Heat – may be more viable destinations, rival executives are “extremely skeptical” that Houston and Brooklyn will reach a deal, and Milwaukee looks like a long shot too, according to Amick.

Philadelphia may be the most viable option, given Daryl Morey‘s strong affinity for Harden, but the 76ers are committed to giving the Ben Simmons/Joel Embiid duo an opportunity to play under Doc Rivers. As for Miami, sources close to the situation are skeptical that the Heat will want to try to assimilate Harden into their culture built on “discipline and dirty work,” says Amick.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

The Rockets announced today that they plan to host fans at the Toyota Center to start the season, with a reduced capacity and healthy and safety protocols in place. The team is expected to allow between 3,000 and 3,700 in the building, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said on Tuesday that second-year forward Keldon Johnson, who has been sidelined so far this month due to a foot injury, won’t be ready for the team’s regular season opener, but could be good to go in “a couple of weeks,” writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Derrick White (left toe surgery) will likely be out longer than that, per Popovich. “(Johnson is) going 3-on-3 now,” Popovich said. “He has contact and he’s competing. … Derrick’s further behind (in his rehab). He’s not out on the floor competing or doing anything of that nature.”
The Mavericks achieved their offseason goals of improving their defense and gaining more future cap flexibility, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who surprisingly projects the club to finish with the second-best record in the Western Conference (47-25).

Rockets Notes: Clemons, Wall, Cousins, Wood, Harden, JVG

December 17th, 2020 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

A few of Chris Clemons‘ Rockets teammates know exactly what the second-year guard is going through, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Like Clemons, who tore his Achilles tendon on Tuesday, DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, and David Nwaba have all had to attempt to make their way back to full health after suffering a torn Achilles.

“I spoke with him last night after the game,” Cousins said. “My only message was just take your time. One thing I noticed with professional athletes and injuries, we love our craft, we love the game itself. Once you have tough off, you’re always itching to get back and play that game.

“… We’re so used to playing through pain. Sometimes, we feel like we’re in a good place when it’s not necessarily the case. My only message is take his time, get everything right, he has a lot of basketball left to play in his career.”

The only silver lining of the injury for Clemons is that he’ll now be assured of his $1.52MM salary for 2020/21 — it was previously non-guaranteed. The Rockets, who are up against a hard cap, figure to keep Clemons on their roster since they don’t currently have the flexibility to replace him with a free agent if they cut him.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN details (via Twitter), Houston could attempt to make room for another player by trading Clemons (along with a second-round pick) to another club. If the Rockets are uninterested in such a move, they’ll likely have to waive either Gerald Green or Bruno Caboclo before the regular season begins in order to stay below the hard cap.

Here’s more from out of Houston:

John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins will sit out the Rockets’ preseason finale on Thursday vs. San Antonio, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The club is handling both players carefully, since they’re coming off major injuries. Meanwhile, Christian Wood – who missed Houston’s first three preseason contests with a sore left elbow – is considered questionable to play.
It’s a bit of a worrisome sign that James Harden said during his media session on Wednesday that he hasn’t had a conversation at all with new Rockets GM Rafael Stone, writes Kelly Iko of The Athletic. Even if Harden remains dead-set on being traded, a deal of that magnitude will require some communication between the superstar guard and the Rockets’ head of basketball operations, Iko says.
Sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post that Jeff Van Gundy probably could have had the Rockets’ head coaching job this offseason, but “was indifferent toward it.” Van Gundy was said to be owner Tilman Fertitta‘s top choice, though it seemed as if the team’s front office and players preferred other candidates. Either way, Van Gundy sounds happy with his current job, telling Berman that he’s “real fortunate to be able to work at ESPN/ABC.”

James Harden “In Catch-Up Mode,” Doesn’t Address Trade Request

December 16th, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

James Harden didn’t discuss his trade request today during his first meeting with the media since the Rockets opened training camp, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

Harden admits he’s “in catch-up mode” after after reporting to camp late, then having to undergo six COVID-19 tests before being cleared to practice with his teammates. Harden was seen at parties in Atlanta and Las Vegas while other players reported for individual workouts and coronavirus testing, but he told reporters that he had his personal trainers with him during those trips.

“I can only focus on right now, and for me, the best James Harden is making sure I’m in shape,” Harden said. “Like I said, I hadn’t even had an opportunity to play 5-on-5. Individual workouts, when you do individual basketball training, is great, but as every NBA player can agree, there’s nothing like 5-on-5 training, the physicality, making reads and things like that. Yesterday for my first time being out there (in a preseason game), I felt good, and that’s exciting.”

Harden sidestepped questions about his demand to be moved, which has overshadowed everything else about the offseason in Houston. Brooklyn is reportedly his first choice, but he has expanded that list to include Philadelphia, Miami and Milwaukee. A report earlier this week indicated Harden hasn’t changed his mind about his desire to leave the Rockets.

Harden says the possibility of a trade hasn’t been brought up by teammates since he arrived at camp last week.

“Since I’ve been here, nothing has been said about it,” Harden said. “Everybody in the locker room and the coaching staff has been focused on ramping up and preparing for the season. That’s all that matters.”

That’s a strategy adopted by coaches and players, who are determined to focus on winning games and trying to stay away from any distractions, according to MacMahon. DeMarcus Cousins, who is in his first season playing with Harden, says there’s a difference between basketball and business.

“You can only respect a guy for doing whatever he feel is best for him, his personal life and his career,” Cousins said. “So, no, honestly, I haven’t (tried to convince Harden to commit to the Rockets), and I don’t really feel like that’s my place. That’s a decision he has to make for himself.”

Although there have been reports that Harden wasn’t happy with the Rockets’ decision to hire Stephen Silas, Harden was complimentary toward his new head coach at today’s press conference. Silas has said repeatedly that he will keep his focus on coaching and let the front office determine whether to trade Harden.

Rockets Cut Jerian Grant, Kenny Wooten, Trevelin Queen

December 16th, 2020 at 2:13pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have released three players, announcing today that guard Jerian Grant, forward Kenny Wooten, and forward Trevelin Queen have been placed on waivers (Twitter link via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle).

Houston had a full 20-man roster and had to make cuts in advance of the regular season, but a couple of these moves are still noteworthy.

Grant, for instance, looked like a candidate to make the regular season roster following Chris Clemons‘ season-ending Achilles tear. With Clemons injured and Grant no longer on the roster, the Rockets lack an obvious backup for starting point guard John Wall. Houston will carry a $50K cap hit after waiving Grant, since he had a small partial guarantee.

Wooten, meanwhile, was on a two-way contract, so waiving him will open up one of the Rockets’ two-way slots, alongside rookie Mason Jones. My guess is that Houston intends to sign a point guard using that newly-created two-way opening, but we’ll have to wait to see what the team has in mind.

Queen, meanwhile, was a training camp invitee whose release was anticipated. He’ll be a candidate to join Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, if the team participates in the revamped 2020/21 NBAGL season.

The Rockets are now carrying 17 players, including one on a two-way contract. The team has very little wiggle room below the hard cap and will likely start the season with 14 players on standard contracts along with a pair of two-way players, so additional roster moves are around the corner.

Rockets’ Clemons Suffers Torn Achilles, Out For Season

December 16th, 2020 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 16: An MRI confirmed that Clemons has torn his Achilles tendon, according to Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that the second-year guard will undergo season-ending surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

DECEMBER 15: Rockets guard Chris Clemons left the team’s preseason game on Tuesday night in a wheelchair after suffering a right lower leg injury. The initial diagnosis for Clemons is a torn right Achilles tendon, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says the team will conduct an MRI on Wednesday to confirm.

Assuming the initial diagnosis holds up, it’s a brutal blow for Clemons, who flashed some upside as a rookie in Houston last season. He averaged 4.9 PPG on .401/.346/.909 shooting in 33 games (8.8 MPG) and may have been in line for an increased role in 2020/21. However, if his Achilles is torn, he’ll almost certainly be ruled out for the season.

The Rockets don’t have a ton of depth at point guard behind starter John Wall – who is coming off a torn Achilles himself – and might have to address the position at some point if Clemons is out for the season.

Houston could take a look at the free agent market — as we detailed earlier today, Shabazz Napier is among the notable veteran point guards who remains unsigned. However, the Rockets don’t have much wiggle room below their hard cap, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), so adding a free agent probably isn’t a viable option for the time being.

Although Clemons’ contract for 2020/21 had been non-guaranteed, he’ll now be paid his minimum salary until he’s healthy or until the end of the season (whichever comes first).

Rockets Rumors: Harden, Culture, Westbrook, Wall

December 16th, 2020 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets‘ culture in recent years might be best described as “whatever James Harden wants,” Tim MacMahon writes at ESPN.com. As MacMahon explains, the Rockets have essentially let Harden dictate the team’s travel and practice schedules, staying overnight when the team plays in one of his favorite road cities such as Los Angeles or Phoenix, and not practicing on certain off days when Harden decides to charter a private jet to party in Las Vegas or another city.

According to MacMahon, in addition to calling the shots on the team’s travel and practice plans, Harden has also wielded significant power over personnel moves, having pushed in past years for Kevin McHale‘s firing as well as the departure of star players like Dwight Howard and Chris Paul.

Since Harden is a perennial MVP candidate, the Rockets have been fine in the past with allowing him to exercise that power. As one member of last season’s coaching staff told MacMahon: “If they have multiple days off, everybody knows: James is going to fly somewhere else and party. But he’s going to come back and have a 50-point triple-double, so they’re OK with it.”

However, when Harden pushed to be traded this offseason, the team pushed back, refusing to move him immediately to one of his preferred destinations. As the standoff played out, the 31-year-old partied in Atlanta and Vegas while the Rockets began training camp, violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols and taking his time to report to camp.

“You can’t get mad at your kid if you let him eat candy every night and then suddenly one night you don’t and they throw a tantrum,” a former Rockets assistant said to ESPN. “You’re the one who let them eat candy every night. The Rockets turned the organization over to James and now they have to live with the fallout.”

Here’s more on Harden and the Rockets, including a few more noteworthy tidbits from MacMahon’s in-depth report:

Harden has pushed the Rockets to upgrade their roster every offseason in recent years, indicating that he’d want to be traded if the team couldn’t contend for a title, sources tell MacMahon. The star guard told the club during the 2019 offseason that he’d demand a trade if Houston didn’t find a way to acquire Russell Westbrook.
The “lack of discipline and attention to detail” within the Rockets’ organization bothered both Paul and Westbrook, reports MacMahon. Westbrook, in particular, was put off by the team’s casual culture, since he helped ensure the Thunder “operated with the discipline of a military unit” during the decade he spent in Oklahoma City.
As MacMahon details, Westbrook was bothered by the fact that scheduled times for travel and film sessions were treated as “mere suggestions” by Harden and others. At one point during the restart at Walt Disney World, Harden waited until just before a Rockets film session began to undergo his daily COVID-19 test, leaving Westbrook angry and wanting to start the session without him, sources tell ESPN.
John Wall has high hopes for what he and Harden can do together in the Rockets’ backcourt, but he said on Tuesday that he’s not going to try to convince the former MVP to drop his trade request, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “At the end of the day, that’s a friend,” Wall said. “He’s going to do what’s best for him and the organization is going to do what’s best for them, also. The most important this is when we step on the floor, when we’re stepping into practice, we’re focusing ourselves on basketball. I don’t try to ask him about that because that’s his personal business.”

Tucker Wants Extension, Promises To Do Job

December 14th, 2020 at 7:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Seeking an extension, Rockets forward P.J. Tucker says he wants to go “where I am wanted,” Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. Tucker promises to “do my job” even if the club doesn’t offer him an extension. Tucker, who will make approximately $7.97MM this season, will enter unrestricted free agency next summer.

Harden Practices With Rockets, Will Play Tuesday

December 14th, 2020 at 1:39pm CST by Luke Adams

After registering six negative coronavirus tests, star guard James Harden practiced with the Rockets on Monday for the first time this season, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.

Head coach Stephen Silas, who confirmed that P.J. Tucker also returned to practice for the Rockets, said that both Harden and Tucker looked “very good.” Silas added that he and Harden had a good conversation, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).

“He was locked in and asking good questions,” Silas said of Harden, adding that the plan is for the 31-year-old to play in Houston’s preseason game on Tuesday vs. San Antonio (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN).

As we relayed this morning, Harden hasn’t backed off his desire to be traded at all and is still pushing Houston to move him. However, he has reportedly told the team that he’ll be “professional and engaged” until a trade occurs, recognizing that keeping his value high will increase the Rockets’ chances of finding a deal they like.

It doesn’t appear that any Harden trade talks have gotten serious so far, with teams unwilling to meet the Rockets’ high asking price so far. Yaron Weitzman reported earlier today (via Twitter) that Houston wants three first-round picks in addition to Ben Simmons in a deal with Philadelphia. I’m skeptical that the Rockets’ asking price will stay that high, but given that the Sixers haven’t even put Simmons on the table yet, it’s fair to assume the two sides remain far apart.

And-Ones: Doncic, Lin, G League, Duffy

December 14th, 2020 at 12:42pm CST by Luke Adams

A panel of eight NBA scouts and executives polled by Tim Bontemps of ESPN nearly unanimously view LeBron James as the league’s best player, but voted Luka Doncic as the frontrunner for the MVP award in 2021.

“It’s hard to see Giannis winning three in a row,” a Western Conference scout told ESPN. “And I think there’s more of an opportunity for Luka to kind of put on an MVP show and do more on an individual basis.”

Bontemps also had those scouts and execs weigh in with their thoughts on the 2020 offseason, polling them on which teams had the most success upgrading their roster in either the short or long term — or both. Half the panelists picked the Lakers as the team that had the best offseason, with the Hawks, Thunder, and Sixers also receiving votes. Meanwhile, the Pistons, Rockets, and Bucks got votes for the worst offseason.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Free agent guard Jeremy Lin practiced this weekend with the G League Ignite ahead of their scrimmages on Tuesday and Thursday, league sources tell Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link). Lin wasn’t among the veteran players previously announced as part of the Ignite, but Zagoria suggests in his full story that the veteran is expected to suit up with the squad on Tuesday.
Dakota Schmidt of Ridiculous Upside is keeping tabs on which teams are expected to opt in and out of the G League’s proposed Atlanta-area bubble. With the NBA’s opening night just over a week away, it seems like a formal update on the plans for the NBAGL should be right around the corner.
After making a clerical error that cost client Anthony Carter approximately $3MM in 2003, agent Bill Duffy vowed to repay Carter in full and has made good on that promise, making the last of his payments to Carter this year, as Sopan Deb writes in an interesting story for The New York Times.

‘No Change’ In James Harden’s Desire For Trade

December 14th, 2020 at 7:35am CST by Luke Adams

With James Harden on the verge of taking his sixth coronavirus test and being cleared to practice with the Rockets, there has been “no change” in his desire to be dealt to a new team, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Although Harden would prefer to be playing elsewhere, he has expressed to Rockets ownership and management that he intends to be “professional and engaged,” per Shelburne and Wojnarowski. As the ESPN duo explains, the former MVP is aware that tanking his value would hinder Houston’s ability to complete a deal. He’s also willing to be patient, recognizing that it may take some time for the Rockets to find the right return.

The Rockets have been holding out hope that Harden may still come around to believing in the team’s ability to contend, and John Wall expressed over the weekend that he thinks he and Harden and be “a heck of a combination.”

However, the 31-year-old has been “unmoved” by the acquisition of Wall, sources tell ESPN. As Shelburne and Woj explain, it’s not personal with Wall — Harden simply hasn’t changed his view that he’d have a better chance to compete for a title elsewhere.

The Rockets have touched base with the Nets and Sixers, the top two teams on Harden’s wish list, sources tell ESPN. However, Philadelphia is still unwilling to offer Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid in any deal for Harden, and Houston remains unenthusiastic about a Brooklyn package that would consist of “complementary players” and draft picks.

A hypothetical trade with the Nets may have to involve a third team that could send the Rockets the sort of young franchise cornerstone they’re seeking, according to Shelburne and Wojnarowski, who add that neither Brooklyn nor Houston has expressed interest in a package centered around Kyrie Irving.

ESPN’s report doesn’t mention any talks with teams besides the Nets and 76ers, though that doesn’t mean that none have taken place. Harden has also reportedly added the Bucks and Heat to his list, and Miami is said to be interested in exploring the possibility of a deal. Additionally, since Harden has no power to veto trades, the Rockets could cast a much wider net as they looks to maximize their potential return for Harden.