Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: FIBA, Turkey, Coach K, NBA Transactions

May 11th, 2020 at 6:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will be held that summer from August 25 to September 10, according to a FIBA press release. The group phase of World Cup 2023 will be played in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, with the final phase taking place in the Philippine capital city of Manila. It will be the first time the competition has been staged in more than one country. Spain defeated Argentina in the finals of last year’s Cup, which was held in China.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Turkey became the latest country to cancel the remainder of its basketball season. Former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu, the basketball federation’s president, officially announced the cancellation of BSL and TBL seasons, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando.
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski turned down numerous offers over the years to become an NBA coach, Sportando’s Nicola Lupo relays. In an interview on WIP radio, the Duke coach said he turned down the Sixers job in 2003, the Celtics in 1990 and the Lakers in 2005.
The Warriors’ signing of Kevin Durant, the Spurs’ draft-night acquisition on Kawhi Leonard and the Rockets’ trade for James Harden rank as the biggest and best transactions over the past decade, according to ESPN Insiders. A list of 74 major moves was compiled by ESPN’s NBA experts.

D'Antoni, 69, Would Feel Comfortable Coaching If Season Resumes

May 7th, 2020 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni is the league’s second-oldest head coach at age 69, which could put him at greater risk if he were to contract the coronavirus. However, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN that D’Antoni would feel comfortable being on the sidelines if the NBA resumes the season, since he has confidence that Adam Silver and the league would create as safe an environment as possible.

Draft Notes: McClung, Henry, Big Boards

May 6th, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite a claim from Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing that he’ll be back with the program this season, Mac McClung continues to test the draft waters and hasn’t informed the school of any official decision yet, agent Daniel Hazan tells Ben Standig of The Athletic.

As Standig details, McClung’s energy and athleticism make him an intriguing prospect worth monitoring, but he’s not considered likely to be drafted if he goes pro this year. One general manager said he’s still not clear on what position or role McClung would play at the NBA level.

Still, NBA teams are doing their homework on the sophomore guard. Hazan said on Tuesday that McClung has had virtual meetings with 11 teams, with more to come — a source informs Standig that the Rockets, Bulls, and Nets are among those 11 clubs.

Here are a few more draft-related items:

Michigan State forward Aaron Henry has signed with agent Aaron Reilly of AMR, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link). Because Reilly is NCAA-certified, Henry can continue to test the draft waters without forfeiting his remaining two years of college eligibility.
Goodman has published the second version of his 2020 mock draft at WatchStadium.com, forecasting a top five of James Wiseman (Warriors), Anthony Edwards (Cavaliers), LaMelo Ball (Timberwolves), Obi Toppin (Hawks), and Deni Avdija (Pistons).
With last week’s early entrant deadline behind us, Jeremy Woo of SI.com and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic have each updated their respective big boards for the 2020 draft. Both draft experts have Ball, Edwards, and Wiseman ranked as their top three prospects, but disagree on some other lottery prospects. Vecenie has Toppin (No. 4) and Cole Anthony (No. 8) several spots higher than Woo does, but is less bullish on Isaac Okoro (No. 11), who is sixth on Woo’s board.

Multiple Teams Plan To Reopen Facilities On Friday

May 6th, 2020 at 3:29pm CST by Luke Adams

3:29pm: The Rockets have now postponed the target date for reopening their facility to May 18, according to Medina (via Twitter).

2:03pm: Although the NBA is still expected to allow teams to reopen practice facilities for individual voluntary workouts this Friday, only a small handful of clubs are expected to take advantage right away. The Rockets, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets intend to reopen their facilities on May 8, according to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt and Mark Medina. The Cavaliers will do so as well, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Not all players have remained in their teams’ respective cities since the NBA suspended its season in March, so some Rockets, Blazers, Nuggets, and Cavs players may have to return from out of state before they can resume working out at their clubs’ facilities.

As Zillgitt and Medina detail, several other teams – including the Hawks, Heat, and Bucks – could reopen their facilities as early as next week. However, clubs like the Celtics, Mavericks, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves haven’t shared details on their plans, and many other teams will remain in limbo for the foreseeable future, deferring to local government ordinances and health experts.

The Warriors, for instance, are following the City of San Francisco’s lead, as Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. USA Today’s report suggests that Golden State is unlikely to reopen its facility until at least June, since the city’s stay-at-home order runs through May 31.

As for the teams that are opening this Friday, they’ll face strict regulations on the number of players who will be permitted into their facilities at a time (four), and how their workouts will be conducted (no group activities are allowed). The league recently issued a long, detailed memo outlining the safety measures that teams must put in place to reopen their buildings.

“This isn’t a hangout session for the guys,” a Cavaliers source told Fedor. “We’ve read the riot act – so to speak – to these guys. I think they are appreciative of us trying to find the right way to get the building open because they need the outlet and want to work out and this is the safest place for them to do it.”

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), the NBA informed teams this week of updated measures on cardiac screening for certain players prior to their voluntary workouts. Clubs have also still been told not to conduct COVID-19 tests on asymptomatic players, since the league is sensitive to an ongoing shortage in some areas of the country. If and when the NBA is able to open camps for a resumption for the 2019/20 season, there’s an understanding those testing protocols would change, Woj adds.

Jeff Van Gundy A Potential Coaching Candidate For Rockets

May 6th, 2020 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Unlike the Nets and Knicks, who have interim head coaches in place, the Rockets aren’t necessarily a lock to conduct a coaching search of their own later this year. However, with Mike D’Antoni in a contract year, there has been plenty of speculation that Houston will go in another direction.

With that in mind, and in the wake of a recent report linking Tom Thibodeau to the Rockets, Kelly Iko, Mo Dakhil, and Sam Amick of The Athletic discussed the situation on Tuesday’s edition of the ‘Brodie and the Beard’ podcast, with Amick suggesting that another former NBA coach – Jeff Van Gundy – has been frequently connected to the Houston job.

“Jeff Van Gundy’s name is the one that I have heard consistently as a very possible replacement for Mike,” Amick said (hat tip to RealGM). “It’s interesting to see Thibs’ name in there now because you’ve got a guy who was Jeff’s top assistant when Jeff was the Rockets’ coach. … Van Gundy and Thibs being from the same tree, whatever happens next, I think you’re starting to get a sense of what might be prioritized. Obviously defense first. Discipline.”

Amick cautioned that there’s no guarantee the Rockets will move on from D’Antoni after the 2019/20 season, especially if the team makes a deep playoff run. However, he does still think this will probably be D’Antoni’s last year in Houston.

“Barring a championship if they do save the season, I do not get the sense that Mike D’Antoni is going to be back,” Amick said. “They’ve had a major divide in the contract negotiations.”

As Amick explains, the decisions to part with Van Gundy in 2007 and to hire D’Antoni in 2016 were largely driven by former Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. With the franchise under new ownership and GM Daryl Morey believed to be a fan of Van Gundy – who reportedly received strong consideration from Houston in ’16 before the hiring of D’Antoni – it’s possible a reunion could be in the cards. Van Gundy had a 182-146 (.555) record as coach of the Rockets from 2003-07.

Of course, for that reunion to come to fruition, Van Gundy would have to decide he wants to leave a comfortable broadcasting job with ESPN and ABC to return to coaching. And even then, he’d likely draw interest from other teams — the Knicks and Nets are each believed to have JVG on their list of potential candidates.

Knicks, Rockets, Nets Interested In Thibodeau?

May 4th, 2020 at 8:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks would get first crack at Tom Thibodeau for their head coaching job if new president Leon Rose decides to replace Mike Miller, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.

The Rockets and Nets are also expected to pursue Thibodeau but the Knicks could get the jump on those franchises because they won’t make the playoffs, Berman continues.

Thibodeau would have an apparent interest in all three jobs, Berman continues, but there’s a connection between him and Rose. As a Creative Artists Agency client, Thibodeau has worked with the former agent.

There has been widespread speculation about potential coaching candidates for the Knicks, and a report surfaced last week that Thibodeau would be Rose’s top choice if a change is made. That report also stated Spurs assistant Becky Hammon and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy would get consideration.

The Rockets and Nets have been previously noted as other possible destinations for the former Bulls and Timberwolves coach. Nets superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving like and respect Thibodeau, who coached them as a Team USA assistant, Berman adds. Still, it’s worth noting that one April report suggested that Thibodeau was thought to be “solely a Knicks candidate.”

Fertitta Confirms He Has No Interest In Selling Shares Of Rockets

May 1st, 2020 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

Reports over the last couple months have suggested that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has been one of the NBA team owners hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. Many of Fertitta’s hundreds of businesses are restaurants, casinos, and entertainment destinations that have been closed since stay-at-home orders began.

However, speaking to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Fertitta insisted that any concerns about his financial situation have been overstated.

“I have cash flow to last me a long, long time with no restaurants opening. But yet, by this weekend, I’m going to have over 200 (restaurants) open and almost all my hotels open,” Fertitta said, referring to Texas’ stay-at-home mandate being lifted. “Different people are in different situations, and what people don’t understand is I have more buckets than most.”

A report last month indicated that Fertitta has no interest in gaining additional liquidity by selling any portion of the Rockets and taking on minority stakeholders. The Rockets’ owner confirmed as much in his conversation with Amick, stressing that he’s also not entertaining the idea of selling the franchise outright.

“The Rockets would never be sold, unless the whole world came to an end and then it wouldn’t matter, OK?” Fertitta said. “If I ever sell the Rockets, it’s because we don’t exist anymore as a country with the rule of law. We’re having anarchy in the street, and at that point there’s no buyers.

“… I don’t need partners so I don’t have partners,” he added. “There’s just no interest in having partners. I think all owners would love not to have partners, but not all teams financially can do that. I have the opportunity that me and my family can own this team 100%, and there’s no reason to ever change that.”

Davide Scigliuzzo of Bloomberg reported last month that Fertitta’s companies had furloughed more than half of their employees. However, while his other businesses and their workers were impacted significantly by the coronavirus pandemic, Fertitta tells Amick that the Rockets haven’t had to lay off a single employee or force anyone to take a pay cut, even after Daryl Morey‘s tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors in the fall cost the franchise significant sponsorship money in China.

“The Rockets have no problem,” Fertitta said. “The Rockets are sitting on a huge revolver and a bunch of cash right now. And the Rockets are able to build up cash because nobody has to take it out to live on.”

Eric Gordon Believes Knee Injury Will No Longer Be Issue

April 30th, 2020 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Rockets guard Eric Gordon signed a four-year, $75MM+ extension with the team last August, ensuring that he’ll be on a guaranteed deal through at least 2022/23. However, playing in the final year of his old contract, Gordon has undergone the worst season of his 12-year career, averaging 14.5 PPG with a career-worst .370 FG%. He has also made just 31.9% of his three-point attempts after knocking down 36.4% in his first three years as a Rocket.

As he tells Kelly Iko of The Athletic, Gordon believes his struggles can be attributed in large part to the right knee injury that required surgery in the fall. In addition to sidelining him for 30 of the Rockets’ 64 games, that injury nagged at Gordon before he decided to go under the knife and after he returned. However, he’s confident that it will no longer be an issue if the NBA is able to resume its season, given all the time he has had to rest it.

“I’m good now,” the Rockets’ guard said. “There’s really nothing for me to worry about at this point. Whenever we get this thing back going, I don’t have to worry about rehab or anything. So once we get this thing back started, that’d be stuff that I don’t have to worry about at all.”

Iko, Leroux Preview Rockets' Free Agency

April 27th, 2020 at 12:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Kelly Iko and Danny Leroux of The Athletic explore some free agent options for the Rockets, assessing whether there are will be any available forwards or big men capable of playing the P.J. Tucker role in Houston — making outside shots, guarding bigs, and providing switchability on defense. Unsurprisingly, there likely won’t be many – or any – of those players available at a discount in free agency.

2020/21 Salary Cap Preview: Houston Rockets

April 23rd, 2020 at 6:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.

The Rockets took small-ball to another level at this year’s trade deadline when they sent Clint Capela to Atlanta in a four-team deal that left them without a real center. Houston’s ensuing “micro-ball” experiment brought out the best in Russell Westbrook and looked awfully effective at times, though the team turned in a few March duds, including losses to New York and Charlotte.

If the NBA is unable to resume its 2019/20 season, not getting to see how the Rockets’ lineup performed in the postseason will be a major loss — not just for fans, but for Houston’s front office, which didn’t get much of a sample to evaluate whether the experiment was worth extending beyond this season.

Here’s where things stand for the Rockets financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:

Guaranteed Salary

Russell Westbrook ($41,358,814)
James Harden ($41,254,920)
Eric Gordon ($16,869,276)
Robert Covington ($12,138,345)
P.J. Tucker ($7,969,537)
Danuel House ($3,717,000)
Troy Williams ($122,741) — Waived via stretch provision.
Total: $123,430,633

Player Options

Austin Rivers ($2,436,046)
Total: $2,436,046

Team Options

David Nwaba ($1,824,003)
Total: $1,824,003

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Ben McLemore ($2,283,034) ¹
Chris Clemons ($1,517,981)
Total: $3,801,015

Restricted Free Agents

Michael Frazier (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Early Bird rights
William Howard (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
Total (cap holds): $2,891,394

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Tarik Black ($3,948,000): Non-Bird rights ³
Bruno Caboclo ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights
DeMarre Carroll ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
Tyson Chandler ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
Jeff Green ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
Thabo Sefolosha ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
Kenneth Faried ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights ³
Trevon Duval ($1,445,697): Non-Bird rights ³
Total: $15,117,081

Offseason Cap Outlook

With more than $123MM in guaranteed money committed to just six players for the 2020/21 season, the Rockets figure to exceed the luxury tax line if it stays at $132.6MM, and could become a taxpayer even if faced with a more forgiving tax threshold.

Of course, Houston has navigated its way out of the tax in each of the last two years, and team owner Tilman Fertitta has been particularly hard this season by the club’s lost China revenue and the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected many of his other businesses. As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Rockets cut costs, at least to some extent. For now, we’re assuming they’ll be limited to the taxpayer’s mid-level exception, but that could change.

Cap Exceptions Available

Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,718,000 ⁴
Trade exception: $3,595,333 (expires 2/5/21)
Trade exception: $2,564,753 (expires 2/5/21)
Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 2/5/21)
Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 2/8/21)

Footnotes

McLemore’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after October 18.
The cap holds for Black, Faried, and Duval remain on the Rockets’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2019/20. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
This is a projected value. If the team cuts costs, it could have the full mid-level exception ($9,258,000) and bi-annual exception ($3,623,000) available.

Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.