Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Duval, G League Draft, NBA Rosters, Williamson

October 25th, 2019 at 8:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Trevon Duval has signed a G League contract and is eligible for this Saturday’s draft, Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days tweets. Duval was a two-way player for the Rockets last season and became a free agent when the team didn’t give him a qualifying offer this summer. He was claimed by Houston in March after the Bucks waived him. The former Duke guard made three cameo appearances with Milwaukee.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Journeyman center Hasheem Thabeet, former Lakers guard Vander Blue, and forward Trey Mourning, son of Alonzo Mourning, are some of the more interesting names on the list of players eligible for the G League draft, according to a league press release. The Northern Arizona Suns have the first pick.
There are 108 international players from 38 countries and territories on current NBA rosters, according to a league press release. The most-represented countries among the 108 international players on opening-night rosters are Canada (16 players), Australia (nine players), France (eight players), Croatia (seven players) and Serbia (six players). The Mavericks lead the league with seven international players.
Zion Williamson‘s knee injury created disappointment for the NBA’s TV partners, as Joe Vardon of The Athletic explains. TNT and ESPN wanted nationally-televised games featuring the Pelicans during the opening week of the season to showcase Williamson. They were stuck showing the Pelicans without the top pick in the draft on the court because it was too late to make a change. Vardon goes in-depth on how the national TV schedule is designed and notes that the Lakers play 21 of their 30 nationally -televised games after New Year’s Day because the networks wanted to feature LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the team’s playoff push.
Amida Brimah, the former UConn center who was in training camp with the Pacers, has suffered a torn right ACL, Scott Agness of The Athletic tweets. He was slated to join Indiana’s G League team, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Brimah will undergo surgery next week, Agness adds.

Tilman Fertitta Never Considered Discipline For Daryl Morey

October 24th, 2019 at 9:58pm CST by clarkcrum

In the latest news on the NBA’s ongoing controversy with China, Sopan Deb of The New York Times writes that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, despite publicly distancing himself and his franchise from the now-famous tweet by general manager Daryl Morey, never considered firing or even punishing Morey.

Interestingly, however, there was no explanation as to why Fertitta began liking posts on Instagram supportive of Morey’s firing then, but Fertitta did explain why he was – and still is – not okay with Morey’s tweet.

In a written explanation, Fertitta said that he needed to initially distance the Rockets from Morey because he “felt it was important to make the distinction between Daryl speaking as a private citizen and Daryl as a representative of the Houston Rockets… (and the Rockets) have never commented on another country’s foreign policy.”

Deb notes, however, that Fertitta himself has been willing to speak on politics before without distancing the Rockets from his views. Accordingly, Fertitta was asked whether he’d be comfortable with his employees publicly voicing their political views in the future. He declined to comment.

Rockets Notes: Harden, Westbrook, Wings, Chandler

October 24th, 2019 at 1:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have faced some questions this offseason about how two high-usage players like James Harden and Russell Westbrook will complement one another. Executives, scouts, and coaches around the league are curious to see how the Rockets’ half-court offense functions when the two guards are playing together and Harden has the ball, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

“That’s the billion-dollar question,” one Western executive said.

Despite some skepticism from outside observers, it doesn’t sound like head coach Mike D’Antoni has spent many sleepless nights poring over X’s and O’s to make sure the Harden/Westbrook combo will succeed, as MacMahon writes.

“We’re not going to make it too complicated,” D’Antoni said of his backcourt. “They’re MVPs. They’ll put up MVP numbers. I don’t have to interject how smart I am. That’ll just screw it up. They’re really f—ing good.”

D’Antoni does have a tentative plan for how to stagger his two star guards though, as MacMahon details. According to the Rockets’ head coach, Harden and Westbrook will likely only share the court for about 19 minutes per game if he sticks to his plan. That approach will give the club the best chance to avoid scenarios in which neither player is on the court.

As we look forward to the Rockets’ opener tonight, let’s round up a few more notes out of Houston…

Despite concern that Gerald Green will be out for the season, the Rockets aren’t currently pursuing another wing player, per Kelly Iko and Shams Charania of The Athletic. “We don’t feel as though we’re short of wing shooters,” a team executive said. “We have multiple guys who are interesting.” According to Iko, that exec pointed to Ben McLemore and Thabo Sefolosha as two veteran offseason additions who could contribute.
McLemore will have his partial guarantee increase from $50K to $500K later today, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.
Iko reports in the same story that the Rockets discussed a trade this month that ultimately fell through. According to Iko, another team was interested in giving Houston an asset to take on a player’s contract (likely a small contract, given the Rockets’ cap and tax situation), but eventually pulled back.
Although the Rockets made some changes to their roster this summer, they brought back all of their core veteran players. That has helped Tyson Chandler make a smooth adjustment to his new team, as Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle writes. “It helps big-time because you understand your role,” Chandler said. “As a young player, you’re trying to figure yourself out. You don’t know what your role is. You’re trying to create your niche. As an older player, you already know.”

Rockets Signed, Waived Ronshad Shabazz

October 23rd, 2019 at 4:24pm CST by Luke Adams

4:24pm: Agent Cam Brennick of RBA Sports confirms to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link) that Shabazz will enter the G League draft, since the Rockets won’t hold his affiliate rights.

While Houston can’t designate Shabazz as an affiliate player, it’s probably safe to assume the Rio Grande Valley Vipers will target him in the NBAGL draft.

3:30pm: The Rockets were one of many NBA teams that signed and immediately waived a player before the regular season, doing so with undrafted rookie guard Ronshad Shabazz, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

In his senior season in 2018/19, Shabazz averaged 18.3 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 2.3 APG with a shooting line of .496/.376/.815 in 32 games (32.2 MPG).

These sign-and-waive transactions are always G League-related. They’re designed to either make a player eligible to be designated as a G League “affiliate player” or to ensure that a returning-rights G League player receives an Exhibit 10 bonus.

However, the Rockets’ deal with Shabazz was a little different than every other sign-and-waive maneuver completed this fall. Rather than signing the former Appalachian State standout to an Exhibit 10 contract, Houston inked him a two-way contract before releasing him. The moves occurred on Monday, before the club officially converted Chris Clemons‘ contract to a two-way deal.

On the surface, it looks as if the Rockets were trying to secure Shabazz’s G League rights without adding any dead money to their cap. If Shabazz had signed an Exhibit 10 contract on Monday and been cut right away, he wouldn’t have cleared waivers until the second day of the regular season, meaning the tax-conscious Rockets would have been on the hook for about $10K in dead money ($18K for tax purposes) — two days’ worth of his salary.

According to Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & Days, however, NBA teams don’t retain affiliate rights for waived two-way players. That would seem to make Shabazz ineligible to be designated as an affiliate player.

General manager Daryl Morey and the Rockets are pretty savvy with their roster moves, so it’s possible they’ve found a loophole here, or perhaps there’s another motivation for the signing. The official list of 2019 affiliate players should be released next week when G League training camps open, so we’ll see at that point whether or not Shabazz shows up on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers’ roster.

Salaries For Kenrich Williams, Others To Become Guaranteed

October 22nd, 2019 at 8:52am CST by Luke Adams

There was never any real doubt that Kenrich Williams would make the Pelicans‘ regular season roster, but doing so will give him some financial security. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Williams is one of three players who will have his salary for 2019/20 fully guaranteed today, barring any last-minute roster moves.

Williams, 24, emerged as a rotation player for the Pelicans last season, averaging 6.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 46 games (23.5 MPG). He’ll likely see regular minutes to start this season too, as New Orleans doesn’t have a ton of depth at the forward position now that Darius Miller is out for the season and Zion Williamson will miss six to eight weeks.

Williams’ $1,416,852 salary for ’19/20 had already been partially guaranteed for $200K, per Basketball Insiders’ contract data. After today, he’ll become the 14th Pelican with a fully guaranteed contract for this season, leaving Jahlil Okafor as the only player on a non-guaranteed deal.

Here are the other players who will receive salary guarantees if they remain under contract through today, per Marks:

Chris Boucher (Raptors): $125,000 partial guarantee increases to full guarantee of $1,588,231.
Malcolm Miller (Raptors): $150,000 partial guarantee increases to full guarantee of $1,588,231.
Ryan Anderson (Rockets): $250,000 partial guarantee increases to $500,000 partial guarantee (full salary is $2,564,753 with a $1,620,564 cap hit).

Lakers, Pistons Among Teams With Roster Moves Still To Make

October 21st, 2019 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

NBA teams have until 5:00pm eastern time today to set their rosters for the 2019/20 regular season. Clubs can continue to make roster moves after that deadline, but when the clock strikes five, no team will be permitted to have more than 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.

[RELATED: 2019/20 NBA Roster Counts]

Currently, there are seven teams that haven’t yet reached that regular-season limit. One of those seven teams, the Rockets, will reportedly convert Chris Clemons‘ standard contract to a two-way deal today, making official a move that was reported last Thursday.

Two other clubs will make similar moves — the Raptors and Wizards are each carrying 16 players on standard contracts but have open two-way contract slots. Toronto is expected to convert Oshae Brissett to a two-way deal, while Washington will likely do the same for Chris Chiozza.

That leaves just four teams with actual cuts to make. Here’s a breakdown of those four clubs:

Detroit Pistons (16 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): The Pistons have 14 players with fully guaranteed salaries and intend to retain Christian Wood, who is on a non-guaranteed contract. That means they’ll have to either waive Joe Johnson – their other non-guaranteed player – or find a trade that allows them to create room on the regular-season roster for Johnson.
Los Angeles Lakers (17 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): In addition to their 14 players with guaranteed salaries, the Lakers are also carrying Dwight Howard, Devontae Cacok, and Demetrius Jackson. I’d be shocked if anyone but Howard claims the 15th roster spot, but we’ll see what the team’s plans are for Cacok and Jackson. Theoretically, each of them could be converted to a two-way contract, but current two-way players Zach Norvell Jr. and/or Kostas Antetokounmpo would have to be waived in that scenario.
Minnesota Timberwolves (16 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): The Timberwolves have 15 players with guaranteed salaries, leaving Tyrone Wallace and his non-guaranteed contract as the most likely odd man out. If Minnesota decides to keep Wallace, it would need to trade or release a player with a guaranteed deal.
Utah Jazz (16 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): The Jazz have four players without fully guaranteed salaries, but two of those players – Royce O’Neale and Georges Niang – are presumably locks to stick around. Utah’s decision figures to come down to Stanton Kidd vs. William Howard. Kidd $250K partial guarantee is more substantial than Howard’s $50K, which may help give him the upper hand.

It’s possible that a few more teams will make roster changes today, but the league’s other 23 clubs are currently at or below the regular-season maximum.

Rockets Sign Michael Frazier To Two-Way Deal

October 20th, 2019 at 5:54pm CST by clarkcrum

5:54pm: The Rockets have officially signed Frazier to a two-way contract, the team announced on social media.

2:34pm: The Rockets are signing guard Michael Frazier to a two-way contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. Frazier, 25, was waived by the Rockets on Friday.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle adds that Houston had been impressed with Frazier’s work in the team’s offseason program and that he was expected to compete for a roster spot before hurting his right ankle during training camp. The Rockets had his G League rights, but did not want another team to sign him away.

Frazier was the G League’s Most Improved Player last season after posting 16.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 45 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate. He signed with the Rockets at the end of the 2018/19 season before being released earlier this week.

Frazier joins point guard Chris Clemons as Houston’s two-way players for the start of the 2019/20 season.

Raptors Waive Isaiah Taylor

October 20th, 2019 at 3:23pm CST by clarkcrum

According to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors, the Raptors have waived point guard Isaiah Taylor. As Blake Murphy of The Athletic notes, this all but means that Malcolm Miller has earned the team’s final roster spot, with Oshae Brissett‘s contract likely to be converted into a two-way deal.

As we relayed yesterday, Murphy opines that the Raptors look to be interested in re-signing Taylor to a two-way deal, where he may very well join Brissett. Both of Toronto’s two-way slots are currently open.

Taylor, 25, made his NBA debut with the Rockets during the 2016/17 season, then spent the 2017/18 campaign in Atlanta, appearing in 67 games for the Hawks. In 17.4 minutes per contest for Atlanta, he averaged 6.6 PPG and 3.1 APG.

Taylor had a $50K guarantee in his contract, so the Raptors will be on the hook for that on their 2019/20 books.

Rockets Waive Ray Spalding, Two Others

October 19th, 2019 at 11:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have waived three players in advance of the regular season, according to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston, who tweets that the team has parted ways with forward Ray Spalding, forward Matur Maker, and guard Shamorie Ponds.

Spalding was recently claimed off waivers by Houston, while Maker – the brother of Pistons big man Thon Maker – signed with the team on Friday. Ponds, an undrafted rookie out of St. John’s, spent a little more time with the franchise, appearing in five games for the Rockets’ Summer League team and three games for the club this preseason.

All three players had non-guaranteed contracts, so the Rockets’ cap won’t be affected by today’s moves.

Houston now has 16 players under contract, including one (Chris Clemons) on a two-way deal. Four of the 15 Rockets players on standard contracts don’t have fully guaranteed contracts, but all four of those players – Ryan Anderson, Gary Clark, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Ben McLemore – are ineligible for two-way contracts due to their partial guarantees or years of NBA experience. So if Houston intends to fill its second two-way slot, the team will have to look elsewhere.

Southwest Notes: Anthony, Harden, Westbrook, Belinelli, Payton

October 19th, 2019 at 9:50am CST by marksuleymanov

Carmelo Anthony has not been on an NBA roster since last November when his Rockets tenure abruptly ended after a 10-game stint. Ever since then, Anthony has been searching for one more opportunity to prolong his Hall of Fame career — which has yet to arise.

In an in-depth feature, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes examines Anthony’s situation from the day he was cut to the present. Carmelo’s story is one of a declining star who has struggled to adjust from his usual role of a primary scorer to a role player.

Holmes also spoke to several team sources who noted that Anthony’s reputation exceeded his current abilities, which put Houston in a tough situation.

Check out more Southwest Division notes:

The Rockets‘ major storyline this season will be the reunion of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, as observers keep a close eye on how the two former MVPs play together. Harden says both superstars will need to rely on each other for the team to succeed, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. “At the end of the day, we need each other,” Harden said. “This thing won’t work without each other.”
In his second tour of duty with the Rockets, Ryan Anderson, primarily known as a long-range shooter, may see significant time at center, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. “It’s definitely a role we talked about here,” Anderson said. “I think it’s something I can be really effective at. This team can play in a lot of different ways. I think center could be a good title now.”
Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton said the Pelicans were interested in bringing him back but the situation in New York fit him better, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. “They asked me to come back,’’ Payton said. “I just felt this was a better situation. It was a better fit. [The acquisition of Lonzo Ball] had no effect. I’m not afraid of competition.’’
Spurs shooting guard Marco Belinelli misses former assistant coach Ettore Messina, who left San Antonio this past summer to become the head coach of Italian team Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News writes. “For sure, I miss him. He was very happy here in San Antonio, but I am really happy for him,” Belinelli said.