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Rockets Notes: Paul, Harden, Minicamp

May 23rd, 2019 at 4:56pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Rockets prepare for a pivotal offseason, the team will have to make sure all of its most prominent figures are on the same page. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there was “something of a clash of styles” brewing during the season in Houston, as some members of the team – including Chris Paul – pushed Mike D’Antoni to include more movement in his offense.

D’Antoni and the Rockets, of course, relied heavily on James Harden‘s isolation-centric style, and those iso possessions became less efficient in the postseason.

There were some “tense moments” between Harden and Paul throughout Game 6, according to Charania, who hears from sources that the two Rockets guards had a verbal back-and-forth about ball distribution in the locker room after the game.

Charania cautions that occasional heated moments like that aren’t uncommon around the NBA, and emotions run particularly high after season-ending losses. Still, it will be interesting to see if an apparent difference in philosophies will result in any tweaks to the Rockets’ offense next season.

  • The Rockets hosted a free agent minicamp this week, and veteran guard Xavier Munford was among the participants, tweets Michael Scotto of The Athletic. Former Spurs guard Brandon Paul also attended that minicamp, per Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
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NBA Announces 2018/19 All-NBA Teams

May 23rd, 2019 at 1:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has formally announced the All-NBA First, Second, and Third Teams for the 2018/19 season, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden leading the way as the two unanimous selections for the First Team.

The full All-NBA teams are listed below, with their vote totals in parentheses. Players received five points for a First Team vote, three points for a Second Team vote, and one point for a Third Team vote, so Antetokounmpo and Harden scored a perfect 500 — First Team nods from all 100 voters.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

As we detailed in March, this year’s All-NBA selections have significant financial implications for several players. Here’s a breakdown of how several All-NBA candidates were impacted:

  • Giannis Antetokounmpo is now eligible for a super-max extension with the Bucks, which he can sign in 2020. It would start at 35% of the cap in 2021/22 and would extend his contract by five years.
  • Damian Lillard is now eligible for a super-max extension with the Trail Blazers, which he can sign in 2019. It would start at 35% of the cap in 2021/22 and would extend his contract by four years.
  • Kemba Walker is now eligible for a super-max contract with the Hornets, which he can sign in 2019. It would start at 35% of the cap in 2019/20 and would be for five years.
  • Bradley Beal, Klay Thompson, Nikola Vucevic, and other super-max candidates who didn’t earn All-NBA honors aren’t eligible for super-max contracts (or a super-max extension, in Beal’s case). Thompson’s and Vucevic’s maximum contracts this summer would start at 30% of the cap.
  • Karl-Anthony Towns‘ extension with the Timberwolves, which goes into effect in 2019/20, will start at 25% of the cap, rather than 30%, because he didn’t earn All-NBA honors.

Beal and Thompson received the most All-NBA votes of any guards who missed out on the All-NBA teams, receiving 34 and 27 points respectively. Sixers guard Ben Simmons got seven points, while no other guards had more than four.

LaMarcus Aldridge (Spurs) and Danilo Gallinari (Clippers) were the runners-up at forward, receiving 17 and seven points, respectively. Pascal Siakam (Raptors) had four points, while no other forwards had more than three.

At center, Towns received 20 points, followed by Vucevic at four and Pistons center Andre Drummond with three.

Interestingly, the 15 players named to the All-NBA teams for 2018/19 were the same 15 players that Hoops Rumors readers voted for in our end-of-season All-NBA polls last month. The only differences were George swapping places with Durant and Irving flipping spots with Westbrook.

The full and official All-NBA voting results can be found right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Suns Notes: Collison, Conley, Davis, Williams

May 22nd, 2019 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Darren Collison may be the most realistic solution to the Suns‘ point guard problem, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. An unrestricted free agent, Collison spent the past two seasons with the Pacers, averaging 11.9 points and 5.3 assists per game during his time there.

He pushes the ball up court quickly, runs the pick-and-roll well, and is an above average defender, all things Phoenix needs from that position, Rankin states. The Suns should have enough cap room to make an attractive offer to Collison, who earned $10MM this season, and they have a connection, as Collison played for new VP of basketball operations Jeff Bower during his rookie season in New Orleans.

Phoenix could also pursue a couple of high-priced point guards if it wants to take a win-now approach, Rankin notes. The Grizzlies’ Mike Conley is expected to return to the trade market now that his team is in position to draft Ja Morant, while the Rockets may be willing to part with Chris Paul to get out from under his salary commitment.

There’s more tonight from Phoenix:

  • The Suns could also try to get involved in the pursuit of Pelicans star Anthony Davis, Rankin adds in the same piece. He speculates they could offer Deandre Ayton and the No. 6 pick, along with T.J. Warren, Josh Jackson and Tyler Johnson to help match salaries. While Davis is no lock to re-sign in Phoenix, Rankin thinks it might be worth the risk to prove the organization is serious about winning and to give Davis a chance to develop a rapport with Devin Booker.
  • Monty Williams considered staying out of coaching to care for his family, but his children insisted he give it another try, relays Kevin Zimmerman of Arizona Sports. At his introductory press conference Tuesday, the Suns’ new head coach explained what brought him back to the game after his wife’s tragic death in 2016. “My oldest daughter kind of read me the riot act one day about getting back into coaching,” Williams said. “And then I had a conversation with (Spurs GM) R.C. Buford one day … R.C. looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Your kids won’t be happy if you don’t get back into coaching.’ Those two episodes really pushed me back into the mode of doing what I do well.”
  • The reputation Phoenix has as a bad basketball city is an impediment to adding free agents, says Michelle Gardner of The Arizona Republic. Phoenix finished 27th in a recent “Best Cities for Basketball” survey and ranked next to last in attendance this season.
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NBA Announces 2018/19 All-Defensive Teams

May 22nd, 2019 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2018/19 season, with Jazz center Rudy Gobert once again coming in as the leading vote-getter.

Gobert, a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, was listed on 99 of 100 ballots, with 97 of those ballots giving him a First Team vote, for a total of 196 points (two points per First Team vote; one point per Second Team vote). The All-Defensive nod ensures that the big man receives a $500K bonus, which had been considered likely since he was named to an All-Defensive team last season, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Gobert was closely followed by fellow Defensive Player of the Year candidates Paul George (Thunder) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), who received 195 and 193 total points, respectively.

[RELATED: NBA Announces 2018/19 All-Rookie Teams]

Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday secured a $100K bonus by earning a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team, notes Marks (via Twitter). Like Davis, he was an All-Defensive player last season as well, so that bonus had been considered likely — his cap hits for this year or next won’t be impacted by him earning it.

Here are the full voting results for the All-Defensive First and Second Teams, with each player’s point total noted in parentheses:

First Team:

Second Team:

Raptors guard Danny Green actually totaled 66 points, including 19 First Team votes, while Clippers guard Patrick Beverley had 48 points (14 First Team votes). However, All-Defensive teams are determined by position, so they didn’t make the cut because they ranked fifth and sixth in voting among guards.

Pacers center Myles Turner (39 points), Rockets forward P.J. Tucker (38), Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (24), and Spurs guard Derrick White (15) were the other leading vote-getters.

You can find the full voting results right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Rockets Open Extension Talks With Mike D’Antoni

May 19th, 2019 at 8:44pm CST by JD Shaw

The Rockets and head coach Mike D’Antoni have held preliminary discussions on a contract extension that would keep D’Antoni from entering the final season of his deal, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

“I’ve let (GM) Daryl (Morey) and (owner) Tilman (Fertitta) know that I’m energized to keep coaching — and believe that I can continue to do this at a high-level for at least another three years,” D’Antoni told ESPN. “I want be part of a championship here.”

D’Antoni is entering the fourth and final year of a $16MM contract he signed with the team back in the summer of 2016. He’s guided the Rockets to deep runs in each of his three seasons as coach, accruing a 173-73 record over that span.

For Houston, it’s unclear how much of a commitment the team would make to D’Antoni in a potential extension, Wojnarowski notes. He is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year.

D’Antoni has held head coaching stints with Denver, Phoenix, New York, the L.A. Lakers and Houston across 15 seasons. The Rockets made it to the Western Conference Semifinals earlier this month but lost to the Warriors in six games, a disappointing end to the campaign.

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Bulls Notes: Bzdelik, Adams, Draft, Dunn

May 18th, 2019 at 7:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Former Rockets assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik could be a candidate to join Jim Boylen’s staff in Chicago, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. The Rockets decided not to pursue a new contract with Bzdelik, who is considered the architect of the defense in Houston. He briefly retired from the game last fall before rejoining the Rockets in November.

The Bulls interviewed Bzdelik for an assistant’s job in 2002 and were interested in hiring him before he joined the Nuggets. He also interviewed with executive vice president John Paxson for Chicago’s head coaching position in 2008. Bzdelik hasn’t decided if he wants to keep coaching next season, but Johnson notes that the Bulls still have an opening to fill.

There’s more today from Chicago:

  • Mark Adams, an assistant at Texas Tech and a long-time friend of Boylen’s, had discussions about coming to the Bulls but decided to remain in Lubbock, tweets Jeff Goodman of Stadium.
  • The Bulls are looking at Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver, Duke’s Cam Reddish and North Carolina’s Coby White as possibilities in next month’s draft, Johnson writes in a full story. Paxson said after the lottery that he is open to all possibilities with the No. 7 pick, including a trade. If the Bulls keep their selection, they could choose a defensive upgrade in Culver, a shooting specialist in Reddish or address a position of need by taking White. “I’m a point guard,” White said when asked where he projects himself in the NBA. “Put the ball in my hands.”
  • The Bulls may opt to give Kris Dunn another chance rather than chase a crop of free agent point guards that isn’t outstanding, speculates Sam Smith of NBA.com. Dunn only established himself as a scorer occasionally under coach Fred Hoiberg and he never gained the trust of Boylen once he took over the team, Smith adds. However, with D’Angelo Russell and Terry Rozier both being restricted free agents — and Ricky Rubio and Darren Collison as realistic alternatives — Chicago may decide to spend its free agent money elsewhere.
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Rockets Part Ways With Jeff Bzdelik

May 18th, 2019 at 3:59pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Rockets associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik has been let go by the organization, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Houston technically took no action, as Bzdelik’s contract expired at the end of this past season. The coach has been with the Rockets since 2016, though he had been publicly noncommittal about his future with the club over the past year.

Bzdelik, who has a background in scouting in addition to coaching, has previously been an assistant in Denver, Memphis, and Washington. He also spent several seasons in the college ranks as a head coach at Air Force, Colorado, and Wake Forest.

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Frontcourt Playmaker Should Be Priority

May 17th, 2019 at 9:18pm CST by Luke Adams
  • In the view of Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer, the Rockets‘ biggest offseason priority should be adding a frontcourt player who is capable of creating shots and offense.
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Rockets Rumors: D’Antoni, Luxury Tax, Gordon

May 17th, 2019 at 12:30pm CST by Luke Adams

After promising in the wake of the Rockets‘ elimination from the postseason last weekend to upgrade the team’s roster this summer, owner Tilman Fertitta addressed the upcoming offseason more extensively in a conversation with Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle this week.

Before digging into Houston’s roster or offseason plans, Fertitta made it clear that Mike D’Antoni will return for the 2019/20 season, which will represent the last year of his four-year contract with the club. Typically, an NBA team will sign its head coach to an extension rather than let him enter the final year of his deal as a “lame duck.” Fertitta tells Feigen that while he’s not beholden to that concept, he’s certainly not opposed to the idea and plans to meet with D’Antoni in the coming weeks.

“He’s not a lame duck to me. That’s just a media term. That’s just a media buzzword,” Fertitta said. “Mike is going to be 69 years old (next May) and Mike doesn’t know totally what he wants to do, yet. We’ll sit down with Mike in the next few weeks and talk with him.

“We’re more concerned with making our team better next year. Mike will be here. I like Mike. I think he’s a very good coach. Players like playing for him. I keep being told, free agents want to know who the owner is and they want to know who the coach is. Mike and I do well together. Hopefully, we’ll continue to win and Mike will be here for a long time.”

Here’s more from Fertitta on the Rockets:

  • While Fertitta indicates that he’d welcome back the Rockets’ starting lineup, he’s also open to a more “dramatic retooling” and likely won’t enter the offseason with a run-it-back mentality, writes Feigen. “I’ve directed my people to get better next year — anything we can do, from ownership to conditioning and training, all the way to that level,” Fertitta said. “If we can make our team better player-wise, we’re going to make our team better. If we can make our team better coaching-wise, we’ll make our team better.”
  • Fertitta made it clear that he has high expectations for the franchise: “We’re here to win. We’re not here to be just OK and make it to the playoffs. We’re going to do whatever it takes to be a championship style team every year. I will make moves to always extend our runway. I’m not a rebuilding guy to go collapse for three years to get draft picks. I want to keep us at as high a level as we can. I have a good management team. We’re in the City of Houston, which is soon to be the third-largest city in the United States so we should always attract our good share of free agents.”
  • The Rockets’ owner strongly pushed back against the idea that he directed the team to get out of luxury-tax territory in 2018/19, calling it an “accident” and telling Feigen that he’s “still trying to figure out” how they got under the tax line. “I spend more money on little things than anybody else,” Fertitta said. “I just bought us a brand-new 767 that we’re re-fitting right now. Everybody else just rents planes. I want our players on our plane. And it’s not a 757; it’s a 767. Anybody can have an opinion. You can say I’m a lousy owner. But don’t make a statement when you don’t have any (…) idea what you’re talking about.” Despite Fertitta’s fervent denials, it’s hard to see why the Rockets’ front office would make multiple cost-cutting moves if team ownership was entirely unconcerned with ending up in the tax.
  • Fertitta would have interest in signing Eric Gordon to a long-term extension this summer, Feigen writes.
  • More from Fertitta on his vision for the organization, via Feigen: “I want us to be tough. I never want to be soft. I don’t like soft ownership and I don’t like soft teams. That’s not my culture. I do want my players scrambling for a loose ball. I’ll set a hard pick in business. I’ll scramble on the floor for a ball in business. I expect them to do it on the court. I’m not saying they don’t. I have a very hard-playing team. But we’re never going to be soft.”
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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Houston Rockets

May 16th, 2019 at 10:00am CST by Luke Adams

After an early-season slump that was widely attributed to the loss of key role players during the 2018 offseason, the Rockets bounced back in a big way, adding new contributors to the rotation and roaring into the postseason with a ton of momentum. For a second straight year, however, Houston saw its momentum halted in the playoffs by the Warriors, sending Daryl Morey and the front office back to the drawing board.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Rockets financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • Nene ($3,825,360)
  • Total: $3,825,360

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Restricted Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000

Offseason Cap Outlook

  • Realistic cap room projection: $0
  • The Rockets won’t be in position to create cap room this summer. They’re more likely to end up over the tax line rather than below the cap, unless they fill out the back half of their roster on the cheap.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Trade exception: $1,544,951 (expires 8/2/19)
  • Trade exception: $2,584,136 (expires 9/2/19)
  • Trade exception: $955,172 (expires 1/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 1/22/20)
  • Trade exception: $3,620,016 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $3,206,160 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,621,415 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,544,951 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,711,000 5

Footnotes

  1. This is a projected value.
  2. Hartenstein’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 15.
  3. The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap, but their cap holds do during the offseason.
  4. The cap holds for Black, Johnson, and Brown remain on the Rockets’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
  5. This is a projected value. If the Rockets stay below the tax apron, they’d instead have access to the full mid-level exception ($9,246,000) and the bi-annual exception ($3,619,000).

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

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

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