Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Anthony, Jokic

November 9th, 2018 at 7:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Donovan Mitchell‘s emergence as a potential superstar allowed the Jazz to quickly move on from the loss of Gordon Hayward in free agency, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN examines in a post on Hayward’s return to Utah on Friday. Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey and coach Quin Snyder felt they could retool the roster and become a playoff contender again but had no idea Mitchell would emerge as a franchise player in his rookie year, Wojnarowski continues. Mitchell provides the Jazz with a selling point to recruit another star in free agency and he’s well on his way to a max contract extension in 2020, Wojnarowski adds.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

Carmelo Anthony‘s season with the Thunder was a humbling experience, a high-ranking Rockets official told Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Anthony bristled at the thought of coming off the bench with OKC but is now at least tolerating a second-unit role with Houston. “Last year, I didn’t know what to expect coming into the situation,” Anthony told MacMahon. “It’s different when you’re clear on what is needed to be done or what you have to do or what’s needed of you. It’s a big difference.”
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was fined $25K for using “derogatory and offensive language” when discussing Bulls rookie center Wendell Carter, Sean Highkin of Dime Magazine tweets. Jokic made the comment after Denver’s 108-107 overtime victory on Wednesday.
Floor spacing, 3-point shooting and defensive intensity have been areas of concern for the Jazz. The Thunder continue to deal with outside shooting woes. David Yapkowitz of Basketball Insiders takes a closer look at issues involving each Northwest club.

Rockets Counting On Bzdelik To Fix Defense

November 7th, 2018 at 6:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets opted to keep the same defensive philosophy as last season despite a change in personnel and are bringing back associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik to try to make it work, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Bzdelik, who installed the switching-heavy approach that took Houston to within a game of the NBA Finals, announced his retirement shortly before the start of training camp. However, team officials convinced him to return and he plans to rejoin the Rockets at the end of this month.

No Jimmy Butler Resolution Appears Imminent

November 7th, 2018 at 11:56am CST by Luke Adams

No resolution appears imminent on the Jimmy Butler front, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports that the Timberwolves “never” showed any willingness to accept the Rockets‘ previously reported offer of Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss, and four first-round draft picks. Accepting a package that featured a pair of probable non-rotation players and a handful of picks with uncertain conditions was a “non-starter” for Tom Thibodeau, league sources tell Charania. Charania also reaffirms something we’ve heard within the last week or two, writing that there’s a belief around the NBA that the Heat and/or Sixers could re-engage the Timberwolves at some point on Butler.

Jeff Bzdelik Returning To Rockets

November 5th, 2018 at 11:13am CST by Arthur Hill

Rockets associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik plans to end his brief retirement and return to the team, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Bzdelik had spent two seasons in Houston and was the architect of a defense that has fallen on hard times since he left.

Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston spoke to team owner Tilman Fertitta, who confirmed that Bzdelik will be returning (Twitter link).

“We’re excited to have Jeff back,” Fertitta said. “He’s one of the great defensive coaches.We worked on him and I think the team is excited to get him back.” (Twitter link)

Bzdelik left the team shortly before the start of training camp in September, citing family issues that he needed to resolve. Those issues have been taken care of, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, leaving Bzdelik free to resume coaching (Twitter link).

It could be another seven to 10 days before Bzdelik actually rejoins the team, Feigen adds (Twitter link), but he notes the decision wasn’t related to the Rockets’ disappointing start and that Fertitta made frequent calls to try to bring him back.

After posting the best record in the league last season, Houston stumbled to a 1-5 start, with defense being a major issue. The performance was better in a pair of wins in Brooklyn and Chicago, but the team will still be happy to have its defensive specialist back on the sidelines.

Suns Working On Buyout With Tyson Chandler

November 3rd, 2018 at 4:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

5:24pm: Chandler’s frustrations with the Suns have been growing over the years, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). He was angry about losing and being shut down early, playing just 47 and 46 games the past two seasons. Before zeroing in on the Lakers, Chandler had also expressed interest in joining the Wizards, Warriors or Rockets.

4:52pm: The Suns are negotiating a buyout with 36-year-old center Tyson Chandler, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times, and the Lakers are his likely destination once he clears waivers (Twitter link).

After being used primarily as a starter since coming to Phoenix in 2015, Chandler has slipped into a reserve role this season behind No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton. He has averaged 12.7 minutes per night in seven games and doesn’t fit in with the Suns’ youth movement. Chandler is making $13.6MM in the final season of a four-year, $52MM contract.

He could become a defensive anchor for the Lakers, who don’t have much depth at center behind starter JaVale McGee. Chandler is a native of Los Angeles, Stein notes, and his salary will likely discourage any other team from making a waiver claim.

He and the Suns have had a standing buyout agreement in place for a while, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Chandler wanted to be sure another team would pick him up before finalizing the deal, and he found a taker in L.A. It explains why the Lakers didn’t make a stronger effort during the offseason to sign another center, adds ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).

Rockets Aggressively Pursuing Butler Deal

November 2nd, 2018 at 8:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets have put together numerous packages in an attempt to acquire Timberwolves swingman Jimmy Butler but Minnesota coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau has taken a hard and somewhat confusing stance on all potential deals, Kelly Iko of The Athletic reports.

Houston is intent on prying Butler away from the Timberwolves to strengthen its porous defense and give it another special talent to combat the star-powered Warriors. Minnesota is intent on dumping Gorgui Dieng‘s four-year, $62.8MM contract, which still has two more fully guaranteed years remaining, in any deal involving Butler, Iko continues. In general, the Timberwolves are treating negotiations as if they were dealing a difference-maker locked into a long-term contract rather than one who wants out and can opt out after the season.

With the Rockets already dealing with luxury-tax issues, absorbing Dieng’s contract would be virtually impossible. In the earlier stages of negotiations, the Rockets made inquiries to as many as six teams in the hope of involving a third party to facilitate a deal but failed to find a partner, according to Iko.

That’s when the Rockets decided to offer up to four future first-round picks for Butler, in all likelihood their first-rounders in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025. The reasoning behind that was to entice the Timberwolves to make the deal without Dieng.

The proposal would have allowed Minnesota to pursue a separate deal packaging Dieng and a pick or two to shed his salary. Even though it was willing to mortgage the future in a bid to win the title this season, Houston wasn’t confident that reported offer would get Thibodeau to soften his stance, Iko adds.

The Rockets have a couple of minor trade exceptions — one for $1.545MM and another for $2.85MM — but nothing substantial to help absorb the approximate $35.5MM in combined salaries of Butler and Dieng.

Lawrence: Thibodeau Views Knight, Chriss As 'Dead Weight'

November 2nd, 2018 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves didn’t show much interest in the Rockets‘ trade offer for Jimmy Butler that featured four first-round picks along with Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss, Mitch Lawrence of The Sporting News confirms. According to Lawrence, Tom Thibodeau views Knight and Chriss as “dead weight” and would prefer a deal that includes Eric Gordon and/or P.J. Tucker.

Texas Notes: Rockets, Nowitzki, DeRozan, Murray

November 1st, 2018 at 9:24pm CST by JD Shaw

The Rockets have opened the 2018/19 season with a 1-5 record, struggling to get in a rhythm offensively and playing lackadaisical defense. They’ve dropped games to the Pelicans, Jazz, Blazers, and two separate contests against the Clippers, with their only win coming against the new-look Lakers.

“Right now, we’re playing like crap,” coach Mike D’Antoni said, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “We’re just not playing well. You know, I don’t have a whole lot of answers for you now. We’ll look, and we’ll fight it.”

The Rockets took the Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference Finals last spring, finishing with a 65-17 record and cementing themselves as the second best team in the association. Some of their struggles this season could be blamed on Chris Paul‘s suspension or James Harden‘s hamstring injury, but the losses of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in free agency have also hurt.

“We’ve lost our swagger and we’re on our heels,” D’Antoni said.

The Rockets’ upcoming schedule has them playing five straight road games, including contests in Brooklyn this Friday, Chicago on Saturday, and Indiana on Monday.

Here are some other notes out of Texas tonight:

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is expected to be sidelined for weeks as he continues his rehab from left ankle surgery, according to Dwain Price of Mavs.com. “We’re still looking at weeks at this point,” Nowitzki said.“I haven’t even started running on the court, I haven’t even started running quick on the treadmill. I’ve just been slowly jogging and seeing how the foot reacts. Unfortunately we’re still talking weeks over days.” Nowitzki underwent surgery in April and hasn’t gone through a full practice session this season.
Michael C. Wright of ESPN examines how DeMar DeRozan dealt with being traded and embraced the Spurs, who currently have a 5-2 record on the season. “It took a while for me to get back in that happy place,” DeRozan said, “where I didn’t care about much in the sense of like, ‘Just be happy, man. Just be yourself. Don’t worry about all that other stuff.’
Gregg Popovich plans to use Dejounte Murray in a coaching role on the bench this season, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News writes. The idea, according to Popovich, is to make Murray learn and feel part of the group instead of sitting alone in the locker room during games. Murray suffered a torn ACL in the Spurs’ preseason.

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/1/18

November 1st, 2018 at 6:26pm CST by JD Shaw

Here are Thursday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

The Rockets have assigned center Zhou Qi to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Qi, 22, saw one minute of action in the team’s game against Portland on Tuesday. He appeared in 18 contests with the Rockets last season.
The 76ers recalled rookie center Jonah Bolden from the Delaware Blue Coats, the club announced (Twitter link). Bolden is in uniform for the Sixers’ game against the Clippers Thursday night. He was drafted by Philadelphia with the No. 36 pick in 2017, then signed a four-year deal with the club this summer after playing with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Rockets Among Front-Runners For Butler

October 31st, 2018 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Despite being mentioned as a possible candidate in the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes, the Mavericks have no interest in trying to acquire the star forward from the Timberwolves, tweets Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. He lists the Rockets, Sixers and Heat as the top candidates, in that order, and states that the Lakers may make a strong bid as well.
No team has gotten off to a more disappointing start than the Rockets, who went from the league’s best record last year to one of the worst over the first two weeks of this season. Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post examines what has gone wrong in Houston and wonders whether the team was too focused on saving money this offseason. Bontemps agrees that it made financial sense to let Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute leave in free agency, especially considering the luxury tax implications of keeping them, but he questions why the Rockets didn’t use any of their mid-level exception and why they dealt Ryan Anderson for Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss, who may both struggle to get playing time.