Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets Notes: Porter, Silas, Christopher, Brooks

February 26th, 2022 at 9:46pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets‘ young backcourt hasn’t produced many wins this season, but Kevin Porter Jr. believes he and Jalen Green have a bright future, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Porter is in his first full season as a point guard after learning the position after being acquired from the Cavaliers last year. Green, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft, has endured an up-and-down rookie season, but has been producing points lately at a much more efficient rate.

“We need momentum going into next year,” Porter said. “Finishing off the season — not even (for) next year — finishing off the season, we want to finish the right way. … We want to take it real serious and try to win each and every game. We’re going to try to jell, me and J’s chemistry on the court, because next year we’ve got to be scary. We’re going to be scary.”

Porter had to leave Friday’s game at Orlando after rolling his left ankle in the third quarter, but coach Stephen Silas said it’s just a routine sprain, according to Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle. Porter was held out of practice today to receive treatment and will be a game-time decision on Sunday.

There’s more on the Rockets:

With his team well out of the playoff race, Silas will focus on improving the defense over the rest of the regular season, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Rockets rank 29th in the league in points allowed in the paint and are the worst in the league by far in that statistic since the start of January. “I might try a few new things,” Silas said. “But it has been the rim, the restricted area, where teams are getting to the restricted area and shooting 60-something percent at the rim. So our rim protection has to be better, which means our bigger guys are lower and closer to the rim. That’s something that I’m going to be be toying around with.”
One pleasant surprise this season has been the emergence of rookie guard Josh Christopher, Iko adds. Even though Christopher only plays 16.5 minutes per night, the Rockets have been 5.8 points better when he’s on the court. Iko sees him developing into a valuable role player in Houston, possibly as a smaller version of Danuel House.
Armoni Brooks, who was waived to accommodate a three-for-one trade with the Celtics at the deadline, has joined the College Park Skyhawks in the G League, Iko tweets. He adds that Brooks declined several two-way contract offers and may still have a future with the Rockets.

Dennis Schröder, Rockets Not Pursuing Buyout Agreement

February 22nd, 2022 at 2:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran point guard Dennis Schröder is on track to finish the 2021/22 season with the Rockets, reports Marc Stein (via Twitter). According to Stein, neither the player nor the team is pushing for a buyout.

Schröder, who signed a one-year deal with the Celtics last summer, was sent from Boston to Houston as the trade deadline in a four-player swap involving Daniel Theis. Given that the Rockets – who are 15-43 and rank last in the Western Conference – are out of the playoff race and immediately waived another veteran involved in that deal (Enes Freedom), there was speculation that a buyout for Schröder could be in the cards.

However, shortly after the trade deadline passed, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone spoke enthusiastically about Schröder’s potential role in Houston, and the 28-year-old showed right away that he could provide value, putting up 23 points and nine assists in Phoenix in his second game as a Rocket. Perhaps more importantly, he seems to be a good fit alongside rookies Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, both on and off the court.

Assuming he finishes the season in Houston as planned, Schröder will reach unrestricted free agency again this summer, at which point the Rockets would hold his Non-Bird rights.

Goran Dragic and Tristan Thompson have been the biggest names to hit the buyout market so far, and it’s possible more veterans will join them by March 1. But there has been no indication that any agreements are imminent, so many of this season’s top buyout candidates could – like Schröder – end up finishing the season with their current teams.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Pelinka, Rich Paul, Westbrook

February 22nd, 2022 at 12:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

LeBron James‘ comments during All-Star Weekend sent a strong message to the Lakers that they need to improve quickly, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. James, who is under contract for just one more season, hinted at a possible return to Cleveland and said he wants to play the final season of his career for whichever team drafts his son, Bronny. He also heaped praise on Thunder general manager Sam Presti for his ability to identify talent, leaving an unspoken contrast with Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, who James and Klutch Sports are reportedly upset with for standing pat at the trade deadline.

Woike states that all the young All-Stars on display in Sunday’s game were a reminder that many teams have surpassed the Lakers when it comes to the level of talent on their rosters. He suggests that unless Pelinka can strike gold with more minimum-salary signings this summer, like he did with Malik Monk, James won’t show much patience when he hits free agency.

There’s more on the Lakers:

Rich Paul, who runs Klutch Sports, told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on Monday that he never urged Pelinka to trade Russell Westbrook and a future first-round pick to the Rockets for John Wall (hat tip to Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll). Wall, a Klutch client who hasn’t played this season under a mutual agreement with Houston’s management, has a $44.3MM contract that matches up with Westbrook’s salary. According to Smith, Paul called the report a “damn lie” and said, “There is no truth. It never happened.”
L.A. probably won’t find a much better market for a Westbrook deal this summer, per Marc Stein of Substack. Westbrook will have a $47MM expiring contract once he exercises his option for next season, and Stein doesn’t expect the offers to be better than Wall’s expiring deal or a collection of bad contracts from the Knicks.
There’s no willingness among the leaders of the Lakers’ organization to accept responsibility for the decisions that led to this year’s downfall, observes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Front office members have taken turns denying their role in the decision to trade for Westbrook, Goon adds, and James has deflected his own involvement in the move.

Texas Notes: Green, Rockets, Schröder, Luka, Dragic

February 20th, 2022 at 1:57pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After a relatively lackluster showing in a relatively lackluster AT&T Slam Dunk Contest this weekend, Rockets rookie shooting guard Jalen Green is hoping to get another crack at the competition in the years to come, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

“I for sure need a run-back,” Green said. “I messed up.”

In one of the stranger moments of the evening, Green handed Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas, a judge for the contest, a necklace holding a cell phone displaying an NFT, then went on to botch his first eight dunk attempts before finally converting his ninth look, a slick windmill whose impact had been diluted, given that he failed to convert it earlier. Green was quickly eliminated.

There’s more out of the Lone Star State:

The rebuilding Rockets boast several solid prospects, to the point that the NBA has taken notice, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Rookies Green, Alperen Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate all were honored with selections to the Rising Stars Game on Friday at All-Star Weekend, and Green made an aforementioned (ill-fated) appearance in the Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday. “We are having a difficult season,” Sengun said. “We lost a bunch of games. I’ve learned how to stay focused during those lost games. I got a lot of experience.” At 15-43, the Rockets aren’t on track to qualify for the playoffs this season.
New Rockets reserve point guard Dennis Schröder is bringing his veteran experience and playoff pedigree to bear for a developing young Houston club, opines Kelly Iko of The Athletic. With John Wall inactive, Schröder has helped the Rockets with his speed and his defensive assertiveness, according to Houston head coach Stephen Silas. “(Schröder) adds to our depth, our guard rotation,” the head coach said. “There was actually a point [during the Rockets’ 124-121 loss to the Suns on Thursday that] I tried to take him out of the game, and he was like, ‘Just leave me in, let me see if we can get back into it.’ I like that competitiveness about him.”
Mavericks All-Star point guard Luka Doncic confirmed that he would enjoy playing with his countryman Goran Dragic, currently a free agent garnering plenty of buzz on the buyout market, but said he’s not pressing the Dallas front office to make a deal with the veteran point guard, writes Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News.

Adam Silver Says Sixers Aren’t Being Investigated For Tampering In Harden Trade

February 19th, 2022 at 8:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

There were some complaints around the league regarding the circumstances that led to the Sixers’ trade for James Harden, but the team isn’t under investigation for tampering, writes Joe Varden of The Athletic.

Some executives in rival front offices considered asking for tampering charges based on suspicions that Philadelphia was talking to Harden about signing in the offseason if a trade with the Nets couldn’t be completed, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported recently. Harden has a close relationship with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and chief executive officer Tad Brown from his time in Houston, and he’s a friend of co-owner Michael Rubin.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the situation tonight during his annual All-Star Weekend press conference and confirmed that no investigation is being conducted.

“It’s no secret that I’ve expressed my unhappiness with public trade demands,” Silver said. “I think you’re dealing with a situation where you have players with literally a unique skill on the planet, and that’s always going to give them leverage. And you have teams with leverage. … I mean there may be tools that we can think of to create stronger incentives for players to comply with those agreements, but there’s no silver bullet here, that we’re going to go in and collectively bargain and say, ‘now we fix this problem.’”

Silver touched on numerous other topics during the media session:

He continues to express optimism about an in-season tournament, saying the play-in tourney has helped build momentum for change, Varden adds. “In some ways, the players have been more receptive to the possibility of an in-season tournament because the play-in has been a bit more successful,” Silver said.
Silver expressed concern about the situation involving Rockets guard John Wall, saying, “Of course I think it’s a problem when players are paid not to play,” tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Wall hasn’t played at all this season under a mutual agreement with the rebuilding team.
With COVID-19 regulations easing around the country, Silver hopes a resolution can be reached involving the New York City vaccine mandate that has prevented Nets guard Kyrie Irving from playing in home games, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
Silver confirmed that the investigation into the Suns organization and owner Robert Sarver is still ongoing, but didn’t offer any updates, according to Bontemps (Twitter link).
Silver said no regular-season games will be played in Europe next year, but some teams may travel there during the preseason, Bontemps adds (via Twitter).
The halftime ceremony for Sunday’s All-Star Game will honor the 75th anniversary team, and Silver expects about 50 of the 61 living members to be on hand, tweets Marc Stein of Substack.

And-Ones: Mock Draft, Ownership, Offseason Outlook, Upgrades

February 17th, 2022 at 10:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons could wind up with the No. 1 overall pick for the second straight year. In Chad Ford’s Mock Draft 2.0, they’ll take Auburn freshman forward Jabari Smith with the first pick. According to Ford’s sources, Detroit GM Troy Weaver would love to pair up Cade Cunningham with Smith. Ford throws a curveball with the second pick, with the Magic selecting Purdue wing Jaden Ivey. That leaves Gonzaga big man Chet Holmgren for the taking at No. 3, where the Rockets snap him up.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Private equity firms have increasingly become a force in NBA ownership, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic notes. Private equity firms have purchased stakes in five teams, and their influence will continue to increase as the value of franchises continues to climb.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks not only takes a look at potential buyout candidates this month, he also turns his attention to the offseason, breaking down the free agent class, teams with significant cap space and significant players eligible for extensions. Regarding cap space, he notes that the Pacers and Trail Blazers have moved onto the list due to their trades. The Pistons, Magic and Spurs were already projected to have cap space.
The Nets, Sixers and Celtics did the most to upgrade their 2021/22 rosters before the trade deadline, according to The Athletic’s Seth Partnow. The Bucks, Jazz and Suns made slight alterations that could help them in the postseason, in Partnow’s evaluation.

Schröder Helping Young Rockets Already

February 17th, 2022 at 2:31pm CST by Rory Maher

Dennis Schröder has already shown how he can help the Rockets after just two games with his new club, writes Rahat Huq of The Houston Chronicle. Schröder started in place of the sick Kevin Porter Jr. Wednesday night and put up 23 points, six rebounds, and nine assists in 38 minutes in Houston’s 124-121 loss to Phoenix. Huq believes that Schröder’s addition will be beneficial for rookies Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, who had nice games of their own with the German point guard running the show. However, he’s concerned that Schröder might hurt the development of Josh Christopher, who has been a regular member of the team’s rotation over the past few months and played just nine and 11 minutes the past two games. Huq also thinks if Schröder plays too much he could help add a few wins, which would be detrimental to the team’s lottery odds.

Texas Notes: Porzingis, Popovich, Dragic, Nix

February 16th, 2022 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Mavericks decided to trade Kristaps Porzingis to the Wizards last week because they determined he couldn’t be an effective second star with Luka Doncic, Tim Cato of The Athletic states in a discussion of the deal. Porzingis was in his third season in Dallas, and all three had been disrupted by injuries, leading to concerns about whether he would ever be reliable to stay on the court. The Mavs are 13-9 in the games he has missed this season, so the front office felt it was safe to move on from his contract.

Cato is skeptical about Dallas’ return in the deal, although he says Spencer Dinwiddie will be a welcome addition for a team that has trouble driving to the basket and the Mavericks believe Davis Bertans is a better defender than his reputation would suggest. They plan to use him in larger lineups where his lack of rebounding will be less important.

There’s more NBA news from Texas:

The Spurs are focused on making the play-in tournament and reaching the playoffs, even though their 22-36 record indicates that they might be better off maximizing their first-round draft pick, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express News. Dejounte Murray and Devin Vassell both talked last weekend about the importance of getting to the postseason, and coach Gregg Popovich repeated that message on Monday. “If you put yourself in the situation, more as a coach than any other position in the organization, besides players, you can’t go to your team and ask them to lose,” Popovich said. “You can’t do that. It’s an impossibility for all of the logical reasons you can think of on your own. So, you go play your best, you keep teaching, you keep doing what you do. And if you lose and wind up with a high draft pick, well, you accept it and you are glad you got a high draft pick. But it can’t be because you didn’t push them or teach them or demand from them.”
Goran Dragic gave up $819,835 in his buyout agreement with the Spurs, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. The amount is equal to a 54-day minimum-salary contract for Dragic, so he’ll make up roughly all that money once he signs with a new team.
The Rockets used part of their mid-level exception to sign rookie guard Daishen Nix to a four-year contract, according to Smith (Twitter link). Nix will make $612K for the rest of this season and $1,563,518 in 2022/23. The final two years of the deal are non-guaranteed at $1,836,096 and $1,988,598, and the last season is also a team option.

Celtics Notes: Smart, Theis, Hauser, Open Roster Spots

February 16th, 2022 at 8:31am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics blew out the rival 76ers on Tuesday by a score of 135-87 and now have the best net rating (+5.5) of any team in the Eastern Conference. Currently the No. 6 seed in the East, Boston is just 3.5 games back of the first-place Heat and Bulls.

However, Tuesday’s resounding win was marred slightly by the departure of Marcus Smart, who didn’t return to the game after spraining his right ankle in the second quarter, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

The Celtics are assessing the severity of the injury today, but head coach Ime Udoka said on Tuesday night that Smart “rolled his ankle pretty bad,” so it seems unlikely we’ll see him back on the court on Wednesday in the team’s last game before the All-Star break.

“We’ll check him out tonight, obviously tomorrow, see how he feels,” Udoka said after the win, per Bontemps. “Didn’t look very good walking out, but we’ll see.”

Here’s more on the Celtics:

Speaking to reporters after being traded back to the Celtics following a brief stint with the Rockets, center Daniel Theis said it feels good to be back in a familiar spot. “I wouldn’t say (I was) shocked,” Theis said (Twitter link via Jared Weiss of The Athletic). “I was kind of relieved, happy. Houston just didn’t work out for me as I planned it. If I could’ve been traded, I wanted it to be here.”
Sam Hauser‘s new contract with the Celtics is a minimum-salary deal that covers next season as well as the rest of 2021/22, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Boston has a team option for the 2022/23 season and Hauser would be assured of a $300K partial guarantee if that option is exercised, Smith adds.
The Celtics still have three open spots on their 15-man roster after promoting Hauser and signing Luke Kornet. However, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston doesn’t think the club should be in a rush to fill them until confirming whether or not Jaylen Brown will be named an All-Star replacement, since Brown’s All-Star bonus would move team salary much closer to the luxury tax line. Even after that, Forsberg isn’t convinced Boston needs to scour the buyout market for more veterans, suggesting it might make more sense to call up a prospect or two from the G League. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens has acknowledged that’s a possibility.

Pacific Notes: Powell, Lakers, Shamet, Wiseman

February 15th, 2022 at 4:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The current treatment plan for Clippers swingman Norman Powell, who broke a bone in his left foot last Thursday, is non-surgical, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group. Asked about a potential return timeline for Powell, head coach Tyronn Lue couldn’t offer any specifics, but expressed hope that the 28-year-old will be back before the end of the season.

“Hopefully,” Lue said. “I’m not really sure, but hopefully that’s the case.”

As Swanson writes, Powell – acquired in a trade with Portland earlier in the month – had only been a Clipper for three games before he went down with his foot injury. However, he had already established himself as an important part of the rotation, playing nearly 34 minutes in his last game on Thursday, so he’ll be missed. Additionally, the Clippers sacrificed some depth on the wing in their pre-deadline deals.

“It does leave a void, because now you lose Justise Winslow, Eric Bledsoe, who you traded him for, along with Keon Johnson,” Lue said. “… Since (Powell) was here, he gave us great downhill attacks, direct line, quick decisions, getting to the free-throw line and he scored the ball really easy. So we’re definitely gonna miss that.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

During an appearance on The Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne confirmed the Lakers would have had to incentivize the Rockets to swap John Wall for Russell Westbrook at the trade deadline, but suggested the cost wouldn’t necessarily have been a first-round pick, as had been previously reported. “The way I heard it was it could have been done for a first-round pick, but it was even suggested they could have done it for a pick swap,” Shelburne said, per RealGM. “… Let’s put it this way, they would have had to incentivize Houston to do the trade with some kind of draft compensation. I think it was even less than what people have assumed.”
Suns guard Landry Shamet, who has been sidelined since January 30 due to a right ankle injury, is being careful not to rush the recovery process and won’t return until sometime after the All-Star break, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I’ve come back from ankle injuries a little too early in the past,” Shamet said on Monday. “With the aspirations this team has and what I have for myself, for us, I want to make sure I’m in the best place possible to be able to sustain for a long time.”
Warriors center James Wiseman was cleared to begin participating in 5-on-5 scrimmages, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. Wiseman is working his way back from a pair of procedures on his right knee.