Houston Rockets to Seek Trade Options Early to Bolster Thin Bench
Always seeking a place on the cutting edge, the Houston Rockets will not wait until after Thanksgiving to begin Christmas shopping. Black Friday? Cyber Monday? They’re as old and outdated as a box score.
At first glance, the Rockets determination to spend their Jeremy Lin trade exception before it burns a hole in general manager Daryl Morey’s pocket seems counterintuitive. The whole idea of saving up the allowance was to cash in big time for that long-sought third star, not the sort of rotation piece that might be available in November.
The Rockets have treated the trade deadline as if it were a league rule that trades always be made at the deadline. The trade chip they received when they shipped Lin and a first-round pick to Los Angeles, a traded player exception worth $8.34 million, was to make the next big deal happen.
With the trade exception, the Rockets could take back a player that earns up to $8.34 million without sending out matching salary, as would otherwise be necessary because they are over the salary cap. That would allow them to take on a contract another team does not want without that team having to take back a contract, potentially giving them a valuable tool in deal-making.
The NBA tends to get trade crazy in December, when players signed in the summer are eligible to be dealt, and in February around the trade deadline. The December trade season is usually just talk, with tons of offers exchanged and rumors born, but relatively few actual trades. The February trade deadline actually does bring deals, sometimes in bunches.
A year ago, the Rockets let the league know they would move Omer Asik in December, but didn’t, and then made a small move, trading Aaron Brooks for Jordan Hamilton at the deadline. The combination of the December inaction and modest February action made them pretty typical of the league, which is not surprising since the NBA insists that at least two teams are required to make a deal.
This season, however, the Rockets have been in active trade talks early. When they were 9-1, with a loss only on a night Dwight Howard sat out with flu-like symptoms, they were looking for help. More than just looking early, they were looking in every direction, rather than just to fill a need.
The Rockets’ greatest question heading into the season had been at power forward, where they were overmatched by LaMarcus Aldridge in the playoffs and knew they almost certainly would face an All-Star-caliber player at the 4 in the next postseason. Terrence Jones went out after four games with a bruised nerve in his leg and is out indefinitely. Donatas Motiejunas has generally struggled in his place with no true power forward on the roster behind him.
The Rockets had seemed certain to use that trade exception to seek help at power forward. If they could find the right kind of deal, they could add the New Orleans Pelicans’ first-round pick they got in the deal for Omer Asik, a pick carefully constructed to almost certainly be in the lottery.
(They only get the pick if it falls between four and 19, and it is unlikely that a Western Conference playoff team would have a pick that would not be 20th or later. That would assure that New Orleans would only give up the pick when it is considered a good pick.)
Rather than wait for that kind of home run deal, however, the Rockets have seemed determined to find an acquisition that would be more of a solid single. That would mean adding a rotation player, rather than a third star. It could mean getting a player at any position, rather than of their current greatest need.
Most of all, it would mean using that trade exception, rather than holding it for the big deal that might never come. ESPN.com reported that the Rockets were among the teams interested in Minnesota small forward Corey Brewer. The Rockets have liked Brewer since long before he hit them for 51 points last season in Minneapolis, but he is one of many players they view as a solid rotation piece they’d like to acquire before the NBA’s Christmas shopping rush.
Ideally, they might want to find a power forward made available by an expiring contract such as Paul Millsap in Atlanta or Greg Monroe in Detroit.
The Hawks and Pistons, however, are run by coaches Mike Budenholzer (while Danny Ferry is on a leave) and Stan Van Gundy. Coaches tend to concern themselves with the next game more than future assets, and if either was going to make a move for future seasons, as a deal for a draft pick and cap flexibility would be, they are unlikely to do that in November.
The Pacers might have to eventually take stock of their season and where David West fits at 34 years old, but there is plenty of time for that, particularly before he's even played a game this season.
The Rockets, however, no longer seem content to wait to see what shakes out. In some ways, a deal made now could give them more options in February. But more than that, they seemed to have determined that they could use help in any form, the sooner the better.
This is not the result of the road bump since the fast start, with the Rockets getting two of the ugliest wins ever (against the 76ers and Thunder) and taking two bad losses (to the Grizzlies and Lakers.) It is certainly not the result of Dwight Howard missing a game and likely more with a strained right knee.
The Rockets knew the roster was thin when they were reshaped in the offseason. They have gotten by relying on rookies Tarik Black and Kostas Papanikolaou in the rotation. But there are issues.
To be true contenders, the Rockets probably will need that big deal and at the right position. But they also need the more modest move that could come by adding a rotation piece.
By trying to use their trade exception now, rather than when the bigger deals are made, they hope to not be choosing the small move sooner over the big deal later.
Instead, they will seek the third, better (and more difficult) option of trying to pull off both.
Jonathan Feigen covers the Houston Rockets for the Houston Chronicle and Bleacher Report. All information has been gathered firsthand by Jonathan Feigen unless otherwise noted.
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