Houston Rockets Rumors: Buying or Selling Gossip Ahead of 2015 NBA Draft
As we approach the NBA draft, rumors abound for the Houston Rockets, as they do for every team.
Also, with every team and every offseason, you can't believe everything you hear. There are some rumors which are worth buying, some which are worth entertaining and some which are just untrue.
Based on the current situations and rumors from credentialed reporters, both home and abroad, here are three big things that Rockets fans should be concerned about and how much stock they should put into various rumors and speculation.
Selling
But before I address the things that are rumors, I’d be remiss if I didn’t address some speculation.
The difference between the two is that a rumor is something which is allegedly in the works, according to someone with credentials. Speculation is something a writer conjectures could happen, but there's nothing to indicate that it is happening.
That's not to say speculation is bad. It's part of the job. But it's just that and nothing more.
Ty Lawson of the Denver Nuggets coming to Houston is a subject speculated on Rockets blogs, in comments on articles I’ve written and something I’ve been asked about on Twitter.
It's probably not easy for some to hear, but it is very unlikely that Lawson will be a Rocket next year. He won’t be signed in free agency because he’s not a free agent. He’s also unlikely to be traded because Houston would have trouble putting together a package more attractive than the Sacramento Kings could assemble.
Per Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times, "Rumors persist that Sacramento coach George Karl will make a play for Ty Lawson, who played for Karl in Denver.”
Furthermore, the Nuggets offered Lawson for the No. 6 pick and were rebuffed by the Kings, per Chad Ford of ESPN.com. That means there is both mutual interest and conversation. Add to that, there’s no report I can find of discussions between Houston and Denver.
For right now, I'm selling on any Lawson-related gossip. It just doesn't seem realistic.
Renting
There is some discussion, though, that the Rockets are looking to trade up and/or add a pick in this draft. Per Ken Berger of CBSSports.com:
"The Rockets, who have the 18th pick, are surveying the landscape in an effort to acquire another first-rounder, league sources say. Two teams in the bottom of the first round, Memphis (25) and San Antonio (26), may be open to dealing their picks to avoid cap holds and preserve room as they re-sign Marc Gasol and Kawhi Leonard, respectively.
"
And Woelfel reports, “There are at least three teams—Chicago, Houston and Boston—contemplating moving up in the draft, with the hopes of securing a point guard, most likely Murray State’s Cameron Payne.”
With three teams trying to trade up for him, you might say, “No gain, no Payne.”
It’s hard to see how exactly the Rockets manage this.
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has reported that the Rockets want to stay together this year. And you can’t help but wonder how they could get the assets together to make a trade. They do have the No. 32 pick, and they have the rights to several overseas players, so, it’s feasible they find a way to make things work.
However, adding another first-round pick is also adding salary, which isn’t necessarily something they’re looking to do. So I’d be surprised, but not shocked if it happened.
Ergo, I’m neither buying nor selling this—I’m renting it.
Buying
The rumors regarding Sergio Llull keep piling up.
First Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net reported:
"According to Eurohoops sources, Houston informed the side of the player that they are willing to give him a contract for the next three seasons which will pay him a total between 15 to 18 million US dollars. That was one of the hot subjects of discussion in the recent Eurocamp of Treviso, where Houston had send (sic) four representatives.
It’s a safe bet that some of them will also travel to Spain, since Llull’s intentions are still a mystery, since you have to add to the mix the fact that he also has to pay a four millions (sic) US dollars buy out to Real Madrid in order to leave the team. Still the biggest question about his decision remains the fact that he will have to leave his country and a “safe” career in order to start almost from scratch in the NBA.
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HoopsHype is relaying reports from Encestando reported on June 22:
"Llull had dinner with former teammate Pablo Prigioni last week. The Argentinian guard has finished the season in Houston and Llull wanted to know everything about the Rockets franchise, according to our sources.
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However, from COPE.es via HoopsHype, Llull said, ““Nobody has told me anything. Houston owns my rights in the NBA and that’s it.”
And, general manager Daryl Morey denied reports that when he was in Spain last March, he met with Llull and offered him a contract.
Denials aside, Kevin McHale remarked at the beginning of June how great it would be to have Llull on the roster.
And the salary being bandied about just so happens to coincide with the full mid-level exception.
The only concern here is that if the Rockets do pay him that, they are locked into a hard cap. That means they can’t go above the “apron”—$4 million over the tax level—which this year is $85.6 million.
Currently, per Spotrac.com, the Rockets have $60.7 million in salaries. With Llull, they would be up to about $66.2 million, meaning they would have a little under $20 million to re-sign some mix of Patrick Beverley, K.J. McDaniels, Josh Smith, Corey Brewer, Jason Terry and their first-round pick.
That could be problematic, though, as they could create a little more money by not picking up the $4.7 million option on Kostas Papanikolaou’s contract.
The Rockets may have to do some finagling to make this work, but given McHale’s enthusiasm earlier, you have to figure that if they can get this deal done, they will.
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