The Rockets’ Free Agency Haul
Some NBA teams have been far busier than others to kick off the 2023 free agency period. While some clubs may have been able to retain their star players, others simply weren’t willing to dole out long term deals, or were looking for a mutual parting of ways. But for the Houston Rockets, term, money, and arguably even team fit, haven’t been concerns of theirs this summer
Surprising Free Agency Signings
While the Rockets have yet to land a marquee player from this year’s free agency crop, they managed to sign some great defensive players, and veterans to start things off.
First off is Fred VanVleet, who played seven seasons in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors. He was also a key part of their 2019 championship team. Last season, FVV averaged 19.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. His defensive instinct also helped him lead the league in deflections.
VanVleet signed a three-year contract with the Rockets worth $128.5M, making him one of the highest valued signings this offseason. The 29 year old Wichita State alum is an undersized guard, who had a down year shooting wise in 2022-23.
Both his 3P% (.342) and eFG% (.486) marked career lows since he moved into a starting role in 2018. However this largely overlooks how many times FVV was stuck with the ball with little time left on the clock on a Raptors offense that was “disjointed” to say the least last year.
No one is doubting that VanVleet, who made his first All-Star team in 2022, is an NBA level starter. What perplexed most NBA insiders however was the massive $40M+ annual salary the Rockets gave him. With no state income tax already giving a deal with Houston some extra financial heft, one has to wonder who the Rockets were bidding against to land at such a figure.
Next is a player who gained notoriety and a source of endless memes after his encounter with LeBron James in the 2023 Western Conference quarterfinals: Dillon Brooks.
Brooks, who just finished a six-season run with the Memphis Grizzlies, averaged 14.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists last season. However, his mouth cost him and the Grizzlies in the first round of the 2023 playoff against LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers. His now infamous line of, “I don’t care. He’s [LeBron] old…I poke bears. I don’t respect anyone until they come and give me 40” will likely go down in playoff lore as one of the more ill-advised bulletin board quotes in recent memory.
After another early playoff exit, the Grizzlies announced they were moving on from Brooks- prompting the internet to jokingly proclaim that Brooks may be on his way to playing ball in China.
That was never a serious consideration as, at his worst, Brooks is a rotation level NBA player. He was always going to get another deal in the association.
In this case, it was the Rockets who chose to sign him to a 4yr/$80M deal. If he can bring the same defensive energy he brought to Memphis, Brooks could be valuable for Coach Ime Udoka. After all, Brooks is known for trying to take the opponent’s best player’s mind out of the game- but unfortunately misjudged the fact that LeBron is essentially a basketball playing Cyborg, so his usual antics were never going to work on him.
Wrapping up the Rockets’ haul on the first day of free agency was Jock Landale, who previously played for the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs. With a career scoring average of 5.9 points and being 27 years old, Landale could be the backup for starting big man Alperen Sengun.
Landale will earn $32M over the next four years in Houston. Jeff Green will also be returning to Houston after winning a title with the Denver Nuggets, inking a one-year deal worth $6M. The 36-year-old NBA veteran averaged 7.8 points on 48.8% field goal shooting last season in Denver. He could be a solid veteran for the Jalen Green-led Rockets team.
Not Done Yet
Some other minor deals have also added some leadership and rotational pieces to the young Houston core for this season. Aaron Holiday recently inked a 1yr/minimum salary deal with the club. And Trevor Hudgins signed a two-way contract with the team on July 1st as well.
It’s still too early to say whether or not this will be the only big move for the Rockets this offseason. After all, they still have their eyes on a potential reunion with James Harden, who is currently working to be granted a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers.
But whether he joins them or not, the Rockets will have a better team come the 2023-2024 season than the one that posted a 22-60 record in 2022-23. Especially with the additions of Cam Whitmore and Amen Thompson on draft night.
While their free agency period has thus far been a mixed bag, at the end of the day, most will agree that if the Rockets are to succeed, it will be because their young stars in Green, Jabari Smith, Sengun and Tari Eason took the next step developmentally.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.