RealGM

The Rockets’ offseason plans begin with their pursuit of a top free agent, starting with Lakers center Dwight Howard, but they don’t end there.

The moves they hope will come next will be a major part of their sales pitch, a person with knowledge of that part of their presentation said.

The Rockets intend to describe details about their plans after signing a free agent, according to the individual familiar with their strategy, including a shift to the pursuit of veterans rather than the sort of young prospects they have collected in recent seasons and a willingness to spend well into luxury tax territory.

They would like to avoid that in order to keep their mid-level exceptions, but part of their free-agent pitch will be to assure they would pay the tax if necessary if they want to keep players scheduled to be free agents in 2015, including Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverley