Offseason Grades - Houston Rockets

[bondom34]

Up next, the Houston Rockets.

K_Chile222's Offseason Grade:

Houston Rockets transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Jalen Green at #2.
Drafted Alperen Sengun at #16 (acquired from OKC).
Drafted Usman Garuba at #23.
Drafted Josh Christopher at #24.

Trades
Traded 2 future 1sts (Detroit '22 and Washington '23) to OKC for pick #16.
Traded cash for Daniel Theis S&T.

Free agency
Declined option on Avery Bradley.
Received Daniel Theis S&T, 4/$36M.
Signed David Nwaba, 3/$15M.

Offseason Thoughts
I don't like factoring the draft in too much for these grades, because it's so much of an unknown, but when the only thing of note is the draft where they drafted four times in the first round, it kind of has to be a big part. Like all the picks, Green was a consensus tier 2 guy after Cade, Sengun was widely viewed as a lotto guy, Garuba higher than 23, Christopher was a bit of a reach but at 24 it wasn't much of one.
Still not sure how I feel about the value of the Sengun Trade. No idea where those picks end up, but it's pretty possible they traded two picks in the 16 range or better for one. If they really did view him as a top ten prospect though, I at least like the process of using some of your excess picks to grab an outlier guy who fell.
Theis deal is ok, if it were a 2+1 instead of 3+1 I would have liked it a lot more. Love keeping Nwabva, hard nose, high character guy to keep around the young players, probably a little more than he could have gotten elsewhere, but with only two years guaranteed at $5M per, not a big deal.
Overall glad their sticking with rebuilding and not blowing assets on win now moves or anything like that.
Would have been nice to trade Wall or Gordon but don't know if there was any way out there for them to do so without burning assets, which would be a mistake.

Grade
B. Seem to have done well in the draft which was 4/6th of their major moves, FA signings were solid.
2022 Prediction
Think they'll probably end up bottom 3 in the conference, we'll see if they dump vets or just sit them to let the rookies run loose halfway in, if they do, they could end up being worst again.
Offseason in gif form


Mamba4Goat's Offseason Grade:

]Houston Rockets transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Jalen Green at #2.
Drafted Alperen Sengun at #16 (acquired from OKC).
Drafted Usman Garuba at #23.
Drafted Josh Christopher at #24.

Trades
Traded 2 future 1sts (Detroit '22 and Washington '23) to OKC for pick #16.
Traded cash for Daniel Theis S&T.

Free agency
Declined option on Avery Bradley.
Received Daniel Theis S&T, 4/$36M.
Signed David Nwaba, 3/$15M.

Offseason Thoughts
I personally would've taken Evan Mobley at 2. That being said, Sengun and Garuba more than make up for it. I ultimately loved their draft. Getting Theis and signing Nwaba are head-scratchers though.

Grade
A


Great way to start a rebuild and at the bare minimum, they can flip Theis and Nwaba once their younger players need more minutes.

2022 Prediction
13-15 seed, one of the worst teams in the league as their youth continues to develop.
Offseason in gif form



bondom34's Offseason Grade:
Houston Rockets transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Jalen Green at #2.
Drafted Alperen Sengun at #16 (acquired from OKC).
Drafted Usman Garuba at #23.
Drafted Josh Christopher at #24.

Trades
Traded 2 future 1sts (Detroit '22 and Washington '23) to OKC for pick #16.
Traded cash for Daniel Theis S&T.

Free agency
Declined option on Avery Bradley.
Received Daniel Theis S&T, 4/$36M.
Signed David Nwaba, 3/$15M.

Offseason Thoughts
Well a look behind the curtain but apparently I deleted this from my drafts so re-writing on the fly so it may be semi-short .

First, I was a Suggs guy at 2, but Green was more a consensus pick so I'm not saying anything there. I also wasn't a Sengun guy and think they may have given up a bit extra in value, but if they got their guy I'm fine with it too. I do like the Garuba pick quite a bit (actually would have liked him at 16), and Christopher I'm not entirely familiar with but seems a score first guard in the Cam Thomas mold which isn't an archetype I'm in love with but as I've said before, nothing I'm really docking anyone for as everything here seemed within reason and they got their guys.

Free agency was again pretty fine, Nwaba no issues and looking into his numbers they need the defense and he could be value. Theis I see both positives and negatives. Positives in that I personally think it's a fine deal, negatives in that we just saw similar money salary dumped this offseason which was a little odd (Plumlee, though Theis has a history of being better off memory), and they had Olynk there and he was solid so strange seeing him let go. But again, these are all minor quibbles with nothing big to complain about and they added young talent. They've got a bit of a weird roster mix of vets and younger guys so would expect they move off the House/Gordon group, but not sure. Overall just felt like it was a solid offseason given what they came in to work with.

Grade
B. Thought I was being a hater with this at first but seeing K_Chile's grade made me feel better.
2022 Prediction
Bottom 2 in the West, wondering if the vets buy a few extra wins but can't see them too much above that

Offseason in gif form

[LarsV8]

I'll give them a B+

Green and Garuba were good picks, and the Sengun trade seems like a win, especially considering his translator O_o

I didn't like the Christopher pick at first, but he grew on me during summer league.

I don't really get the Theis signing, but it doesn't really hurt, could be a tradeable contract.

The only thing that was really important was to make sure we nailed the second pick, and looks like we did.

I personally would have traded Wood at the draft to Sacramento and drafted Davion Mitchell. I think they are wasting the Wood asset, he does not fit the timeline of our rebuild. But we will see how the Wood chip plays out.

Other than Green, the only real other thing that absolutely matters is making sure they bottom out these next two years, while they have an excuse too.

They really need to nab 2 of Holmgrem, Banchero, Hardy, Wembanyama, Bates, Lively, which means two top 3 picks. Too me, that is a successful rebuild, whether it pans out or not. IF they try and be good these next two years, and nab like the 9th and 11th pick, that is a huge failure.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I like their moves, I’ll give it an A-. Now trade Wood, Gordon and figure out what to do with Wall.

[HardenGoat]

Solid A. Sengun was a steal he should have been a lotto pick. Nwaba and Garuba are excellent defenders. Green is going to wind up being a star player. Christopher is probably going to be that glue guy. Went from a dumpster fire to a promising team in one offseason.

[gom]

Yeah, I cannot contain my enthusiasm for the Rockets. They have a real chance to build something special and took a great first step. Solid A.

And I see no problem at all for Wood, Wall, & Gordon to be there. Houston shouldn't be in a hurry. Might as well surround the young players with great veteran talent.

[WillVanderbilt]

Solid A. Sengun

I definitely read this too fast and thought it was a nickname for him I never heard of and frankly it’s not bad lol.

As a Bulls fan, I don’t like the Theis signing because I would have loved to keep him and I don’t get the fit fit Houston at all.

I love their draft. If they hit on even 2/4 players they selected you have to consider that a huge win. Of course multiple first rounders don’t always pan out. You only have to look at the Rockets’ own Lamb/White/Jones draft to prove that. Lamb is the only one still in the league and he never really played for Houston. He did help get Harden though so I guess you can give credit for that.

Hopefully they can flip players like Wall, Wood, Augustin and Gordon to contending teams at some point, as I don’t think their skill sets and ages fit with a rebuilding team very well. I see some value in seeing if some of the young guards can siphon some skills from Wall, Gordon, DJ but I don’t see Wood as a mentor for Sengun / Garuba at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Texas Chuck]

I actually like the Theis signing as a hard-playing, good character vet. They added a couple of talented young bigs and I love having this far less talented guy in front of them. Silas can bench them for Theis at times and go look this guy doesn't have anywhere near your gifts but he's badly outworking you. If you want to make it this league, you have to match his work and his effort. I like Olynyk as a player too and his spacing would help develop players offensively, but I think Theis a better mentor for these specific bigs.

All-in on the draft obviously. I'm a Suggs guy, but would definitely have gone Green over Mobley. Love the young bigs deeper in the draft.

Would like to have seen a Wood trade dealing at the apex of his value, but they can still re-visit that during the season and I personally think his value is a lot lower than this board puts it at so not the biggest of value sacrifices.

Grade B+

[Dadouv47]

A for me. They have done what I wanted OKC to do on draft night. Interesting that both had 3 FRPs and they took a opposite approach (drafting 4 guys in the first round vs 2). I'm really high on Sengun and I think Garuba has potential so I have a hard time believing both of them will be bust. We can debate between Mobley/Green/Suggs but it's very close anyway.
They have a very nice young roster now so it's gonna be pretty nice to watch them.

[jayjaysee]

It’s an A for me. Agree they appear to have aced the draft. Obviously a bit early for that, but love their picks.

Think they should be shopping Wood, but maybe his value isn’t as high as I think it is.

[babyjax13]

I agree with Lars that the main thing I wish they would have done is cash out on Wood (and House). So, overall it was really good but there was a way to make it a bit better: A-

[K_chile22]

Yeah, I cannot contain my enthusiasm for the Rockets. They have a real chance to build something special and took a great first step. Solid A.

I'm also extremely excited for what they're building, but just as a general policy on these I try not to put too much weight into the draft because all those dudes could be busts or all HOFers, we just don't know right now. If I was less conservative about grading drafts I would be at an A as well.

Would like to have seen a Wood trade dealing at the apex of his value, but they can still re-visit that during the season and I personally think his value is a lot lower than this board puts it at so not the biggest of value sacrifices.

the reason I didn't knock them for capitalizing on Wood is that after getting Green I think they really think he can be a part of the core, not everyone has to be the same age and it's not like he's old, even with his cap hold think they're still in the max+ range for the 2023 off-season, and that should be the off-season they're targeting. But because of that target, I liked the thesis signing less, as he's guaranteed for that season.

I also agree he probably doesn't have super high value like some believe, so there may not have been deals worth it for them

[ejftw]

A for taking Green and Jaygup, wasn't a fan of the rest of the draft. Love the Nwaba addition as well, but a bit of bias as I've seen all three of those at various HS/AAU/Prep levels. Other two picks on draft night were meh, though, Usman has the tools to end up being a solid to great defender.

Theis' deal is a bit long, but every team needs a vet leader, which he is. Can't argue it. Curious to see if they tried to find a deal for EJ and nothing materialized, or just sat on their hands. If Gordon does take a leadership role, he is a perfect mentor for both Jalen and Jaygup.

[gom]

Yeah. I just want to see them play (for the love of good basketball). I don't know if they will win a lot but it should be huge fun.