In what could be a complete reversal of philosophy for the Houston Rockets under general manager Daryl Morey, the team is apparently preparing to miss out on upper-echelon free agents when the market opens on Wednesday.
According to the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen, Morey and company are more focused on retaining their own free agents right now.
“The Rockets are “probably likely” to stick with their plan to remain above the salary cap and spend the free agency period putting the band back together by signing many, if not all, of their five free agents.”
As we have seen in the past, Houston hasn’t been afraid to target the best of the best. It was a potential landing spot for Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony before both decided to return to their teams last summer. Instead, Houston landed Trevor Ariza. In 2013, the Rockets were able to land All-Star big man Dwight Howard.
And while the Rockets are prepared to kick the tires on big-name free agents this week, it makes sense that they would look to retain their own free agents first. Patrick Beverley and KJ McDaniels are both slated to become restricted free agents. Josh Smith and Corey Brewer will also be unrestricted free agents.
Some may think that Houston needs to add that third “star” to compete with the Golden State Warriors in Western Conference. While that may be true, especially after losing to Golden State in the conference finals, it’s important to note that both Beverly and Donatas Motiejunas missed that series with injuries.
The additions of Smith and Brewer came in especially handy towards the latter part of the regular season. That was only magnified by what was an injury-plagued season for Howard. Having all three on board for an entire season would be big for Houston.
If the Rockets are able to retain their key free agents while staying healthy in 2015-16, they should be one of the top competitors to dethrone Golden State in the West. It makes more sense for the team to go in that direction than attempt to add that third big star.
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