Harden’s Debut Means Party Just Getting Started in Houston
Wow. James Harden, playing in his Houston Rockets debut after just two days of practice, exploded for 37 points, dished 12 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds and picked 4 steals in a 105-96 win over the Pistons on Halloween night. It was an eye-popping start for the Rockets’ $80 million man.
James Harden, playing in his Houston Rockets debut after just two days of practice, exploded for 37 points, dished 12 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds and picked 4 steals in a 105-96 win over the Pistons on Halloween night. It was an eye-popping start for the Rockets’ $80 million man.
Two things really drew my attention.
First, Harden’s elite-level ability to attack the basket. He showed tremendous quickness and zero fear in going to the cup. As the highlights video shows, he did it time after time after time. Before his debut I was a bit embarrassed in saying that Harden reminded me of a young Dwyane Wade, usually adding “a poor man’s” or “similar to” as a qualifier, but in simply his ability and willingness to penetrate, he does remind you a bit of Wade (or a Manu Ginobili).
Secondly, his passing ability. As Rudy T would say, “Kapaya!” Harden was lethal in the pick-and-roll and multiple times would thread bounce passes through traffic to a cutting teammate. 12 assists in his first outing when he barely knows his teammates — the game is in his blood.
That was the most excited I’ve been watching a Rockets game since the 2009 playoffs, and I don’t think it’s even close. Granted, the half dozen Twix bars I downed may have contributed to the energy level, but that was reminiscent of watching an early years Steve Francis, a newly acquired Tracy McGrady or a rookie Yao Ming in his 20 point breakout game against the Lakers.
The game has absolutely changed. There’s a future again in Houston.
This is not about now — the Rockets may surprise and compete for the playoffs this year in a deep Western Conference or they may not — but rather how Harden changes everything moving forward. You now have a piece, a legitimate untouchable on your roster. A 23-year old guard, capable of putting up 37 points, unselfish in his style of play, loved by his teammates and now locked in for six years, is going to be a magnet.
You need a star to get a star — that’s the reality of today’s NBA. The Rockets, miraculously, found a shortcut and now have one. They now sport a backcourt with potentially ten+ years ahead of them that is arguably the league’s most marketable right now, playing in a diverse city with no state income taxes and warm weather. Did I mention there’s a maximum contract slot soon to be available? I strongly suspect the stigma that has plagued the Rockets the past few years is ancient history and young, up-and-coming players could now eye Houston as a top NBA location for the coming years.
Credit Daryl Morey, Sam Hinkie, Gersson Rosas and the Rockets’ front office. They stuck to their guns, even when their approach got heavier criticism after amnestying Luis Scola, selling off quality players for draft picks and falling short in their pursuit of Dwight Howard.
As we talked about in the podcast yesterday, the team’s offseason consisted of signing three key acquisitions, Harden, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, to contract amounts that their previous playoff teams were unwilling or unable to give because of their limited roles with those teams.
“$25 million to a guy for two weeks of Linsanity?”
“$25 million to a backup center?”
“$80 million to a sixth man? LOL!”
Asik was playing behind one of the league’s best defensive centers in Joakim Noah. Harden was behind two top ten players in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. With each addition, most notably Asik and Harden, the plan was an increased role and responsibility in Houston. It’s quite possible that at the end of the year, some if not all of those contracts, criticized by many at the time, will look like good values.
And in the case of Harden, I must confess — I’ve long believed that the Moreyball approach of finding underutilized value is the correct one when you have a superstar or two and you need to maximize quality around them in a league where salary management is king. The Rockets executed this very well in the original Kyle Lowry trade, where Lowry was stuck as a third string point guard on the Grizzlies, and the Luis Scola trade, where the Spurs couldn’t quite pay Luis to bring him in from overseas.
But a superstar? A 12-year old fan could spot them. It’s just a matter of wooing them, which is difficult for anyone.
Maybe I was wrong. Without a doubt, everyone in the league knew that Harden was a very good player and I wouldn’t even hint otherwise, but he was coming off the pine in OKC whereas Morey and company brought him here to take center stage and be the alpha dog. There’s a difference. Is it possible that the Rockets front office used their same approach to find underappreciated value to actually identify a true superstar?
Hey, one game against the paltry Pistons does not a superstar make, so time will tell, but the buzz right now? That’s unmistakable.
Armed with a bizarre fascination for Mario Elie and a deep love of the Houston Rockets, Dave Hardisty started ClutchFans in 1996 under the pen name “Clutch”.
Just before the start of the regular season, the Houston Rockets signed Jalen Green to a three-year, $105.3 million extension and Alperen Sengun to a five-year, $185 million extension, locking up two key pieces of their rebuild. These extensions eliminated any meaningful salary cap room for Houston in the summer of 2025. However, since the NBA is trending away from key players changing teams via free agency (recent examples such as Paul George and the Rockets’ own Fred VanVleet notwithstanding), Rafael Stone and his team likely viewed the extensions as worth the risk.
The Rockets have positioned themselves as one of the league’s most interesting trade teams, as they boast a unique combination of good young players, premium future draft picks, and expiring salaries. But signing Green and Sengun to those extensions made trading each of those players this season significantly more difficult.
Article VII, Section 8(g) of the 2023 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement – you know the one! – is more commonly known as the Poison Pill Provision, which relates to the trade treatment of players recently signed to rookie scale extensions. If a recently extended player is traded prior to the July 1 in which the extension kicks in, then while the player’s outgoing salary would be the same as his then current cap figure, the player’s incoming salary to the acquiring team would instead be the *average* of the player’s then current salary and all salaries during the extension. This makes any trade made under the Poison Pill Provisions exceedingly difficult.
Using Green and Sengun as examples, their respective outgoing and incoming salaries would be:
Jalen Green
Outgoing Salary for Houston: $12.5 million
Incoming Salary for Acquiring Team: $29.5 million
Alperen Sengun
Outgoing Salary for Houston: $5.4 million
Incoming Salary for Acquiring Team: $31.7 million
These vast discrepancies in outgoing and incoming salary treatment make Green and Sengun very difficult to trade, as most NBA trades must fall within salary-matching rules. While there are possible trade scenarios involving numerous players and salaries that could allow for Green or Sengun to be traded, most of those scenarios are unrealistic and/or would involve three or more teams and the expenditure of additional assets to get those additional teams to take on salaries.
The Rockets don’t seem to have much desire to move either Green or Sengun right now. However, if they do decide to move either of them, it would most likely not be until next July, when the Poison Pill Provision is no longer applicable and those players can be traded at their new extension salaries.
The weeks of speculation are coming to an end as we’ve just about arrived at the 2024 NBA Draft. The Rockets hold picks #3 and #44 and could be quite active on the trade market.
Dave Hardisty and David Weiner paired up on the ClutchFans podcast to discuss the options before the Houston Rockets as they approach the June 26th NBA Draft. Is it really down to Donovan Clingan and Reed Sheppard as options? The pair also discuss trade-down options and whether Devin Carter could be intriguing to Ime Udoka. And are the Rockets a darkhorse for a Paul George trade?
The forecast looks good for the Houston Rockets, but… there’s pressure as well this offseason because there are a handful of other West teams that might have rosier futures. Ime Udoka wants to win and win big. As we are about five weeks away from the NBA Draft, what are the Rockets looking to do this summer?
David Weiner joined Dave Hardisty on the ClutchFans podcast to discuss the Rockets shockingly landing the #3 pick and their options in this draft, including Reed Sheppard, Donovan Clingan, Zaccharie Risacher, Stephon Castle, Matas Buzelis and others. They also discuss the possibility of some big game hunting in Houston.
The Houston Rockets already made one deal, acquiring center Steven Adams from Memphis for a handful of second-round picks, but we still have several days left before this Thursday’s NBA Trade Deadline.
Are more deals on the way?
Rumors of interest in Mikal Bridges have swirled, with the Rockets holding precious (and unprotected) first-round picks from Brooklyn. They also could use some help inside this season, which Adams can not provide. Shooting is always in demand.
David Weiner joined Dave Hardisty on the ClutchFans podcast to discuss the Adams trade, its impact on the Rockets in 2024-25 and beyond, the Mikal Bridges rumors, the Brooklyn picks, other trade possibilities and options for Rafael Stone moving forward. Also discussed is the play of Houston’s core 6 prospects: Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason and Jalen Green.
The Rockets made a surprise trade on Thursday, sending the contract of Victor Oladipo and three second-round picks to Memphis for center Steven Adams.
The deal came together quickly and the Rockets had a small window to get it done, hence why this trade was made with a week to go until the trade deadline.
The Price
When you consider that Memphis did this for cost savings primarily and that Adams would not play for any team in the league this season, the price seemed a little high to me. The Rockets gave up the OKC second-round pick this year, which is no big loss, but they also give up the better of Brooklyn’s or Golden State’s second-round pick this season. That’s a pretty good pick (likely in the late 30’s). They also give up the better of Houston’s or OKC’s second-round pick in 2025. If things go as planned for the Rockets, that pick should be in the 45-55 range.
But they didn’t sacrifice a first-round pick, which would have been brutal, and they were not going to use all those seconds this season. So it’s just a matter of opportunity cost — who else could they have gotten for this package?
My understanding is they (particularly Ime Udoka) are very high on Adams.
The Rockets also did this move for cap purposes as well. By moving out the Oladipo contract, which was expiring, and bringing in Adams’ deal, which is signed for $12.4M next season, the window for the Rockets to put together a trade package for a star player is extended out until the 2025 trade deadline. They continue to wait to see which players, if any, shake loose here and become available. They want flexible (see: expiring) contracts that they can combine with assets and this gives them another year to be in that position.
The Trade
It’s not often that the Rockets acquire a player I had not considered beforehand but that’s the case with Steven Adams. The Rockets sorely need a big with size that provides more traditional center strengths, making Clint Capela, Robert Williams, Nick Richards or Daniel Gafford potential candidates, but Adams was overlooked for a few reasons.
First, the 30-year old big man is out for the season after knee surgery cost him the entire 2023-24 campaign, so the Rockets won’t get any benefit from this trade this season. Secondly, Adams is not your traditional center either when it comes to rim protection.
But what Adams does do, he’s really good at and he has some of the same strengths of Brook Lopez, who the Rockets tried to sign in the offseason. Adams is quite possibly the strongest guy in the league and a legitimate 6-foot-11 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan. He’s an outstanding screen-setter, something that could really benefit the likes of Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson and Jalen Green. He was also an elite rebounder last season, finishing 6th in the league in caroms at 11.5 a game despite playing just 27.0 minutes a contest.
After watching Jonas Valanciunas absolutely bully the Rockets inside on Wednesday, it should be apparent by now to everyone that this was a pretty big need.
In 2021-22, the Memphis Grizzlies finished #2 in the West at 56-26. Their top two players in Net Rating that season were Dillon Brooks (+11.0) and Adams (+8.3), key cogs in a defense that held opponents to 108.6 points per 100 possessions. They’re both now Houston Rockets.
So this adds another trusted vet to Ime Udoka’s rotation.
The question is will the 30-year old Adams return to form after the knee injury? Adams sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee a year ago, which cost him the end of that season and the playoffs. He tried rehabbing it and it never got better, so surgery became the option just as this season was kicking off.
I like to think the Rockets did their due diligence on that, despite the short time it took for this deal to come together, but that’s unclear.
If he does bounce back, then Udoka has a big man he can turn to reliably in situational matchups or on nights when the younger bigs struggle. He wouldn’t be Boban or even Jock Landale in that scenario — he’s going to play, so the frontcourt depth in 2024-25 should be better. In the end, they got a starting-caliber center who will have no problems coming off the bench, and that’s what they were looking for.
