Well, these certainly aren’t the free agent big men Rockets had in mind when the offseason started. Yesterday, the team added needed frontcourt depth by signing Joey Dorsey to a 2 year/$2 million deal and Jeff Adrien to a one year deal at the league minimum. While neither are impact players, finding affordable big man depth in the NBA is difficult and the Rockets look to have done well at first glance.
Rockets fans might remember Dorsey, as he started his professional career in Houston after being acquired in a 2008 draft day trade that included the rights to Blazers forward Nicolas Batum. Dorsey spent the last three seasons in Europe, including stretches with high-profile clubs Olympiakos and FC Barcelona, after bouncing around in the NBA. Olympiakos won the Greek League and Euroleague titles and Dorsey was voted the Greek League’s Best Defender in 2012. He’s a bruiser who at the very least can soak up fouls off the bench.
Adrien has also spent time in Houston before, logging 8 games for the Rockets during the 2011-12 season. Adrien has consistently posted solid per-36 numbers (career 12.1 points/36, 10.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 48% FG%) but didn’t get consistent minutes until the last two seasons. Again, he should be valuable playing limited (15-20) minutes off the bench, and seems like a steal at the league minimum coming off career highs in every major statistical category. While most of his increased production can be attributed to a career high in minutes played (18.1/game), he also increased his field goal percentage to 52% despite attempting more shots than any other season in his career.
While neither of these signings is going to come in above the fold of your morning paper, big man depth is incredibly valuable in the NBA and given the usual height tax on player contracts the Rockets did very well here. They filled many of Omer Asik’s minutes for a fraction of the cost, albeit with inferior players. These guys aren’t going to show up on SportsCenter (although Dorsey DID shatter at least one backboard in Europe) but will be valuable in shoring up the interior defense when Dwight Howard sits.
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“A pleasure to meet you, ladies of Dallas”
By far the biggest news involving a recent Rockets player is devastatingly handsome forward Chandler Parsons signing a 3 year, $46 million offer sheet with the in-state divisional rival Dallas Mavericks, which the Rockets declined to match. While the Rockets willingly ended his ultra-bargain contract (he would have been due a measly $960k next season) to maintain the right to match any competing offers, the Mavericks’ typically aggressive offer sheet coupled with the Rockets’ inability to use their cap space on a third star meant that the team felt it was in their best interests not to have such a massive contract on the books for a productive player who will likely never be an All-Star.
While the specifics of their situations don’t match up, this isn’t all that different from how the Rockets were able to swipe restricted free agents Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik two summers ago. The Mavericks stepped up and made an insane offer for Parsons, a productive known quantity with room to grow, while offering him a larger role in which to develop. The Rockets’ decision makers looked at the numbers and decided that the blood pouring from their eyes was probably a bad omen.
Barring the acquisition of a real point guard, Parsons will likely split lead ballhandling duties with Monta Ellis in Dallas. Rick Carlisle is one of the league’s best coaches and has already stated he plans to play Parsons at four positions. Mark Cuban is one of the most aggressive and innovative owners in all of sports, and I imagine they’ll spend a lot more time at the club together than Parsons ever did with Rockets owner Les Alexander. Dallas made him feel wanted while Houston kept him in the dark. After three seasons of producing well above his second round pick salary, Parsons felt slighted when Houston put more effort into recruiting big name free agents Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh than they did into retaining him. He vented to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports:
“Honestly, I was offended by the whole process. They publicly said that they were going out looking for a third star when I thought they had one right in front of them. I guess that’s just how they viewed me as a player. I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface of where I can be as a player and I think I’m ready for that role.
“You can’t knock them for always trying to get better. Daryl Morey is very aggressive, is a genius, a great GM and I have nothing but respect for those guys. And they are looking to make their team better. That’s what they were doing. I just thought I could be that guy that could do that.”
Pro athletes don’t get to be where they are without being extremely confident in themselves; and Parsons is a very good player, especially on the offensive end. Very few players possess his combination of size (6’ 9”), shooting, passing, and ballhandling ability. That said, his assessment of his own abilities don’t match up with the general perception of his game. His offensive game is well rounded but he lacks a singular skill that stands out above the rest. He’s a poor defender and likely benefitted from Houston’s pace, system, and the presence of several other ballhandlers and shooters on the court with him at all times. As stated above, I doubt he ever becomes an All-Star. I understand why he felt disrespected, but if he thinks the team would be better off with him instead of Chris Bosh he is sorely mistaken.
Some of this is just plain bad luck. If Bosh or Anthony had agreed to the max deals Houston offered them and soaked up all of the team’s cap space, I think they had every intention of matching Dallas’ offer despite the bloated salary. He’s better than anyone they could have gotten with their room exception this year or their mid-level exception the next two years, and Daryl Morey knows this better than I. But after striking out, the team that made valuing salary cap flexibility sexy decided that using all their cap space on a talented but limited player wasn’t in their best interests, and in my estimation they made the right call.
Whether Parsons is what he is already or morphs into the All-Star he sees himself as, Houston took a step back as a team when they decided to let him walk. They have lost three important rotation players from last year’s team, parted with assets to clear the cap room they weren’t able to use in the way they hoped, and thus far have only added 30 year old wing Trevor Ariza to soak up the minutes and production left behind by Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Omer Asik. That said, Daryl Morey has kept the team on a steady upwards trajectory since taking over as General Manager, and I think it’s fair to say he had specific future moves in mind when he declined to match Dallas’ offer sheet.
The Mavericks, led by surefire Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki, Carlise, Ellis, and Parsons, improved themselves as a team and could well finish ahead of Houston in the standings next year. But the Rockets always have a plan in mind, and if recent history has taught us anything, it’s that they’re usually several moves ahead of the public discourse and often other teams as well. Expect them to bounce back from this summer’s compound disappointments sooner rather than later.
Welcome to my newest blog project. Before I dive in to my hot takes on the Houston Rockets, I thought it might be worthwhile to introduce myself.
I’m Paul Moses, a 25 year old Houston resident, student, Blazer fan, and on and off sports blogger. I’ve previously written for the baseball blogs Formerly Fausto and The Sizzling Eephus, and I have my own blog called Scatterbrain Sports. If you clicked those links, you might notice that I haven’t written much of anything in the past year. I suffered some burnout after overcommitting myself to baseball writing and took an extended hiatus to focus on other aspects of life, most notably school. I didn’t lose my enthusiasm for sports, especially the NBA, and probably watched more NBA basketball this past year than any previous season. I stayed engaged on Twitter and have done a fair amount of editing for other aspiring writers. After seeing how quickly friends of mine were able to rise though the ranks by simply committing themselves to their writing (easier said than done), I’ve decided now is the time for me to wade back into the fray.
When it comes to sports, I try to take a bigger picture view. While watching the games is obviously of the utmost priority, I’m also passionate about the business side of sports and the social impact they have. Sports are in many ways a microcosm of our larger society, and often the trends in sports and society at large are more closely tied than we realize. I view athletes, coaches, general managers and owners as humans, and while I certainly don’t have much in common with their day to day lives; I do understand that in the end we probably all want the same things for ourselves, usually in the form of happiness, professional fulfillment, and financial security. If you want me to lambast a player for taking more money to go somewhere else or take less money to put themselves in a better situation, this probably isn’t the blog for you. I try to be as objective as possible and use my own experiences when evaluating the decisions that different figures within sports leagues make.
Since I’m starting this blog in July, the focus for the next few months will be on the business and personnel side of what the Rockets are doing. They are at a crossroads after striking out big time in free agency (more to come in my next post on here), and I think what they do from here until the start of the regular season will be fascinating. While my focus will shift as the NBA seasons change, I will always have an eye on the big picture. My hope is that over time this will be a go-to site for objective, evenhanded Rockets analysis from an informed but detached (again, Blazer fan) observer. The Rockets have fascinated me since Daryl Morey took over as GM and began spinning his wheels and changing the face of how business is done in the NBA. I moved to Houston just in time for the stretch run that earned the Rockets a playoff berth in 2013 and have followed the team closely, including watching most of their games, ever since.
I’m always up for a good discussion or any feedback you might have about this blog. Feel free to leave comments, tweet me @ScatterSports, or shoot me an email at paul.eugene.moses@gmail.com. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other in the next few months.
-Paul
pauleugenemoses
The Space Elevator 