Rockets Fail To Sign Key Free Agents, Still Walk Away With Haul
The Houston Rockets have been active during this free agency. They had their sights set high with the money they had to spend to hit the salary cap floor, and they did just that.
The Rockets got their top target in Fred VanVleet, hit on another key free agent in Dillon Brooks and brought in Jock Landale to round their signings out.
VanVleet, an All-Star point guard in his prime, will be able to help lead the Rockets away from being a bottom-feeder. Brooks and Landale are both instant-impact players, too, and shake up how the Rockets will rebuild their team.
However, the Rockets had their eyes on prizes bigger than this, even. With the amount of money they had to spend, they were prepared to try and lure Kyrie Irving, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez away from their teams. They could've paid those players if their returning team couldn't or chose not to.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, those teams pulled out their moneybags and paid up for their players. Irving seemingly found his home for at least the next two seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, and both Middleton and Lopez got their desired deals to remain in Milwaukee.
So, the Rockets haul didn't end up being a bad one by any means, but had they secured some of their other high-priority free agents, a potential playoff chase could have been on their hands.
Now, the Rockets will have a weird blend of win-now players, and players who are underdeveloped and in need of a bigger role to reach their highest potential. New head coach Ime Udoka will have decisions to make when it comes to allocating minutes and how prioritizing winning and development for long-term success.
If nothing else, the Rockets seem halfway committed to the idea of winning, and they'll have to accelerate their rebuild to ensure that spending the amount of money they did wasn't for no reason.
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