Should we really be surprised that the league’s most interesting general manager chose to take the path of higher risk, higher reward? That’s where the Houston Rockets, led by daring and analytically driven GM Daryl Morey, enter the 2014-15 season. When we last saw them, contention didn’t feel far away. In the first year of the Dwight Howard-James Harden foundation, the Rockets went 54-28 in a loaded West and secured home court advantage in the first round. That was in line with preseason
The San Antonio Spurs may be the reigning NBA champions, but it’s the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets who are stealing headlines out of Texas. From players swapping teams to front office members trading barbs, there’s been no shortage of drama in the state where everything’s bigger. On Monday, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took the gloves off and returned shots at Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. In an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Morey responded to the consistent jabs that Cuban
HOUSTON — Is James Harden capable of being Kevin Durant 2.0 when it comes to post-FIBA growth? Many credited FIBA international play in 2010 with aiding Durant’s evolution into an NBA superstar. Now, fresh off a gold medal in Spain with the U.S. national team, Durant’s former teammate and good friend Harden is hoping to see a similar transformation of his own as he embarks on his third season as a franchise cornerstone, a Big Two alongside Dwight Howard for the Houston Rockets. The theme for
The summer of 2014 is remembered in Houston for what might have been. The most noteworthy names to highly consider forming a “Big 3” with James Harden and Dwight Howard were Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh, but former Rocket point guard Kyle Lowry is firmly on that star-studded list as well. In a wonderful feature by Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams on Lowry’s career-long search for trust, Abrams outlines Lowry’s falling out with Houston head coach Kevin McHale in the 2011-12 season and the subsequent
HOUSTON — After being unexpectedly jilted by Chris Bosh, the Rockets found themselves in a precarious spot this summer. They are now hoping that Jason Terry, who just turned 37, can be a small part of the solution. General manager Daryl Morey has said since January that Houston needs to acquire the “third-best player on a championship team” to align with established stars James Harden and Dwight Howard, implying he did not believe that player would be found internally on the current
Patrick Beverley and Chandler Parsons once sat side-by-side as teammates… What are they now? Are they friends? Enemies? Or, to borrow a teenage colloquialism, frenemies? One might consider that a valid question considering the tweet that Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley sent his former teammate Chandler Parsons. @ChandlerParsons r u excited to play us or scared??? — Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) September 4, 2014 Parsons left the Rockets as a restricted free agent over the summer after Houston general manager Daryl Morey
As the whole world seemingly sits in suspense, awaiting The Decision II from LeBron James, a few shrewd teams have been hard at work, trying to improve their rosters. One such team, once thought to be in the hunt for one of the marquee free agents, is the Dallas Mavericks. Another team, the Houston Rockets, still awaits a decision from LeBron, as what he chooses will greatly impact the decision that Miami Heat teammate Chris Bosh makes—whether to stay in South
Tuesday brought forth the beginning of the NBA free agency period and, with it, the subsequent Carmelo Anthony World Tour. The tour began with a visit to Chicago to meet with Bulls staff and players. During his stop in the Windy City, he was greeted by coach Tom Thibodeau, who rode with him to the United Center, where they met general manager Gar Forman and executive vice president John Paxson along with Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah