It’s Big Easy for Rockets
New Orleans’ Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon headed here.
The Rockets could not check off the top line of their free-agent shopping list, but when they moved to their second goal Saturday, they jumped all over it.
The Rockets did not secure the star-level talent they wanted, with Atlanta center Al Horford opting to join the Boston Celtics. But they moved on to their quest to get the shooting they lacked and came away from a pair of recruiting meetings in Los Angeles with New Orleans freeagent forward Ryan Anderson and his teammate, guard Eric Gordon, both among the NBA’s better shooters at their positions.
The Rockets landed Anderson, 28, with an offer of a four-year, $80 million deal before they reached agreement hours later with Gordon, 27, on a four-year, $53 million contract, according to two individuals with knowledge of the moves who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreements have not been announced. Players may not sign contracts with NBA teams until Thursday.
Both had been pursued by the Rockets often over the years. They had tried to trade for Anderson, 6-10, on several occasions, most notably when they sent Omer Asik to the Pelicans in 2013. They tried to sign Gordon, 6-4, in 2011 when he was considered one of the more coveted free agents in the NBA, only to be limited by injury issues in the years since.
Perimeter threats
Both also could bring the Rockets, who ranked 19th in 3-point shooting while taking the second-most 3s in the NBA, the perimeter shooting they sought. But both have also been held back by injury problems, playing a combined 173 games in the past three seasons. Gordon has been especially injury-prone, playing an average of 52.1 games per season.
Gordon averaged 15.2 points and 2.7 assists in 32.9 minutes per game last season. Anderson averaged 17 points and six rebounds in 30.4 minutes per game. Gordon has made 38.3 percent of his 3-pointers in his eight NBAseasons. Anderson, also an eight-year veteran, has made 37.7 percent of his 3s.
Anderson was considered a priority for the Rock- ets who have long sought to get range shooting at power forward, from the offseason work with Patrick Patterson and Luis Scola to improve their 3-point shooting, to the efforts of Donatas Motiejunas and Terrence Jones to bring that to the offense.
The spacing provided by a big man with 3-point range was considered especially crucial with James Harden one of the top penetrating ballhandlers in the NBA playing with pick-and-roll centers — from Dwight Howard to his presumed successor, Clint Capela — without shooting range.
Gordon’s versatility in the backcourt also could help fill a void as a scorer at shooting guard when Harden is out and playing off the ball when Harden serves as the Rockets’ primary ballhandler.
After signing Anderson and Gordon, the Rockets will have roughly $9 million in cap room, counting the space taken up in a cap hold to keep their rights to Motiejunas and Michael Beasley’s partially guaranteed contract. With Howard’s departure, they have just one center, Capela, signed and could use some of their remaining summer allowance on depth at center or could seek an additional point guard.
They also could bring back Motiejunas and play him at center, especially now that the roster is crowded with power forwards.
They had hoped to have Horford play both front- court spots, but after meeting with Horford and his representatives Friday in Atlanta, there was little momentum for the Rockets to be among his finalists by Saturday morning.
Their pursuit of Horford might have ended well before Horford’s nine-year tenure in Atlanta was officially over, but Saturday afternoon he tweeted he would be joining the Boston Celtics. Next best thing
Horford will sign a fouryear, $113 million deal, a person with knowledge of the decision confirmed, earning the most a team other than the Hawks could offer.
By then, the Rockets’ recruiting team had moved on to Los Angeles, where it had landed Howard in 2013.
They did not make that kind of a splash with Saturday’s deals, but they did the next best thing, or at least the next thing on their summer to-do list.