Ex-UH guard Brooks joins roster
The Rockets signed Armoni Brooks, a guard from the University of Houston who played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the G League, to a two-way contract Saturday, a person with knowledge of the move said.
The team will release center Justin Patton to open a two-way contract spot and will also waive guard Ben McLemore.
The Rockets have no immediate plans to fill the roster spot opened by waiving McLemore, but general manager Rafael Stone has said he does plan to use remaining mid-level exception money this season.
Brooks made 39.1 percent of his 3-pointers in two G League seasons, averaging 16.8 points last season with the Vipers.
A 6-3 guard, Brooks played three seasons for the Cougars, averaging 13.4 points and making 39 percent of his 3-pointers in 2018-19.
McLemore and Patton had fallen out of the Rockets’ rotation in recent weeks with several additions, with McLemore especially unlikely to find playing time with guards John Wall and Eric Gordon likely to return from injuries this month.
McLemore had a breakthrough season with the Rockets in 201920, making the team in training camp with a non-guaranteed contract and averaging 10.1 points while making a team-best 40 percent of his 3s. He has been in and out of the lineup this season, averaging 7.4 points while hitting just 33.1 percent of his shots from the 3-point line.
Patton, who signed a two-way contract after Ray Spalding was hurt soon after he signed to fill in with Christian Wood out, started six of the 13 games he played with the Rockets, averaging 5.8 points and 3.4 rebounds. He was not in the rotation, however, since Wood returned and the team acquired Kelly Olynyk and D.J. Wilson in trades.
Wood says he’s ‘fine’ after taking hard fall
Rockets center Christian Wood on Friday looked to have been injured again.
Woods’ discomfort did not appear to be too great as he left the floor in Boston. But after sitting out less than a week earlier with soreness in the right ankle that had forced him to miss 17 games — all Rockets losses — and with the Rockets injury issues, his slight limp to the bench seemed to be more of the same.
This time, the team was not concerned. Wood smiled when he said he was “fine,” possibly indicating he was a bit shaken up even as he said he was not hurt. Wood appeared to have landed on Marcus Smart’s foot and then took a hard fall. But Wood had another explanation for why he was moving so slowly and in so much apparent difficulty.
“I was fine,” Wood said. “It was a missed call. The refs told me they missed the call. As I’m starting to play, I’m learning not to argue with the refs anymore and play through it. I have to play through stuff like that. I’m all right, though. I’ll be ready next game.”
Wood lately has seemed to be more visibly frustrated with no-calls on drives. But he has been going to the line more often recently than before the injury.
He has averaged 5.8 free-throw attempts in his seven games since returning from the ankle injury after averaging just 3.8 in 17 games before his injury. Wood made just 2 of 7 attempts from the line Friday.
Jonathan Feigen