THE ART OF NO DEAL
What could have been. Andre Iguodala as a Rocket. Carmelo Anthony as a Rocket (twice). Al Horford as a Rocket.
Three big NBA names that could have worn red, instantly changing the future of Houston’s pro basketball team.
Ultimately, none did. And Mike D’Antoni’s team won an NBA-best 65 games this season, then entered Monday at a roaring Toyota Center owning home-court advantage in the Western Conference finals against the league’s champs.
Horford showed serious interest in the Rockets during the summer of 2016, which marked D’Antoni’s first offseason with a rapidly changing team. General manager Daryl Morey ended up with 3-point specialists Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson, while Horford’s Celtics are up 1-0 against LeBron James’ Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Anthony on the verge
Anthony drew the Rockets’ attention in the summer of 2014, briefly receiving Jeremy Lin’s number during the Dwight Howard years. Three years later, Anthony’s name was attached daily to the Rockets for months — at one point, a trade with the New York Knicks was viewed as a highly likely possibility — before he suddenly joined Russell Westbrook and Paul George in Oklahoma City last September. After an onand-off regular season, Anthony struggled in the playoffs against Utah and the Thunder fell to the Jazz, who were then downed 4-1 by the Rockets in the second round.
Iguodala’s public attachment to the Rockets last summer was brief. But, like Anthony, the outcome affected multiple teams and continues to impact the league as the Finals near.
Before Game 1 of the longhyped Western Conference finals tipped off at Toyota Center, Golden State coach Steve Kerr stayed small by playing Draymond Green at center, while Iguodala was a key piece of the Warriors’ starting five.
“Yeah, he was one guy that was targeted last year, last summer …for good reasons. He’s one of the better players in the league and he always has been,” said D’Antoni, who acknowledged that last summer felt like a long time ago. “So versatile and we were trying to get into that mode where we could be a better defensive team.
“And what he does and brings to the Warriors (is) evident, so it was a no-brainer to try.”
The Rockets were openly attempting to mirror, then eclipse, the Warriors by pursuing the multidimensional Iguodala. The 2015 NBA Finals MVP eventually re-signed with Golden State via a three-year, $48 million deal, breaking the news himself.
“Sources close to Andre Iguodala reporting agreed to terms to return to the bay,” he tweeted late in the evening July 1, 2017.
More than 10 months later, Kerr played down the possibility the Warriors could have lost one of their most critical (and underrated) pieces to the team they’re playing in the conference finals.
“It never seemed like it was a serious deal because we knew the restrictions on what Houston could offer and we were offering him twice as much, so that usually does the trick,” Kerr semi-joked.
How many wins do the Rockets end up with if Iguodala wears red in 2017-18?
Sixty-eight and clearly the best team in the NBA, as Golden State falls off a little more without one of its elite two-way players?
Fifty-seven and No. 2 in the West?
“I don’t know how close we were or whatever. It felt good at the time,” D’Antoni said. “But I knew it would be hard — you’ve got a championship team over there, so that’s a good reason to stay.”
Entering Monday night, D’Antoni’s Rockets had turned out just fine.
Veterans P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute brought the much-needed defense that Iguodala would have added. Both then ran through a 65-win season by adding different looks to D’Antoni’s evolving offensive attack.
Paul was instrumental
Chris Paul, the superstar the Rockets did land last summer, was also integral to Tucker wearing red. The team’s starting small forward in the conference finals doesn’t become a Rocket without the addition of CP3.
“(Paul) opting in to his deal allowed us to trade for him, which gives us our midlevel (exception), which gets us P.J. Tucker,” Morey said. “So without Chris doing that maneuver and sacrificing money to come here, we don't have P.J. on this team."
We’ll spend the rest of this series watching Iguodala’s importance to the Warriors, and the impact Tucker and Mbah a Moute have on these Rockets.
Anthony wouldn’t have fit and would have dragged down D’Antoni’s attack.
Horford would have been a complementary piece in Houston, but he has a stronger hold in Boston. Fourteen seasons into his pro career, Iguodala has made a new basketball home by The Bay.
Sometimes it’s the moves you don’t make — and the near misses that lead to the next-best choices — that can make all the difference for the NBA’s best teams.