Iguodala, McGee top new wish list
The goal — well, the other goal — remains unchanged.
The Rockets always expected the offseason retooling to be a battle on two fronts. They lost on one, failing to land Jimmy Butler. The other remains in play. It won't be easy, either.
As general manager Daryl Morey put it on the NBA Awards night red carpet, the Rockets expected to keep their starting lineup together with one significant addition.
Landing Butler would have scuttled that plan. Eric Gordon and Clint Capela would have to be dealt to make that work had Butler obliged.
The Rockets put deals together in advance of free agency so they could have told Butler they could make it work and then immediately make the moves necessary. Capela
and Gordon did not have to check out Twitter to know what the team was thinking, having been kept informed, potentially making it easier to move on now that they will be back.
The plan Morey described, however, now becomes about landing that significant addition in a trade and hoping to get center depth with either a $2.6 million minimum for a veteran or roughly the $2.2 million tax-payer mid-level money they have left.
Raptors free agent Danny Green seems certain to get a deal much larger than the Rockets can offer, with the Lakers, Mavericks and Raptors all wanting to add his 3-and-D excellence.
The hope now is that former NBA Finals MVP Andre Igoudala can be had once he is officially with the Grizzlies on Saturday. The Warriors sent him to Memphis as part of their deal to acquire D'Angelo Russell from the Nets. The Grizzlies are rebuilding around young talent. With Morey's next first-round pick burning a hole in his pocket, the Grizzlies could pull off the rare double play of getting a valuable asset for taking the 35year-old Iguodala's contract and another for dealing
it.
The other part of that plan could revolve around landing center JaVale McGee as a free agent.
The meeting with McGee in Los Angeles went extremely well, two individuals familiar with the process said on Wednesday. The Rockets' interest was not just if Capela was dealt. McGee, 31, would be happy with his role with the Rockets, serving as a pick-and-roll target for James Harden and Chris Paul. The Rockets want greater size off the bench and the vertical spacing the second unit has lacked.
The problem would be needing to use the taxpayer mid-level. If they dip into the non-tax mid-level, they would be hardcapped
and unable to make a trade for Iguodala or anyone else they would turn attention to next. With the limited budget, it would not be difficult for a team with cap room, particularly the Lakers, to outbid the Rockets for the veteran big man.
That is the problem with keeping the starting five together. It is expensive, leaving little to spend elsewhere. The end of the Warriors' Death Lineup era however could make Iguodala available.
If he becomes a free agent again via a Memphis buyout, landing Iguodala would be as difficult as two seasons ago when the Rockets made a run at him. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who once was his agent, met with Iguodala in 2017.
The Rockets' pursuit, however, was considered "the best recruiting presentation of all time," according to a source quoted by ESPN in 2017. Iguodala was so impressed that after meeting with the Rockets, he canceled his remaining scheduled meetings.
Iguodala was ready to sign with the Rockets before the Warriors upped their offer enough to keep him.
If the Rockets cannot get him again this time, they would have to keep working the phones for trades. They have time, having locked up their bench with the deals with Austin Rivers, Danuel House Jr. and Gerald Green. But the "significant addition" pool of free agents has virtually dried up.
The whirlwind of free agent deals has made things around the league move quickly. The Rockets have reached the point where they have to move slowly. There is, however, a path to one of the Rockets' offseason goals.
A version of this story originally appeared on txsportsnation, the Chronicle’s all-sports website. Sign up for the newsletter at chron.com/newsletter