As NBA rages, it’s all quiet on Rockets front
Planes, trains and automobiles. Even a banana boat. But no rockets. Actually, there was one. Paul Pierce crashed the NBA’s chaotic emoji game Wednesday, tweeting a grainy image of an outdated spaceship, immediately giving away his advancing age (37).
The cool, modern kids bragged and boasted with the right photos in the textmessaging age: silly, sleek cartoons that were supposed to convince a very confused DeAndre Jordan that either Los Angeles or Dallas is his real home.
Emoji Day drew national attention in Houston, with everyone from the Clippers’ Doc Rivers, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to the Mavericks’ Mark Cuban and Chandler Parsons reportedly converging in the Rockets’ home city and on Jordan’s front lawn to either steal away the hard-handed center or keep him safe. In the end, the Clippers prevailed.
By virtue of Jordan’s local birth and current residence, Emoji Day was the closest the Rockets have come during the league’s explosive free-agency period — $1.4 billion in mostly guaranteed new contracts was handed out July 1 alone — to ever lifting off.
Five years after LeBron James presumably changed the NBA forever with his first Decision — major-market franchises
smiled while small-market teams trembled — the entire league is now surfing gazillion-dollar waves fueled by ridiculous TV money and an ever-fattening salary cap. Anthony Davis is 22, has played in just 199 career games, and is worth $145 million. Marc Gasol and Kevin Love were rewarded for their loyalty with $110 million deals. Goran Dragic, Reggie Jackson and Omer Asik aren’t starters on an NBA title contender, but they’re worth a combined $230 million in the sport’s new, less-earns-more financial conversion chart.
The Rockets’ huge offseason shopping splurge? Seven combined years and $46 million for Pat Beverley and Corey Brewer, who also aren’t starters for most NBA title contenders.
No planes, no banana boats, no emojis.
No buzz and nothing new to display at a silent Toyota Center when the league’s free-agency period finally became real at 11:01 p.m. Wednesday. TMZ instead of ESPN
First-round pick Sam Dekker starring in Las Vegas is more intriguing. Khloe Kardashian and The Beard have more juice.
Which is fine. Daryl Morey did everything he was supposed to during the initial eight days of free agency. The Rockets courted and lost LaMarcus Aldridge, but they were never expected to wed the summer’s biggest heartthrob. Beverley’s return gives James Harden a temporary answer at point guard. Brewer represents the continuity and chemistry that triggered the Rockets’ playoff surge. Josh Smith and Jason Terry remain on the market and become more cost-efficient as each day passes.
But there’s still something clearly missing from Houston’s second-mostpopular team.
The Rockets somehow found life in a 3-1 Western Conference semifinals hole to the Clippers, then came three wins away from replacing Golden State in the 2014-15 NBA Finals. Yet the core of Morey’s roster is still stuck between the Big Three fad that James briefly bought into and the dynamic, interchangeable pieces that carried the Warriors to Trophy Land. One relatively quiet free-agency period doesn’t mean the Rockets have lost their flair. But Houston no longer feels like the destination city it did just two seasons ago, when one of the league’s brightest GMs pulled off his thus-far career-defining coup: Dwight Howard and Harden in Rockets red.
San Antonio is again sharper and hipper on paper. The Spurs also have Gregg Popovich, R.C. Buford and five championships since the Rockets last won one.
Golden State shines brighter than ever. Re-inking Draymond Green (five years, $85 million) makes Beverley and Brewer look like midseason pickups for the Rockets.
Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Utah are due to rise in the West. The Grizzlies aren’t going anywhere. And the Clippers will still be dangerous, thanks to their possession of better cellphone cartoons than the Mavericks. Eventful to boring
Last summer for the Rockets: a glitzy banner and Jeremy Lin’s jersey to lure Carmelo Anthony; a seriously sad flirtation with Chris Bosh; Parsons calling Houston dirty; Lin’s cruel banishment.
The last week: mostly nothing for a franchise that has intentionally remained calm and content while the rest of the league has tossed around easy money like free banana boats.
The Warriors tweeted the only image that mattered Wednesday: a huge, fat, golden championship trophy.
That’s what Harden and Howard are supposed to bring to Houston. They still need a few more real pieces. Just like they did last year.