Why Stone mostly stood pat at deadline
Playing the long game, GM didn’t want ‘to shake things up just to shake things up’
The morning after the NBA trade deadline, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone received as much interest in the deals the Rockets did not do as the one they did.
Stone on Friday declined to discuss details of trades that did not come to fruition at Thursday’s deadline, including offers the Rockets may have received for guard Eric Gordon and center Christian Wood or sought for the redshirting John Wall.
Stone did confirm that the Rockets received offers for Gordon and Wood but were not enticed to bite at the first whiff of cheese.
“We’re not trying to shake things up just to shake things up,” Stone said. “And so the mere fact that you get an offer, even if it’s a good offer, doesn’t mean you necessarily do it.”
The Rockets’ quiet trade deadline aligned with Stone’s philosophy. Every move, or lack thereof, is purposeful.
The Rockets shipped little-used big man Daniel Theis back to Boston in exchange for guard Dennis Schroder, forward/center Bruno Fernando and center Enes Freedom. The deal gave Theis, who came to the Rockets from the Bulls in an offseason sign-andtrade, a chance to reunite with his original NBA team and simultaneously cleared his four-year, $35.6 million contract off the books.
The three players the Rockets acquired are on expiring contracts. The Rockets will waive Freedom and test out the fit with Schroder and Fernando.
Stone described the deal as coming together “at the last second” and said the Rockets didn’t necessarily anticipate having to swap one player for three players, which led them to waive guards D.J. Augustin and Armoni Brooks.
“A lot of it is just contracts, unfortunately,” Stone said. “D.J. is expiring and Armoni, his deal didn’t have any money going for
ward. … If maybe we had all known we were going to do this trade two weeks ago, maybe we could have found a way to incorporate other teams so that we didn’t have the same roster spot issues, but those were just the issues we had. So we did it, and those two guys weren’t in the rotation currently.”
Gordon and Wood are not on expiring contracts. Both players wanted to remain in Houston and the Rockets see a future for them here, at least in the short term.
“I think they’re important parts of this team,” Stone said. “With this group of players, we do feel as though we’ve seen a real growth. It’s been uneven, to say the least. But we do perceive there to have been real growth this year and we think that this is, that we kind of firmly believe that we’re going to see a lot of internal growth with these guys.”
Stone said he has had initial conversations with Schroder, a 28-year-old point guard in his ninth NBA season, about what he can bring to the Rockets.
“He’s just a really good basketball player and has been for years,” Stone said. “Depending upon how you measure it, we’re either the fastest or one of the top three or four fastest teams in the NBA, and he’s obviously electric in the open court and he’s an above average defender. And so I think it’s going to be a good fit or I hope it’s going to be a good fit, again, both ways.”
Rockets coach Stephen Silas said he hoped Schroder could act as a stabilizer for the second unit playing alongside rookie guard Josh Christopher. Gordon has missed three consecutive games with a sore heel, possibly opening a temporary opportunity for Schroder to get minutes with the starting lineup.
Stone said it was too earNBA’s ly to tell how Schroder will fit into the rotation, but he was adamant the addition would not detract from the development of Houston’s young guards. The general manager pointed to Augustin and Gordon as players whose experience was useful to the Rockets’ cadre of young players and as examples of the role Schroder can assume as well.
“My hope is that Dennis is helpful in the same way, but Dennis is also not by any means like an over-thehill veteran,” Stone said. “Nor is Eric. Eric’s playing maybe the best basketball of his career. So the other thing is, is that they’re both, we think, helping these guys develop and players we’re interested in. So from my perspective, yeah, there’s a multitude of things we like.”
Another thing to keep an eye on is Schroder’s availability. While playing for the Lakers last season, Schroder said he was not vaccinated against COVID-19. Stone said he did not know if Schroder is vaccinated now.
If he is unvaccinated, he will not be allowed to play when the Rockets visit Toronto in April and is at greater risk of missing other games because of the health and safety protocols.
The Rockets were 100 percent vaccinated at the start of the season.
Fernando’s role with the Rockets is less clear. Fernando, a high secondround draft pick in 2019, is 23 and averaged just 2.9 minutes per game for the Celtics this season. But the Rockets have only two centers available, Wood and Alperen Sengun, while Usman Garuba is out indefinitely with a wrist injury. Stone described Fernando as a potential depth piece.
“We’ll just see, I think, is the real answer with him,” Stone said. “I don’t pretend to know as much about his game as Dennis, but that’s largely because he hasn’t had the opportunity.”
As for how the Rockets will fill their open roster spot once Freedom is officially waived, it does not appear they imminently intend to convert two-way guard Daishen Nix to a standard contract.
Nix was in Houston on Friday for administrative reasons and to have lunch with Stone before he rejoins the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Saturday for a road trip.
Stone said he anticipates Nix being called up to the Rockets again at some point but said there are no firm plans to do so.
“We’re really, really happy with his development and so there’s no need to interrupt that right now,” Stone said.
In any case, the Rockets’ long-term plans are more likely to be impacted by moves made by the Nets than by what the Rockets themselves accomplished at the deadline — a reminder that Stone’s vision is far from complete.
“I feel very, very good and very, very comfortable about where we are,” Stone said. “We are trying to build something that’s really cool and very sustainable and that will lead to tremendous success as a franchise. And I feel very good that we’re doing that and that we have probably accelerated that timeline more than most people would have thought possible when we started 14 months ago, 13 months ago.
“Having said that, until you’ve accomplished it, you haven’t accomplished it. So that’s where I think we are.”