Rockets general manager Rafael Stone was glad to land Marcus Smart in free agency.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
LAS VEGAS — As Rafael Stone looked back on where last year’s Houston Rockets fell short, he knew he wanted to improve the team’s ball-handling, passing and decision-making.
The Rockets general manager spoke to reporters Friday before Houston’s first Summer League game and said he felt like Houston improved in those areas with the free agent signings of Bogdan Bogdanovic (one year, minimum contract) and Marcus Smart (two-year, $13 million contract with a player option in year two).
Stone also pointed to the Rockets poor injury luck last season: point guard Fred VanVleet missed the entire campaign after tearing his ACL, center Steven Adams’ season ended in mid-January and star forward Kevin Durant played in just one of Houston’s six playoff games.
Article continues below this ad
LINEUPS: New additions give plenty of options
As for this season? So far, so good.
“It looks like everybody’s on track to be a full go at the start of the season, which is awesome,” Stone said, before adding a note of caution. “But we gotta make it there. The guys who are rehabbing have to finish their rehab and the guys who are healthy have to stay healthy.”
VanVleet is on track to be a full-go going into training camp, Stone said.
Article continues below this ad
The Rockets could take a cautious approach with VanVleet and Adams, both 32 and coming off serious injuries. Houston sat some players who were coming off injuries on one half of back-to-backs last season.
If they take a similar approach with VanVleet, the addition of Smart should help.
“We’re just really excited. I did not expect we were going to be able to exit this summer with him,” Stone said of the veteran guard.
Stone said he wanted to add ballhandling and passing without sacrificing defense. Smart offers those traits with no defensive drop-off — the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year could make the Rockets even better on that end.
The other major move for Houston was retaining Tari Eason, a restricted free agent, on a five-year, $81.5 million contract with a player option in the fifth year. The two spoke on the phone recently and Stone said he told Eason that nothing had ever been given to him — Eason earned it.
Article continues below this ad
“He was never anointed. It’s like scratch and claw and fight for everything,” Stone said. “And he very much is deserving of this security that he’s gained for himself and his family.”
Stone said he and Eason both tried hard to agree on an extension before last season. They weren’t able to, something Stone said he didn’t like.
“Especially when you’re looking for your first big deal, there’s real pressure that comes with it that I would rather guys not have to go through,” he said — a dynamic worth monitoring as the Rockets negotiate with Amen Thompson on a rookie-scale extension this summer.
At his season-ending press conference, Stone said he expected Eason, Thompson and the other young Rockets — Alperen Şengün, Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. — to be “way better” basketball players next season. Stone, asked about the status of that growth Friday, said all the players have been in the gym and working out.
“I just rode in a car with Reed,” he said. “He looks like he’s picked up like 10 pounds. I don’t know what it is, but he looks way bigger.”
Article continues below this ad
Stone said that the extent of those improvements won’t be known until camp and the season but that the Rockets are “dependent” on those players. He called them the “backbone” of the team and said their growth will determine the team’s quality.
The additions and returning players should make the Rockets a deeper team than they were last season, something that could help them limit Durant’s minutes, a desire Stone expressed during his in-game interview with ESPN.
When speaking to media before the game, Stone noted that Durant hasn’t had continuity for the last chunk of his career. The star hasn’t played three full seasons with a team since his years with the Golden State Warriors. Stone believed that continuity could help Durant and the Rockets next season.
“The time I’ve spent with him, he seems happy, serene. He’s going to know his teammates. They’re going to know him,” Stone said. “I did feel like almost game-by-game everybody… got more comfortable as the season went on and so I’m hoping that we start next year where we ended this season in terms of people understanding what he’s about, what his strengths are, what his weaknesses are and vice versa.”
Article continues below this ad