The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, co-founded by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, wrapped up this weekend, and for those not already aware, it’s become a monster, getting bigger with each passing year.
One of the comments made at the Conference was by longtime Boston reporter Jackie MacMullan, who started out her Basketball Analytics panel by saying Rockets coach Kevin McHale wasn’t very interested in Analytics, but that he will be.
That’s pretty interesting, considering Morey just hired McHale, so I asked him about it today before the Clippers game. While McHale finds value in some of the data, he seems to stick more to the old school train of thought and feels analytics more reinforces what he already knew.
The Rockets are 20-14 at the All-Star break and the team’s biggest story is still about who isn’t on the team.
No, I’m not talking about Pau Gasol and Nene, but the Jeremy Lin story continues to roar and it seems someone on the team is asked daily about why they cut the point guard out of Harvard on Christmas Eve, letting his talent be discovered in New York.
On Wednesday just before the Sixers game, McHale was asked about what he saw in Lin and why the cut, and being in a seemingly good mood, the Rockets coach gave some pretty open answers about it.
Good news, Rockets fans — Sergio Llull is looking sharp.
The Rockets hold the 6-foot-3 point guard’s draft rights after trading for him on draft night in 2009. The Denver Nuggets took Llull with the 34th pick, then sent him to Houston for $2.25 million, a record price for a second round pick. It’s looking like that investment could pay off.
The 24-year old Llull led Real Madrid to a victory in the Copa del Rey final on Sunday, putting up 23 points (5-7 on threes) to go with 5 assists, a performance that earned him MVP honors of the tournament. I was able to watch the championship game tape and compile the Llull highlights below: Read More
The Houston Rockets had plans for Terrence Williams this season. The team anticipated that T-Will would be filling the role that Chandler Parsons has taken, but the surprising defensive emergence of the rookie has kept Williams on the bench.
In fact, a source told me that Williams hasn’t done anything wrong and has actually played quite well, but that Parsons has played Shane Battier-quality defense and they needed that in the lineup. The Rockets aren’t ignorant to the fact that it’s quite possible that T-Will could blossom with a playing time opportunity, similar to Jeremy Lin. The team still raves about T-Will’s athleticism.
But riding the pine? That’s not something the explosive third-year forward expected and he hasn’t been too happy about it, whether it’s expressing that through Twitter or via the media.
“I’m going to leave regardless,” said Williams. “I’m not re-signing here. Come the end of the season, I won’t be back here regardless, so whether it is leaving now or leaving later, I’m not going to be here at the end of the day. It’s not for me to say (whether he leaves by the March 15 trade deadline or as a free agent.). That’s for the guys that are supposedly in the office making decisions. Whatever.”
We had a chance to talk to T-Will after Sunday’s win over the Jazz, and he clarified what he meant with those comments.
With the January 25th deadline to extend rookie contracts having passed, let’s take a look at the Houston Rockets salary cap situation heading towards the March 15th trade deadline. Read More
New Jersey feels like they have their man, but the Rockets still have their sights set on Deron Williams
Just before the lockout started, the Summer of 2012 was shaping up as the Howard & Paul Free-For-All, but it was made emphatically clear to me then that neither player was considered the key get for the Rockets. Houston’s top target was New Jersey Nets point guard Deron Williams, multiple sources told ClutchFans.
Let’s talk informally about what I think is about to become a big question for the Rockets and their fans. Here’s a breakdown of some of the things to consider: Read More
Dalembert's Houston Rockets contract adds to Daryl Morey's flexibility in future trades
Let me preface this piece by saying that I am not the world’s biggest Samuel Dalembert fan. I certainly don’t hate him. Just never been a big fan of his, is all.
Like many Houston Rockets fans, I am still hung over from the aftermath of the Pau Gasol trade that wasn’t. (And make no mistake: that trade wasn’t just for Pau; the Rockets would have likely gotten Nene, while still retaining the ability to re-sign Chuck Hayes, and would have forged one of the league’s best and deepest front lines for the next three years.) After that, a Dalembert signing seems more like leaving with the home version of the game show you just lost on national television.
That said, with the signing of Dalembert to a two-year contract, the Houston Rockets have gotten themselves a legitimate starting center and now have a better chance to break their recent playoff drought this season. Read More
If you’ve been following our training camp coverage in the forums, you probably know by now that Rockets guard/forward Terrence Williams has been dropping out a few shoutouts to the ClutchFans community.
This started harmlessly with a tweet that, through replies, got back to Williams. He responded. Then he saw the videos, started to reply to the camera and even called ClutchFans the “best fans on earth.” In fact, T-Will had dropped a third shoutout to ClutchFans on media day, but I didn’t post it initially because I thought — geez, people are going to think I set this up like some sort of self-promoting radio/TV intro.
The truth is I hadn’t set it up and hadn’t even talked to T-Will about it, so I didn’t know if he actually read the site or if just some of the videos and replies on our Twitter feed had caught his attention. After all, we have thousands of diehards posting different opinions daily in the forums, and some aren’t so sunny — what if he had read some of that stuff? That probably wouldn’t go over too well (#wordaapp).
