Looking back and taking a closer look at a few of the best and worst moves the Houston Rockets made during the 2023 NBA offseason.
Despite being in the early stages of a rebuild, the Houston Rockets have one of the most talented young rosters. There was hope that if the Rockets could make a couple of key additions this summer that they could emerge as a dark horse threat to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. However, that’s a lot easier said than done.
Nevertheless, after back-to-back underwhelming seasons in which the Rockets have won a combined 42 games, the status quo was an unacceptable possible for Houston.
The Houston Rockets want to be a playoff team this season
Heading into the offseason, one of the bigger priorities for the Rockets included improving the team to the point where they’d emerge as a legit threat to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. Even with the moves they made during the offseason, there’s no guarantee of that just yet.
Before we begin to break down their chances of making the playoffs in the West this season, let’s look back at a few of the best and worst offseason moves made by the Rockets in their quest to take a step forward heading into the 2023-24 NBA season.
Best offseason moves
It was clear from the onset that the Houston Rockets were going to do everything in their power this offseason to expedite their rebuild. And, for the most part, the Rockets actually did a pretty good job of doing that. And it started with two excellent selections in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Drafting Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore
After deciding against trading the pick, the Rockets selected Amen Thompson with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft. As he showed in Summer League, Thompson has the player to be a dynamic player for the Rockets. If he reaches his ceiling, he could end up being the best young player from their core.
But that wasn’t the only good move the Rockets made in the NBA Draft. After selecting Thompson with the No. 4 pick, the Rockets traded up to No. 20 to select Cam Whitmore after he fell in the draft. Whitmore is a top 7 talent that fell out of the lottery completely. He could end up being the steal of the draft.
Signing Fred VanVleet
After a great showing in the NBA Draft, the Rockets followed that up by making one of the bigger signings in free agency. Houston signed Fred VanVleet to a huge deal but the biggest reason why I didn’t mind this move is because it’s just a three-year deal.
VanVleet could be a calming veteran presence for the team over the next couple of seasons and then can move on once Houston’s young backcourt is ready to take back the reins.
Worst offseason moves
The thing about the Houston Rockets is that many expected them to be big players in free agency. They did exactly that while also continuing to stockpile young talent. While you can say that’s a smart way to build, I look at it as a potentially flawed way of trying to play both sides with young players and veterans. Nevertheless, there was one offseason move that took the case as the Rockets’ worst move of the offseason.
Signing Dillon Brooks
It’s not even just the fact that the Rockets agreed to pay Dillon Brooks roughly $20 million per season over the next four years. The decision to sign Brooks could end up being somewhat that complete backfires from a locker room perspective. Did the Rockets need to add veteran talent? Sure. Did they need a small forward? Absolutely. However, I have a hard time seeing how Brooks was a top choice, especially after the season he just had for the Memphis Grizzlies.
It was so bad that the Grizzlies didn’t even give the impression that they were trying to re-sign Brooks.
The chance that Brooks ends up working out in Houston is quite low. I think this has bust-signing written all over it.