Assuming the Rockets keep the pick, or if it is used it as part of a package to trade up, the No. 17 overall selection (via Brooklyn) in Thursday’s 2022 NBA draft will be Houston’s first potentially long-term player acquired from the controversial James Harden trade in January 2021.
Going forward, it certainly won’t be the last. And that choice by general manager Rafael Stone is looking less controversial by the day.
The Rockets own either Brooklyn’s first-round pick or a right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in each of the next five years, through 2027. With the Nets reeling from Harden’s midseason departure in February 2022 and uncertainty over Kyrie Irving’s next contract, the outlook for those assets has never been better, from a Houston perspective.
Granted, the Rockets did acquire some players in the Harden trade — namely Victor Oladipo (later traded for Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley), Dante Exum, and Rodions Kurucs. But none of those players remain with the Rockets today, and they were mostly included in the Harden trade as salary filler to satisfy the league’s matching rules.
The primary goal, when Houston decided it had to trade its disgruntled All-Star and former MVP, was the historic haul of draft assets. While many fans wanted the Rockets to go a different direction with more certainty — a package from Philadelphia headlined by Ben Simmons, in particular — the path Stone took is looking more attractive by the day.
According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, Rockets ownership — namely, Tilman Fertitta and his son, Patrick — have noticed.
Patrick Fertitta, Tilman’s son who is heavily involved in the Rockets’ day-to-day operations, credits Stone and assistant general manager Eli Witus for “making the hard and, at the time, very unpopular decision” to prioritize draft capital in the Harden trade. …
Patrick Fertitta: We made the decision from an ownership standpoint that our goal was to win a championship. In order to win a championship, you have to take material sacrifice and pain. I think a lot of teams out there, a lot of organizations, a lot of ownership groups, a lot of front offices, their pain threshold doesn’t allow that.
We made a decision to go forward with that. It hasn’t been easy at times, but we’re committed to it, and we are aligned from ownership to the front office and on down the line to doing what it takes to give ourselves the highest probability of eventually winning…
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