With two first-round draft picks, including No. 4 overall, and more than $60 million in financial room beneath the NBA’s salary cap entering free agency, the 2023 offseason was a significant one for the Houston Rockets and their ongoing rebuild.
Ultimately, those assets resulted in the Rockets bringing in Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore (summer league MVP) in the draft, followed by several veteran additions in free agency — headlined by veteran guard Fred VanVleet and forward Dillon Brooks.
Buy Rockets TicketsAs Colin Ward-Henninger of CBS Sports sees it, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone deserves praise for that work. CBS gives the Rockets an A-minus grade for the 2023 offseason, and the hiring of Ime Udoka to replace Stephen Silas as head coach also played a role.
Ward-Henninger writes:
New coach. New point guard. New attitude (we’re looking at you, Dillon).
Hoping to be a doormat no more, the Rockets brought in a no-nonsense leader in Ime Udoka and gritty players like VanVleet and Brooks to lead a veritable cornucopia of young, electrifying talent. Houston reportedly went hard at Brook Lopez, who would have provided a much-needed defensive anchor in the middle, but the Rockets still made huge strides this offseason while bringing in potential future stars in Thompson and Whitmore.
Offseason grades for the other 29 NBA teams can be read here. As for the 2023-24 Rockets, training camp begins in early October.
