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 effectively 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 [for] 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 a title. That’s the path we’ve chosen, and we’re sticking to it.”
Tilman Fertitta: If you look back at what we would have gotten versus the draft capital that we got, I couldn’t be happier with the decision.
The Rockets feared being stuck in NBA purgatory when James Harden forced a trade. GM Rafael Stone: “The NBA punishes the middle.” So they loaded up on picks, projects and patience.
ESPN story about the Rockets rebuild that’s still in the early stages: https://t.co/N1pDYc30Bc
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 23, 2022
It’s also worth noting that the path chosen by the Rockets allowed them to lose many more games in the 2020-21 season, which led to them maximizing their 2021 draft lottery odds and eventually drafting Jalen Green at No. 2 overall as a franchise cornerstone.
Had Houston acquired a package in the Harden trade with more immediate difference makers, the Rockets likely would have won more games. In that scenario, not only would the Rockets not have Green, but they likely would have tumbled in the first-round order — since Oklahoma City had a top-four-protected pick swap right with Houston.
It’s certainly not a victory lap, since Stone, Witus, and the rest of Houston’s front office still need to make appropriate choices with that draft capital. The Rockets also need to develop them in the right way. Whether Brooklyn actually breaks up its current core, or if they can find a way to salvage things with Irving, is still an open question. The answer could determine just how valuable those future picks are.
But in June 2022, 17 months after the Harden trade, the outlook is as positive as it realistically could be at such an early stage. The good news for Stone and Witus is that Houston’s ownership sees it, too.
