Houston Rockets: 5 potential free agency targets in 2017
The Houston Rockets will once again try to add a star player to their roster during the 2017 free agency period. Who are some potential targets for Houston?
After acquiring Chris Paul, the Houston Rockets are looking to firmly establish their position in the upper echelon of the NBA by acquiring more pieces in free agency. As it currently stands, the Rockets don’t have many NBA-ready contributors on the roster, with their depth chart looking as follows:
- PG: Chris Paul
- SG: James Harden/Eric Gordon
- SF: Trevor Ariza
- PF: Ryan Anderson
- C: Clint Capela/Chinanu Onuaku
UPDATE: The Rockets have signed P.J. Tucker to a four-year, $32 million deal, as reported by Shams Charania.
It’s clear that Houston needs more depth, especially in the frontcourt. However, their goals in free agency may not be to simply add depth. As it is widely known, general manager Daryl Morey is always aggressive in free agency, and he will be looking for the next star player to add alongside Harden and Paul.
However, in order to acquire such a star, Morey would have to get very creative with contracts (similar to what he did in order to execute the trade for Paul). The Rockets currently have a $8.2 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception available, the $3.3 million bi-annual exception, and minimum contracts in order to sign free agents.
The other more likely route would be sign-and-trades in order to acquire a star. It is known that the Rockets have been shopping Ryan Anderson for the past couple of weeks, and they also have several players on non-guaranteed contracts that they could include for salary purposes in such trades.
However, it could be more important Houston focuses on shoring up a depleted bench this offseason. Having capable depth at every position is important to withstand the long grind of the regular season and a potentially deep playoff run.
With that being said, let’s take a look at five possible free agent targets for the Rockets and why they could be a good fit in Houston.