Houston Rockets: Complete 2017 offseason grades
Signing Tarik Black
The Rockets continued to bolster their bench depth as free agency went on. In the middle of July, Houston added Former Rocket Tarik Black to the bench on a one-year deal with his former team.
Black returns to Houston after playing the past two and a half seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. This past season, Black averaged 5.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game in 16.3 minutes per game.
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Per 36 minutes, Black averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, showing he can help Houston on the glass and by defending the rim. Black can also help by setting good screens for players such as Paul and James Harden, allowing them to get separation on drives to the rim, thus opening shots on the perimeter.
Black’s role with the Rockets will be one similar to Montrezl Harrell‘s role last season: a third-string center that is the primary backup on nights that Nene rests. As mentioned in a previous slide, Nene doesn’t play both ends of back-to-backs and sits out other random games in order to be fresh for his 15-20 minute stretches during key games.
This signing didn’t make the headlines on SportsCenter, but it’s a very good value play for the Rockets (Black will make $3.29 million next season). Houston will continue to monitor Nene’s minutes and games played even more as he continues to get older, meaning Black could see an increased role for various stages throughout the season.
For other teams, a third center making over $3 million wouldn’t make much sense. It also remains to be seen what other free agents the Rockets could have used this money on. However, in Houston’s case, a third center is forced into a larger role several times during the season, thus putting more importance on having a quality third-stringer.
Grade: B+