The Houston Rockets were able to make a minor addition to their roster on day 3 of 2018 NBA free agency. Michael Carter-Williams is heading to Clutch City, but why?
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Houston Rockets have come to an agreement with former Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams, on a one-year minimum deal.
The signing is a no-brainer for Carter-Williams, who will find himself on a contending roster with the hope of earning rotation minutes under Mike D’Antoni. But for Houston, the deal makes little to no sense.
A career 25 percent shooter from beyond the arc, Carter-Williams has not been able to develop the jump shot he desperately needed to take the next step in the league. It’s been all downhill after a rookie season where he was able to stuff the box score on a terrible Philadelphia 76ers outfit.
The Rockets will become the fifth stop in Carter-Williams’ NBA career, as the former lottery selection battles for dear life to hang on in the league.
In the face of a rocky start to his NBA career, the 26-year-old has far from lost faith in his ability to re-emerge from the depths of a reduced role in recent seasons, via a conversation with NBA.com in December.
"“I’m still young and my game is still growing,” Carter-Williams said. “I haven’t reached my potential. I still believe I’m a starter in this league. I’ll play a role right now, because that’s what my team needs to win, but I want to lead a team.”"
The reaction to the Carter-Williams agreement was met with surprise, as the NBA Twitter-sphere questioned the logic behind the move.
Michael Carter Williams hasn’t played more than 54 games in a single season since 2015-2016. He’s also a career 25% shooter.
— Roosh (@RooshWilliams) July 3, 2018
I don’t get this.
If you delve a little deeper into Daryl Morey’s thinking behind the move, you can possibly see where the thought process veered, but the five-year sample size on Carter-Williams tells you it probably won’t be a stroke of genius when all is said and done.
At 6’6″, Carter-Williams has great size for a player that has predominantly played the point guard position, but the issue has always been his inefficient scoring. With the Rockets just losing Trevor Ariza to the Phoenix Suns, perhaps the hope is that Carter-Williams will be able to replace the length and defensive versatility that just walked out the door.
Michael Carter-Williams last season:
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) July 1, 2018
2PT: 62/170 — 36.5%
3PT: 14/59 — 23.7%
At the rim: 55.6%
Mid-range: 23.1%
Averaging just 4.9 assists per game while giving away 2.7 turnovers, Carter-Williams’ only real value comes on the other side of the floor. Despite all the negatives, he will be able to bring defensive versatility, and an ability to switch onto bigger guards and wings when called on.
Houston has $119M in salary after the Michael Carter-Williams signing. The Rockets still have to sign restricted free agent Clint Capela and currently have 4 roster spots open. Houston still has the $5.3M tax midlevel available.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 3, 2018
The deal has little bearing on the Rockets’ salary cap situation, as the attention firmly remains on their ability to bring back budding star Clint Capela.
MCW has always come off as a great teammate wherever he has landed. He generally seems to be very well liked, and is an extremely hard worker. But he just doesn’t have the offensive attributes that mesh with this Rockets outfit.
It’s a minimum deal, so it’s not the end of the world, but as much as I try to wrap my head around why they chose Michael Carter-Williams to take that roster spot, I can’t figure it out.
Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
Grade: C-