Tag: Tilman Fertitta

Rockets’ Clint Capela tracking to meet defensive rebounding bonus

The rebounding totals by Rockets center Clint Capela have been historic at times this season, and it could soon pay off financially.

Houston Rockets center Clint Capela has a clear financial incentive to rebound well, especially on the defensive end, and that’s exactly what he continues to do as the calendar turns to 2020.

Entering Wednesday, the 6-foot-10 Capela ranked second in the NBA to Detroit’s Andre Drummond with an average of 14.2 rebounds per game.

Perhaps most importantly to the Swiss big man, that total includes a 31.6% defensive rebounding rate. Under his current contract, Capela can earn an additional $500,000 each year if he plays 2,000 minutes and finishes with a 30% or better defensive rebounding rate.

At the moment, with the 2019-20 campaign nearing its halfway point for the Rockets, the 25-year-old is tracking to meet both of those marks.

 

Besides what it means for Capela personally, his likelihood of receiving (or not receiving) any of those bonuses might even influence the team’s strategy at the February trade deadline, since it could raise or lower the team’s projected end-of-season payroll for luxury tax purposes.

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Capela is unlikely to receive his bonus for 65% free-throw shooting, since he’s now at 51.2% this season. (He is improving, though, at 76.5% over his last four games.) The largest bonus — whether the Rockets make the Western Conference Finals — is months away from being decided.

As far as the rebounding component, though, it’s remarkable how Capela still continues to improve. Now in his sixth NBA season, Capela has increased his rebounding average in each season to date — rising by 3.4 after his first season, and then by 1.7, 2.7, and 1.9 in the following years.

To this point, Capela’s average of 14.2 rebounds per game is up by 1.5 from his 12.7 total in 2018-19, his fifth season. In an identical 33.6 minutes per game, Capela has lifted his defensive rebounding by more than two per game — from 8.2 last year to 10.3 this season.

In turn, that has helped boost Capela’s defensive rebounding rate from 27.6% to 31.6%, putting him comfortably above the bonus threshold.

In late November and early December, Capela grabbed 19 or more rebounds in eight consecutive games, which was the longest such streak by any NBA player going back to 1969. He has seven games of 20 or more rebounds this season, which matches his entire total from the first five seasons (295 games) of his career combined.

Capela’s contributions have also sparked a much improved showing on the glass for the entire team. Entering Wednesday, Houston ranked No. 5 in the NBA with an average of 47.1 rebounds, up significantly from their No. 28 placement last season at 42.1 per game.

Capela missed two games in late December with a right heel contusion, which may have contributed to two of his lower rebounding games of the month (11, 10) in the Dec. 25 and Dec. 31 games immediately preceding and following his absence.

But after getting multiple off days to rest after the New Year’s Eve game, Capela responded with one of the best showings of his career with 30 points (75% shooting) and 14 rebounds in 37 minutes versus the Philadelphia 76ers (24-14) and All-Star big man Joel Embiid.

Coming off an even longer rest period with four consecutive days off, Capela should have every opportunity to keep his momentum rolling when the Rockets (24-11) take on the Hawks (8-29) on Wednesday night in Atlanta. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central.

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James Harden posts heartfelt tribute to late David Stern

Houston Rockets star James Harden posted an extended tribute note to former NBA commissioner David Stern, who passed away Wednesday.

Houston Rockets superstar James Harden took to Instagram to post a tribute note in remembrance of former NBA commissioner David Stern, who died Wednesday at 77 years old.

Stern suffered a brain hemorrhage on Dec. 12 and underwent emergency brain surgery in the aftermath. Stern’s wife and family were with him at his bedside, according to a statement from the NBA league office.

Harden, who was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft, shared a photo of himself shaking Stern’s hand on draft night with the following message:

I remember when every young hooper’s dream was to have this moment with the commissioner. … Thank you for all you have done for the game. You were a true leader, visionary, and also a flat out game changer. The league wouldn’t be what it is today without you. The entire NBA family and fans around the world will miss you. … RIP David Stern.

Stern was commissioner of the NBA for 30 years, from February 1, 1984 through January 31, 2014.

Led by owner Tilman J. Fertitta, the Rockets also posted their own words of appreciation for Stern on the team’s social media accounts.

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Key contract dates looming for Gary Clark, Isaiah Hartenstein

If the decision is purely on basketball merit, here’s why both Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein should stick around with the Rockets.

Within the first week of 2020, we may learn quite a bit about the Houston Rockets and their financial strategy over the new year.

On Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, young prospects Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein will begin out-earning the partial guarantees on their current contracts.

To this point, there was no real incentive to consider trading or releasing either player, since their salary until early January was already locked in. But once 2020 arrives, what happens with Clark and Hartenstein could be a key indicator regarding the role of the NBA’s luxury tax in the team’s roster decisions and any directive from owner Tilman J. Fertitta.

With Houston’s roster now full at 15 standard players after signing rookie guard Chris Clemons to a three-year deal last week, the Rockets could let one player go without being required to fill the roster spot at all. They could simply save cash on that spot, should they choose. (They could also let both players go and eventually fill one roster slot via cheaper alternatives, such as a player on a 10-day contract.)

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From a basketball perspective, there wouldn’t seem to be a case to move on from either player. Hartenstein, a 21-year-old seven-footer, averaged 14 points on 72.2% shooting and 11 rebounds in 29.3 minutes over two games last weekend, with usual starting center Clint Capela out injured.

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Meanwhile, the 6-foot-6 Clark has played minutes for Mike D’Antoni this season as both a power forward and as a small-ball center. Known best for his defense, the 25-year-old has also improved his 3-point shooting from 29.7% a season ago to 34.0% this year.

In December, as he’s received more consistent playing time, Clark has boosted that 3-point percentage to 37.5% in 10 games — including two outings on Dec. 9 and Dec. 21 with three makes in five attempts (60%).

Even if neither player has distinguished himself yet as a potential rotation piece in the playoffs, they’re viable depth pieces near the end of D’Antoni’s bench to help the Rockets survive inevitable regular-season injuries. Moreover, they’re among the youngest players on one of the NBA’s oldest rosters and seem to have upside for further improvement.

Thus, there wouldn’t seem to be a basketball-related reason to let either Hartenstein or Clark go. That might change after February’s trade deadline, if the Rockets need to open up a roster spot to sign a buyout candidate that they view as a fit. But if the Rockets were inclined to experiment with any current free agent such as J.R. Smith, Jamal Crawford, or Luc Mbah a Moute, they already had a roster spot open for over a month after waiving Ryan Anderson in late November.

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There’s also the issue of tradable salary as GM Daryl Morey approaches the deadline. Since the Rockets are above the league’s salary cap, they have to send out nearly as much money as they take in to consummate any trade. That’s harder than it might sound, since Houston doesn’t have much in the way of filler salary from non-essential players — especially since veterans Austin Rivers and Gerald Green have trade veto power.

Any free agent signing cannot be traded for 60 days, per the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. By this point, that timetable would run beyond the 2019-20 deadline for any new acquisition.

Between the merits of Hartenstein and Clark’s own play, the knowledge that the Rockets already had an open roster spot for over a month and didn’t deem any current free agent worthy of using it for, and the ability of both young players to be traded, there doesn’t seem to be any reason other than saving money to move on from either player at this juncture.

Both players have also earned rave reviews from Houston’s starplayers, led by former MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

It should be noted that if the Rockets do move on from one or both players, it doesn’t yet prove that they plan to completely avoid the luxury tax this season. (At the moment, they’re very close to the line.)

It could be that the Rockets still pay the tax, but want to minimize the extent of payments. Or they might not see either Hartenstein or Clark as worthy of greenlighting tax payments, whereas a more proven veteran option that might come available in February by trade or buyout could lead to a different conclusion. It’s not a binding referendum on whether the team will pay the tax this season.

It is, however, another key inflection point in which we’ll learn more about Fertitta in his third season owning the team. Be it for on-court play or future trade purposes, there doesn’t seem to be any basketball-related reason to move on from Hartenstein or Clark in the coming days.

Rather, the primary beneficiary of such a move would be the owner’s pocketbook. Could that be enough to force a transaction that would seem to be against the team’s best interests on the court? We’ll soon find out.

Report: Rockets very interested in Minnesota’s Robert Covington

Despite Houston’s rumored interest, it’s challenging to put together a workable Robert Covington trade between the Rockets and Timberwolves.

The Houston Rockets have “serious interest” in trading for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Robert Covington, according to a report published Tuesday by The Ringer‘s Kevin O’Connor.

Known best for his defense, the 6-foot-7 Covington is averaging 12.5 points (45.5% shooting, 36.9% on three-pointers) and 5.3 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game this season. He’s signed through the 2021-22 season at an annual average of just over $12 million.

O’Connor writes:

The Houston Rockets have serious interest in Covington, league sources say. The Rockets are in the market for wings; with James Harden having another MVP-caliber season, they’re a team that should go all in no matter who the target is. They have the ammo to do so: Despite the pile of picks it sent Oklahoma City in the Chris Paul–for–Russell Westbrook blockbuster, Houston can still dangle its first-round picks in 2020 and 2022.

This coming Sunday, Dec. 15, is unofficially known in the NBA as the start of the league’s annual trading season. That’s because it’s the date that most players who signed new contracts over the last offseason are first eligible to be dealt. In turn, that opens up many more possibilities to make the math work around the league on potential deals.

Any trade for a significant salary is tricky for the Rockets, who are well above the league’s salary cap. This means they have to send out close to as much money as they take in, in order to make any trade permissible under the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Unfortunately for Houston, they don’t have much in the way of “filler” salary for trades. To overcome that, the team’s hope appeared to be that an incentive-heavy contract to veteran center Nene could help bridge the financial gap. However, the NBA decided in September not to count the amount of the incentives toward Nene’s outgoing trade value, financially.

Eric Gordon cannot be traded this season due to the timing of his contract extension, and the other four significant contracts on the Rockets (James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Clint Capela, and P.J. Tucker) are unlikely to be dealt for Covington because they’re superior players. Excluding those five, every other player on the roster makes approximately $3.5 million or less.

The incentive for the rebuilding Timberwolves (10-13) to do a deal a Covington deal, as O’Connor notes, is there regardless. That would be one or both of the 2020 and 2022 first-round draft picks. But to make a deal legal under the CBA, the Rockets would have to send out close to $9 million in salary along with those picks.

Once Nene ($2.6 million) is trade eligible on Jan. 15, the Rockets could theoretically trade Nene, Ben McLemore ($2.1 million), and two or three other minimum salaries to get there. But the challenge is that Minnesota would have to open up as many as four extra roster spots after trading Covington to make such a deal legal, and that seems unlikely.

More reasonably, Rockets GM Daryl Morey would have to make it a three or even four-team deal to find enough open roster spots to make that type of structure workable. It would also require owner Tilman Fertitta greenlighting luxury tax payments, since trading four or five players for one and then filling out the depth chart with subsequent moves would push Houston well over the tax line — which they’re already close to.

In short, the stars would have to align perfectly. It’s not implausible, but for Houston to trade for a salary as large as Covington, several challenging variables would all need to line up.

At a minimum, though, it’s more evidence along the lines of Monday’s report that the Rockets (15-8) are aggressively targeting wing help on the market. By all indications, Morey won’t hesitate to give up future assets if it boosts the team’s championship odds this season.

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Rumor: Rockets would trade future assets for 2019-20 roster help

With an emphasis on wings, the Houston Rockets are reportedly open to trading future assets if they can boost their 2019-20 roster.

The Houston Rockets are willing to give up future assets in order to boost their 2019-20 roster, with a likely emphasis on wing players, according to a new report published Monday by The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.

The timing of the report is significant, since next Sunday is Dec. 15. That’s the unofficial start of trade season in the NBA, since it’s the date that most players who signed last offseason are eligible to be dealt.

Regarding the Rockets, who appear fully committed to doing whatever they can to boost their championship odds this season, Charania writes:

The Rockets are willing to give up more future assets for roster help right now, league sources say. Houston will most likely target wing players on the market.

The team’s best future assets would likely be first-round picks in the 2020 NBA Draft and/or the 2022 NBA Draft. Because the Rockets traded their 2024 and 2026 first-rounders to Oklahoma City in the deal for Russell Westbrook, they cannot trade their 2023 or 2025 first-round picks because of a league rule that prohibits teams from not having a first-round pick in consecutive future seasons.

Thus, draft choices within the next three seasons are likely to be Houston’s best assets on the marketplace.

The problem for the Rockets could come in their apparent lack of “filler” salaries to make the math work on potential trades. Because Houston is above the NBA’s salary cap, they must send out close to as much money as they take in under any proposed transaction.

The organization’s hope appeared to be that an incentive-heavy contract to veteran center Nene could help bridge the financial gap. However, the NBA decided in September not to count the amount of the incentives toward Nene’s outgoing trade value, financially.

The Rockets could still combine several minimum salaries to create a large enough outgoing figure to take in a significant salary from another team. However, that would probably require a three- or four-team deal. That’s because it’s unlikely that any one team would be able to create four or five open roster spots to take in several contracts from the Rockets. if they are only sending out one player in the deal.

If true, Charania’s report would seem to indicate that GM Daryl Morey has authorization from owner Tilman Fertitta to have a payroll in luxury-tax territory. With the Rockets already up against the tax line, any new acquisition for future draft assets would almost certainly push them over.

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Report: If no title, Mike D’Antoni unlikely to return to Rockets

A new report says the Rockets and head coach Mike D’Antoni will likely part ways after the season if Houston does not win the NBA title.

A new report published Monday by The Athletic suggests that the Houston Rockets and head coach Mike D’Antoni are likely to part ways if the team does not win the NBA championship this season.

D’Antoni is currently in the final year of the four-year contract he signed in 2016 to become the 13th head coach in Rockets franchise history. The coach and team tried multiple times during the 2019 offseason to secure a contract extension, but were unable to come to terms.

In their story, Sam Amick and John Hollinger of The Athletic write:

Barring a Rockets championship that could spark a kumbaya healing of sorts and inspire Fertitta to open his wallet to meet that sort of moment, a source with direct knowledge of these dynamics expressed serious skepticism that D’Antoni would return after this season. To be more precise, the chances – per the source – are currently seen as “slim.” This shouldn’t surprise anyone considering the context here.

Hollinger and Amick also reported that D’Antoni had to push “harder than he would have liked” to have the fourth-year option on his contract (for this current season) picked up in June 2018.

According to Monday’s The Athletic report, there was a belief then that the Rockets were keeping their coaching options open while waiting to see if they had a chance of luring pending free agent LeBron James. That may have contributed to friction between the coach and team.

While we’re many months away from learning whether the 2019-20 Rockets will be NBA champions, Amick and Hollinger write in Monday’s story that D’Antoni’s potential availability could have a ripple effect on coaching situations elsewhere in the league — with other NBA teams potentially making a plan to pursue him once his current deal expires.

Now in his fourth season with the Rockets, the 68-year-old D’Antoni is 188-80 (.701) in 268 regular-season games and 23-16 (.590) in 39 postseason games. Both winning percentages are the highest by any coach in Houston franchise history.

Houston owner Tilman Fertitta and GM Daryl Morey each said in late September at the start of training camp for the 2019-20 season that they expect D’Antoni with the Rockets on a long-term basis. “We’ll work it out after the season,” Morey said, referring to the coach’s contract.

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Why the Rockets have a decision to make this week on Ben McLemore

For both basketball and contractual reasons, the Houston Rockets may need to make a decision this week about Ben McLemore’s future.

Last week, the Houston Rockets waived Ryan Anderson just days before his salary was set to pass his partial guarantee of $500,000.

In addition to freeing up a roster spot, the transaction limited the amount of future money and potential luxury tax payments that might have had to be made for a player who did not figure into the team’s longer-term plans. Payments up to the $500,000 guarantee were essentially a sunk cost once Anderson made the opening-day roster, but anything beyond that total needed to make sense on the merits of his on-court play.

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By Sunday, they could have a similar decision to make with regards to 26-year-old swingman Ben McLemore, who is poised to exceed the $500,000 partial guarantee in his contract on Dec. 1, 2019.

It’s certainly not as easy of a decision with McLemore as it was with Anderson. After all, the veteran forward never cracked the team’s rotation and only played in two games this season.

McLemore, on the other hand, has played in all 17 games for the Rockets (11-6) this season, and his minutes per game jumped from 7.3 in October to 24.2 in November. He even started four games at small forward when usual starter Danuel House Jr. was out due to injury. Both head coach Mike D’Antoni and superstar guard James Harden have praised McLemore at various points this season.

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The issue for McLemore, however, is that his primary role — at least in theory — is a fairly replaceable one. In effect, he’s supposed to be the bench shooter for Houston in place of Gerald Green, who is lost for the 2019-20 season with a broken foot.

But despite getting numerous open looks off the attention drawn by Harden and Russell Westbrook, McLemore is shooting just 29.6% from three-point range on the season on 5.8 three-pointers per game. With 98 total attempts, that’s not an insignificant sample size, and it’s hard to justify significant minutes at that level for a team as dependent on three-pointers as D’Antoni’s Rockets. In his last four games, McLemore has had two games of 0-of-5 and 0-of-6 from three-point range.

By contrast, Green connected on 36.0% of his three-pointers over the last two seasons with the Rockets.

Internally, D’Antoni could consider giving some of McLemore’s time to young prospects Chris Clemons or Gary Clark — though neither would be a drop-in replacement for McLemore’s usual wing minutes. At 5-foot-9, Clemons is a half-foot shorter, while the 6-foot-6 Clark has primarily played in the NBA at power forward and even as a stretch center.

The simplest change could be an external signing, where several proven veteran wings are available. Keep in mind, there is precedent for D’Antoni’s Rockets to make such a change on the fly, given the in-season signings of Green two years ago and House and Austin Rivers last season.

After last Friday’s loss in Los Angeles, The Athletic‘s Kelly Iko wrote that the Rockets were not yet considering such a move.

Concerning the injuries to Houston’s snipers, Rockets fans have pointed to the free-agent pool of shooters like J.R. Smith, Jamal Crawford, and Nick Young — names I brought up in conversation — but there’s no sense of desperation to go that route. Internally, they believe the contributions of Ben McLemore and even calling up players like Gary Clark can hold them above water while Eric Gordon and Danuel House return to the fold.

But things can change quickly in the NBA. McLemore went 0-for-6 from long range in Sunday’s loss to the Mavs, which puts the Rockets on their longest losing streak of the year at three games.

Since Gordon isn’t expected back until late December, there could be a sense of urgency to do something sooner. With Harden on a historic scoring binge, teams are double-teaming him more frequently than ever, which makes it imperative that other players on the court with him take advantage of the resulting open shots and four-on-three situations.

Moreover, from a logistics perspective, this week could be an ideal opportunity to consider changes. In addition to Sunday being a key inflection point with McLemore’s contract, the Rockets are in Houston all week and have just one game (Wednesday versus Miami) between Sunday’s loss to Dallas and Saturday’s game versus Atlanta.

That means ample practice time for the Rockets, and an opportunity for D’Antoni to tweak his rotation, should he and the team deem it necessary.

To be clear, the Rockets wouldn’t have to release McLemore to change their rotation. They already have an open roster spot after waiving Anderson, and there’s also the option of replacing his minutes internally with the likes of Clemons or Clark. But if Houston deems McLemore unworthy of rotation minutes, it may not be not worth having him occupy a roster spot and the potential luxury-tax payments on it down the line.

After all, the Rockets already have the NBA’s third-highest payroll for the 2019-20 season, and owner Tilman Fertitta hasn’t yet shown a willingness in his tenure to spend deep into the luxury tax.

The one exception could be if the Rockets felt they needed McLemore as salary filler for a potential in-season trade, since any new signing — unlike McLemore, who was signed in the offseason — could not be aggregated for trade purposes for 60 days.

There’s also the option, of course, that they continue using McLemore in the same role they have for weeks. It’s not as if there isn’t a case for it. Even with the losing streak, Houston’s current stretch of eight wins in 11 games would be good for a 60-win pace over a full season. In that run, McLemore has averaged nearly 25 minutes per game.

Despite his shooting struggles and occasional defensive issues — at 6-foot-3, he’s quite undersized relative to most small forwards — McLemore still grades out favorably by many metrics. For example, though he shot 0-of-6 in Sunday’s loss, his +4 in the plus/minus category during his 21 minutes was the only positive of any player in D’Antoni’s rotation.

For the season as a whole, McLemore’s defensive rating of 103.9 and overall net rating of 10.9 are both the best of any Rockets rotation player. However, those numbers would appear to fly in the face of both the percentages and the eye test. That’s the dilemma for D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey as they try and assess his true value to the team.

As of Monday, it’s unclear what the final verdict will be. But the Rockets are home in Houston all week, with a stretch of four off days in five days. There’s a clear sense of urgency to turn things around after three straight losses, and they’re well aware that Sunday is a critical inflection point, as it pertains to McLemore’s contract. That makes this subject one to monitor closely as the week progresses.

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Report: Chinese backlash costing Rockets over $7 million this season

The Chinese backlash to Daryl Morey’s tweet could reportedly cost the Rockets $20 million, once terminated multiyear deals are calculated.

The Chinese backlash to the now infamous Hong Kong tweet by Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey could cost the franchise nearly $20 million once terminated multiyear deals are calculated, according to a story published Tuesday by ESPN‘s Kevin Arnovitz.

The ongoing controversy could also have ramifications for owner Tilman Fertitta and superstar guard James Harden, if no resolution is reached between the NBA and its Chinese partners. Arnovitz writes:

No team has felt the brunt of the fallout more than the Rockets. League sources say the franchise has lost more than $7 million in revenue this season from cancelled Chinese sponsorship agreements and nearly $20 million overall when terminated multiyear deals are calculated.

Previous Rockets owner Leslie Alexander was able to parlay the Rockets’ presence in China into numerous investment opportunities, from wine distribution to the Chinese auto aftermarket. The friction between the NBA and China could temper any ambitions his successor, Tilman Fertitta, has to expand his portfolio into China after paying $2.2 billion for the team in 2017. For their superstar James Harden, the losses could be considerable if no resolution is reached. A source says Harden’s endorsement agreement with Shanghai’s SPD Bank Credit Card is imperiled.

The financial amount of Harden’s endorsement pact with SPD Bank Credit Card was not reported in the story.

Two days after Morey’s original post, Harden attempted to mend fences with an apology to Chinese fans for the team’s involvement in the controversy. Harden typically travels to China at least once per NBA offseason for endorsement purposes and to promote his brand.

The overall terms are roughly in line with an October report from the Houston Chronicle‘s Jonathan Feigen, who said the fallout from Morey’s tweet in support of the Hong Kong protest movement could cost the Rockets between $10 million and $25 million. It remains to be seen if any of those relationships can ultimately be repaired.

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Though a couple of NBA executives …