Rafael Stone’s latest roster additions prioritize financial flexibility over veteran depth, leaving questions about whether these non-guaranteed signings signal a finished roster or a larger move.
The Houston Rockets have finally made another signing this offseason, pushing their roster to 14 standard contracts. Well, more or less.
JD Davison is still under the second half of a two year deal that won’t be fully guaranteed until January 10th of next year. He’s technically on the team, but I don’t personally know if he’ll be there to start, or finish the season.
To me, his absence from Summer League could mean one of two things. Either his two-way contract being converted to a standard deal (albeit non-guaranteed) means he’s viewed as a legit NBA player and doesn’t need to play in Summer League —— or it means he won’t be a part of this time at all moving forward.
Considering Daishen Nix was still out there, I’m leaning towards the first option. Nix won’t be on the team, but they had no issue throwing him out to hoop earlier this month. I’ll assume JD Davison is viewed as a more legit player, so he’ll be with the team through preseason and on opening night.
That means the Rockets now have a full roster, thanks to Isaiah Crawford working his way up through the G-League and impressing the front office in Summer League. Earlier this week he reportedly signed a four-year deal, though much of it is non-guaranteed, just like Davison.
There’s conflicting reporting across multiple sites, so the exact terms of the deal aren’t exactly clear yet, but expect it to be heavily stipulated. Obviously not four years of guaranteed money, and no player options. Think of Dorian Finney-Smith’s contract, where it looked pretty big at face value, but you have to read the fine print.
I’m happy with the signing since Crawford definitely fits the 3&D wing role that Houston needed with Okogie and DFS leaving, but I do find one thing about it to be odd.
The Rockets had control over his future for the entire year, meaning they could’ve done this at any point in time for the next several months. They could’ve had Crawford play 50 games with the team on his previous two-way contract, evaluated his fit, and then made a decision.
While I can respect the decisiveness, much like when Rafael Stone traded up to draft Bruce Thornton, I feel something else is at play. It seems decisive for no reason, other than to potentially save money.
Why pay a legit NBA vet a standard contract when you can give JD Davison and Isaiah Crawford non-guaranteed deals and save a billionaire some money? You still reach the mandated 14 contracts, but two of them are basically two-way players and disposable.
Hopefully I’m proved wrong and this can give the team some flexibility to make more decisive moves and pick a direction for the franchise, but I’m not extremely optimistic.
