Prioritizing chemistry and commitment, Rockets’ GM Rafael Stone chose to rely on familiar faces, rather than star hunting.
The Houston Rockets made some interesting moves this offseason, and their most recent signing certainly fits that trend. Exactly one month ago, Rafael Stone and Jae’Sean Tate came to an agreement for the longest tenured Rocket to return for one more season.
While I can’t be upset with that move, I did ultimately find it to be a bit peculiar. Jae’Sean Tate is a fine end of the bench player and is consistently regarded as a great locker room guy, but there’s still a lot of good players on the market. There’s valid reasons why they’re still unsigned, while Tate is sticking in the NBA, though.
Arguably the most important factor is that Jae’Sean Tate is willing to be that 13th-15th man at the end of the roster. He’s willing to sign a contract knowing he very well may not see the court for long stretches of time, and that’s easier said than done.
Guys like Cam Thomas are now out of the league due to not being able to accept much larger roles. Forget about being at the end of the bench, some guys don’t want to even be in the sixth man role. They’d rather hang it up or take their talents overseas, rather than accepting a lesser role.
We just saw former Rocket, Russell Westbrook, call it a career after not being able to find a stable home. DeMar DeRozan was in a similar predicament, presumably wanting a significant role. That automatically took a lot of the big name players off of the table for Houston.
On top of that, Jae’Sean Tate is already familiar with the organization, which is an obvious bonus. We know he gets along with the guys on the team. He's comfortable in the facilities. He knows Ime Udoka and how he wants things to run on offense and defense. There’s no learning curve, whether it’s on or off of the court.
The same could be said about Isaiah Crawford, whose non-guaranteed contract is expected to be Houston’s final signing of the offseason. He saw the court in 14 games with the Rockets last season, though he was with the team for longer than that as a two-way player.
Rafael Stone went after his two main targets early in the summer, snagging Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic right away —— then filled out the roster with familiar faces towards the end. Much like in the draft, his moves seemed decisive and confident. I’m just hoping that confidence pays off, considering there were endless other possibilities.
