Houston Rockets: The calm before the storm of the offseason

The offseason is slow for the Houston Rockets right now, but not for long. It’s just the calm before the storm of moves that will likely be coming soon.

The offseason for the Houston Rockets started off with a bang, with multiple reports coming out surrounding the future of the team. The beginning of the summer brought news of coaching change and the availability of practically every player in future trades.

Since then, though, it’s been quiet. Eerily quiet, in fact. We have the occasional interview with someone in the front office (which all sound fairly similar at this point) and we had a signing of a young center who will likely be traded later this offseason, but nothing much besides that. It’s gotten a bit old covering the same news over and over again.

We know that this will be an active summer for the Houston Rockets. They have made it quite known that they need to find a way to improve to beat the Golden State Warriors. It is now two years in a row and four times total in the James Harden era that the Warriors have knocked out the Rockets in the postseason.

As I currently write this, the Raptors and those Warriors are locked in a battle during Game 6 of the NBA Finals. All moves will start once that series is over, which will be at the very latest on Sunday and at the very earliest, in about two hours.

Free agency and trade market

The Rockets always look to make a splash in the market, and this summer could be even more of the same and then some. The team can’t keep this same roster and expect to bring home a championship, there’s a missing piece that needs to be found.

That could come through the trade market. It was rumored that the Rockets are expected to part ways with one of Clint Capela, Eric Gordon or P.J. Tucker this offseason. Tucker is not a really realistic option for a trade due to the franchise’s infatuation with him, but the other two have good contracts that teams would be fine trading for and both are productive players. Chris Paul has also been rumored to be available.

The Rockets may also look to sign an impact player with the mid-level exception. Someone like Danny Green would be a great shooter to add who can also play defense. De’Andre Jordan has long-since been reported to want to be in Houston at some point. One of those guys, and/or others, could make a real difference on the squad.

Houston does not own a pick in next week’s draft, but they could still look to trade into it if they want. It isn’t a particularly deep draft, so I don’t really see the point in doing that this year, but having a pick could be nice for a potential trade.

This summer will be an active one for the Rockets, and we’re all just waiting for it to start. Be sure to tune in here for more coverage throughout the offseason.