Why the Houston Rockets should thank the Warriors for Danuel House

Fresh off Danuel House’s career-high against the Miami Heat, the Houston Rockets should be thankful for the Golden State Warriors for essentially gifting them Danuel House.

The Houston Rockets have a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, and one of the many things involves a decision made by the Golden State Warriors during their “superteam” era.

The Houston Rockets have been financially strapped, which has limited their ability to add additional players to their roster. Because of this, general manager Daryl Morey has had to turn to the league’s annual buyout period and has had to creatively generate ideas to acquire additional talent.

It’s often the role players that make a difference between winning a championship and being just a contender. Because of that, it’s hard to find good role players in the scrap heaps. For the Rockets’ style of play, they covet 3-point shooters most of all, as they heave the most bombs from downtown every year. This presents a challenge because there’s a premium on 3-point shooters since everyone is looking for players with that skill set in today’s NBA.

In the 2018-19 season, the Rockets were hit hard by injuries and turned to a fellow Houstonian to help resolve these issues: Danuel House. House led the Rockets in 3-point shooting efficiency that year, as he shot 41.6 percent from behind the arc and also averaged 13.5 points per 36 minutes.

House’s play earned him a permanent spot in the starting lineup this season, and he’s picked up right where he left off. In fact, House has actually improved upon his play, as he’s currently averaging 12.4 points per game compared to the 9.4 points he averaged last season and is shooting 44.4 percent from downtown as compared to his 41.6 percent from that range last year.

But Danuel House wouldn’t have been available for the Rockets to snag were it not for the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs were star-heavy, as they had Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green before they added DeMarcus Cousins. Because the Warriors were contending and on borrowed time for Durant’s services, they weren’t trying to develop any younger players, instead opting to seek veterans.

This has proven to be costly during the 2019-20 season, as they’ve been without Curry, Durant and Thompson and now have a record of 4-15, which is last in the Western Conference.

Since the Warriors were solely focused on adding stars, they overlooked Danuel House, who they signed prior to the start of the 2018-19 season.

The Golden State Warriors are signing forward Danuel House to a one-year deal, league sources tell Yahoo. House played 23 games for the Suns last season.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 25, 2018

House wouldn’t play any games for the Warriors, as they released him before the season would even start, which was a big mistake. The Warriors certainly could have used another 40 percent 3-point shooter, especially a 25-year-old (which House was at the time).

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An even bigger mistake is the fact that the Warriors didn’t even give him an opportunity to play on the Santa Cruz Warriors, which is their G League affiliate.

The Rockets were the beneficiary of the Warriors’ blunder as they picked up the former Missouri City resident and didn’t look back. The Rockets re-signed House at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season, keeping him in Houston for another three years. Although the Warriors have been the Rockets’ kryptonite over the last several years, they gifted them a 3-point sniper whose 6-foot-7 frame has contributed to him being the Houston Rockets’ second-leading shot blocker this season.

House had a career-high 23 points in the Houston Rockets’ last game against the Miami Heat, which the Rockets needed in a game without Clint Capela, who is the team’s third-leading scorer. Even more impressive is the fact that House only needed 11 shots to get there, as he shot 50 percent from deep and 63.6 percent from the field overall.

Just think, the Rockets wouldn’t even have House if the Warriors hadn’t have released him. I’m sure this is something Daryl Morey is thanking Warriors general manager Bob Myers for today on Thanksgiving. At least, he should be.