Recent Rockets blockbuster named as "biggest miscalculation of the summer"

Everybody makes mistakes. The best we can do is to own up to those mistakes and learn from them.

What if you don't feel you've made a mistake? What if it's debatable? Nobody wants to be held accountable in a situation where they don't feel they're accountable. Have the Houston Rockets made a mistake this summer?

Bleacher Report seems to think so. Although, they're not firm in their convictions. They listed the Rockets' recent blockbuster deal with the Brooklyn Nets as the team's biggest miscalculation of the summer.

Houston Rockets trade is (lightly) criticized

Let's recap the details of the deal. The Nets sent a 2025 Suns pick swap, a 2027 Suns first-rounder, and a first-rounder and swap in 2029 to Houston in exchange for their own 2025 pick swap, and 2026 first-rounder.

In a reductive way, that's an undeniably positive value exchange for the Rockets. They sent out two draft assets and picked up four. How could that be a miscalculation?

Well, Bleacher Report is struggling with the same question.

"It's almost never a bad deal when you trade two first-round assets for four, but what if the Houston Rockets could have extracted even more value from the Brooklyn Nets?

Think about it: Brooklyn GM Sean Marks said the deal with Houston was connected to the bigger one that sent Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for five first-round picks and a swap. That move made far more sense if the Nets had control of their immediate future first-rounders because they'd reap the draft-lottery benefits of tanking without Bridges."

- Grant Hughes, Bleacher Report

So, the charge isn't that the Rockets made a bad deal here. The argument is that they could have made a better one.

Is that a valid argument?

Houston Rockets did well, but they could have done better

Absolutely.

Rockets fans shouldn't get up in arms here. Nobody is saying this was a critical error. There's some nuance in Bleacher Report's position.

"It feels a little off to criticize Houston's side of the deal when much of it centers around the wise move to short the Phoenix Suns' future. But the Rockets were in such a powerful negotiating position that it seems fair to ask whether they could have wrung out the Nets even more thoroughly."

- Grant Hughes, Bleacher Report

There is probably some truth in that position. The Nets knew trading Bridges would have been a non-starter if they didn't have their own draft capital. They also knew that receiving their own draft capital in a deal and moving Bridges was best for their future. The Rockets had them cornered.

Should they have held out for some of the Nets' additional outside draft capital? They own a protected 2027 pick from the Sixers, and an unprotected 2029 pick from the Mavericks. Should the Rockets have held out for one of those picks?

Why not? This was a good deal for the Rockets, but it could have been better. The fact that it qualifies as the team's biggest miscalculation of the summer actually speaks to the competency of Rafael Stone. His worst move was a good move that arguably could have been better.

That's a mistake that should be easy to own up to.