Ranking 4 Buyout candidates by their fit with the Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets have had a fantastic 2024-25 season. A recent 6-game losing streak shouldn't change fans' perspective. This team has exceeded expectations.

That said, the losing streak did point to some flaws. The Rockets remain a work in progress. This team could stand to make some improvements.

They didn't use the trade deadline to make those gains. That's fine. The Rockets clearly value their assets, and they didn't want to spend to upgrade. Luckily, the buyout market presents an opportunity to add a rotation player without giving anything up.

This piece is looking at some buyout candidates. Notably, I'm disregarding guys who aren't expected to be available. Bruce Brown was once seen as a buyout candidate, but it seems the Pelicans are keeping him. The objective here is to remain as grounded in reality as possible.

Here are 4 realistic targets for the Rockets to consider ranked by their fit with the team.

4. Monte Morris (Suns)

The idea is to upgrade the roster, right? So here's a question worth asking:

Is Morris an upgrade over Aaron Holiday?

It's a tough call. Morris is a more dynamic playmaker, but he's an inferior defender. He's ostensibly a better shooter, but in 2024-25, Morris is connecting on just 30.1% of his threes - Holiday hits 35.6% of his.

Spoiler alert: I don't want Morris on the Rockets. He's a negative defender who's having a down-shooting season. Still, for a Rockets team that needs an injection of ball-handling, he's worth considering...

...Barely.

3. Mo Bamba (Waivers)

How many big men do the Rockets need?

Well, Alperen Sengun, Steven Adams, and Jock Landale all have some overlapping functioning weaknesses. None are much of a vertical spacer in the pick-and-roll. Only Landale is a viable horizontal spacer, and he's the most flawed player of the group. He largely only sees the floor when Adams isn't available.

Why not have Mo Bamba replace Landale? He's a far better rim protector with an impressive catch radius to finish pick-and-rolls.

Sure, Bamba is inconsistent on both ends and mostly a floor spacer in theory. He's fallen short of his pre-draft potential. He still projects to be a more useful third-string big man than Landale.

2. Bojan Bogdanovic (Nets)

It's a bit difficult to assess Bogdanovic's fit with the Rockets. He hasn't played yet during the 2024-25 season.

Let's assume that he's roughly the player he was the last time that we saw him. In 2023-24, Bogdanovic averaged 15.2 points per game with a True Shooting % (TS%) of 58.1%. This is a player with a longstanding reputation as a bucket.

Defense? He's never heard of it. Passing? Bogdanovic has never eclipsed 2.6 assists per game. Although it's worth noting that he's not a black hole. Bogdanovic is a quick decision-maker. His ability to rack up points on a low usage rate has always been his calling card.

This would be a high-ceiling, low-floor acquisition for the Rockets. Bogdanovic's defensive limitations could keep him off the floor in Houston.

If he can still score like he used to, the Rockets may not be able to keep him on the bench.

1. Seth Curry (Hornets)

Curry is such a suitable acquisition for the Rockets that I've advocated for it twice in two days.

What more do you want? Curry is shooting 47.2% from deep for the Hornets. He's not a stalwart defender, but he's less of a liability than Morris or Bogdanovic. He offers a little ball-handling if defenses are pressing the Rockets' primary options too aggressively.

Above all else, this is an injection of shooting. Curry can space the floor for the Rockets' primary options. That's something this team has a dire need for:

Remember, they didn't acquire a shooter at the trade deadline.