Rockets' Rafael Stone is the team's secret weapon - and here's why

The Houston Rockets have been mindful in managing their salary cap sheet. That might be the key to their long-term success.

ESPN's Kevin Pelton has been grading every free agency decision made around the NBA this summer. The Rockets have been model students. He gave them a B for the Steven Adams signing, and two As for Fred VanVleet's new contract and the Dorian Finney-Smith deal. Other teams haven't been so lucky:

That bodes well for the Rockets.

Rockets are spending more wisely than the competition

Pelton gave the Spurs' De'Aaron Fox extension a passing grade. Extensions are graded on a pass/fail scale. Read between the lines, and it sounds like Pelton was a little torn on which grade to give San Antonio.

"San Antonio could see Fox's value decline because of this contract. A 30% max is already rich for Fox, who has only been an All-Star once"

-Kevin Pelton

I already used this site to eviscerate this short-sighted deal. Pelton points out that extending Fox now may have been preferable to trading him on an expiring deal. The Spurs put themselves between a rock and a hard place by acquiring Fox in the first place, but this is a bad deal.

So is Devin Booker's extension. Pelton failed the Suns for that one. Both of these teams opted to commit a max salary space to a guard who's unlikely to make an All-NBA Second Team.

Then, there's the Rockets with no bad grades. Adams' B is mediocre, but that's a small-time deal. It won't anchor the Rockets to a low ceiling like the aforementioned contracts could.

Instead, the Rockets got VanVleet at an affordable rate. They got Finney-Smith at a low number on a flexible deal.

It could lead them to an NBA title before long.

Rockets in prime position for multiple title runs

The name of the NBA game has always been surplus value. Getting more from players than you're paying them to provide is vital to a team's title odds. It allows you to use more of your cap elsewhere.

That holds particularly true in the new CBA environment. Teams are trading good players at bad value simply to avoid the punitive second apron. Rafael Stone has masterfully managed to dodge such measures. The Rockets' books are as clean as a whistle.

That should help them get a leg up on the competition. Amen Thompson is likely to earn a rookie max, and that will complicate matters. At least the Rockets will be in the best possible position to pay him without compromising the rest of their roster.

That's an A+ job by any measure.