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NBA Trade Deadline Roundup – Dissecting Southwest Division Deals

By Tamberlyn Richardson

Feb 23, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins (0) in the second quarter against the Houston Rockets at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 23, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins (0) in the second quarter against the Houston Rockets at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports /
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Houston Rockets:

Three trades were made by Rockets GM Daryl Morey with a view to adding another sharpshooter and shedding money to create cap space.

Trade 1:

Rockets Receive:

SG – Lou Williams 18.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 3.1 APG, 44.7 FG%, 39.4T 3PFG%, 88.% FT%, 1.1 Stl PG

Lakers Receive:

  • Corey Brewer
  • Houston’s 2017 1st round draft pick (unprotected)

Trade 2:

Rockets Receive:

PG – Marcelo Huertas who’ll be waived by Rockets to create cap space ($3.5M)

Los Angeles Lakers Receive:

  • PG – Tyler Ennis

Trade 3:

Rockets Receive: Cap Space ($3.3M)

Brooklyn Nets Receive:

  • G/F – K.J. McDaniels

The Fit:

Mike D’Antoni has brought his high octane offense to Houston and James Harden is flourishing in the new system.  For the Rockets who get up 40 triple attempts per night, adding Williams who averaged 5.4 attempts in LA was a no-brainer. In fact, in Williams’ debut, he hoisted 11 shots from the perimeter.

Williams won’t be adding any value on the defensive end, but it certainly doesn’t seem like that is a focus for Houston. That point was made clearer when rumors leaked Morey was shopping Patrick Beverley at the deadline.

Williams is amiable enough, but he isn’t someone you want to be tasked with developing youthful roster members. To wit, the season he won Sixth Man in Toronto and the Raptors were swept by the Wizards his laid back attitude about the loss was pinpointed as one of the reasons Ujiri had no desire to re-sign him.

Related: OKC Thunder trade for Gibson and McDermott

How this trade affects the OKC Thunder:

Of all the teams active at the deadline Sam Presti probably kept a keen eye on what the Rockets were doing. This, because the Thunder will be pushing to move up the ladder, and should they fall in a reasonable sixth slot, it’s likely the Rockets would be their first-round match-up.

From a grit and toughness perspective, the Rockets did nothing to bolster their existing squad  This begs the question will teams simply look to slow Houston’s tempo in the postseason and stop them in transition? And, can shutting down Harden’s passing lanes stop Houston’s ability to run their offense?

Final Grade: B

This move fits the Morey analytic mode perfectly and D’Antoni’s system. Clearing $6.8M in cap space was also desirable.

Make sure to check out all the NBA Trade Deadline analysts on the site.

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