3:04pm: The Rockets’ plans have changed, according to Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that – after both sides had further discussions – the team now intends to hang onto Williams. Houston will still have to waive another player before officially signing Johnson. The team continues to work through that decision, per Charania.
10:50am: The Rockets intend to waive second-year swingman Troy Williams in order to clear a roster spot, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Houston will need that roster opening to officially sign Joe Johnson once he clears waivers later today.
Williams, 23, began his NBA career with the Grizzlies last season before being waived a little over a year ago. The former Hoosier finished the 2016/17 campaign with the Rockets, then signed a new three-year contract with Houston during the offseason. However, only the first year of that deal was fully guaranteed, which made him a candidate to be cut this week when the team needed to open up a spot on its roster.
In 34 total NBA games, Williams has averaged 5.6 PPG and 2.1 RPG. He’s expected to receive interest as a free agent, per Charania. Assuming Williams goes unclaimed on waivers, Houston would still owe him the rest of his minimum salary for this season, along with about $614K in guaranteed money for 2018/19, according to Basketball Insiders’ data. The Rockets would have the option of spreading that ’18/19 cap charge across three seasons.
The Rockets carried 14 players on their roster through the trade deadline, but then signed Bobby Brown to a rest-of-season deal after the deadline, having made a commitment to bring him back after waiving him last month. That meant that Houston had to cut Brown and one other player in order to sign newly-bought-out veterans Johnson and Brandan Wright. Gerald Green and Chinanu Onuaku were among the other Rockets whose roster spots appeared to be in danger, but they should be safe now that the team has decided to part ways with Williams.
Whew green is safe
Wouldn’t mind the Heat looking at him, possibly replacing Derrick Jones. I’ve liked his toughness and competitiveness, when he played, and those are always Heat traits. Could still use a wing…
OKC might make some sense also
The Rockets cutting Green would be foolish, signing Joe Johnson is questionable since he’s a poor fit in the system
How is he a poor fit? They want more wings and he fits the bill. He gives them a possible bench scorer when they want to sit Harden or Paul or both. He’s also skilled enough to run the offense in spurts so he could be a good option to take over for Paul/Harden for a couple of plays.
Iso-Joe runs contrary to the Rockets up-tempo pass oriented option. Johnson setting up on the elbow and working into the shot clock is that last thing the Rockets would want anybody to do
Compared to Green who has played in the system and has been a bench scorer when called upon, it would be foolish to cut him for Johnson .
It’d make sense for the mavs to claim Troy, wouldn’t it?
I would think Onuaku is a better cut than Williams for a team in the Rockets situation. He’s not exactly setting the world on fire in the G League so he might not even get claimed if you wanted to try and keep him.
He looks sick in the pic. I hope he gets it checked out.