As we previously detailed, John Wall met with Rockets management on Sunday, including general manager Rafael Stone and head coach Stephen Silas. Wall informed his bosses he would like to return to the court and be a starter again. Since the Rockets would prefer to have him play a limited role off the bench, the two sides reached an impasse.
However, the situation remains fluid, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Silas said the Rockets will continue to have conversations with Wall while he works himself into game shape over the next couple weeks.
“Rafael and I did meet with John (on Sunday) and he had indicated that he wants to play and work towards that so right now we’re in that phase as far as getting him back in game shape,” Silas said. “He’s been doing a lot of one-on-oh type stuff and one-on-one type stuff but nothing up and down, nothing four-on-four, five-on-five.
“Right now is the ramp-up time. That’ll probably take a couple weeks. We’ll continue our conversations and try to determine what it looks like.”
Here’s more from Houston:
- Silas said backup point guard D.J. Augustin is in the health and safety protocols, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. It’s unclear how long Augustin will be sidelined.
- In his latest mailbag, Kelly Iko of The Athletic tackles a number of topics. He believes rookie Alperen Sengun will stay in his current bench role, especially since the Rockets have finally found some success (winning three straight after starting 1-16). He thinks Sengun will eventually get more minutes as the season progresses, but writes that Christian Wood is playing too well right now as the lone big man to disrupt his rhythm.
- Within the same column, Iko says he doesn’t think the Rockets have any interest in Ben Simmons, but they could potentially help facilitate a deal involving multiple teams. He says Houston is committed to Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green as its backcourt of the future.
- Iko also believes that offseason addition Daniel Theis and shooting guard Eric Gordon will be available if the price is right. Theis has fallen out of the rotation recently, but he’s a veteran with a proven defensive presence, and his contract (four years, $35MM, with $26MM guaranteed) will likely be easier to move than Gordon’s (two years, $37MM guaranteed).
Theis was a horrible signing
Absolutely. Made no sense at the time, and males even less sense now. Clogging the lane for no reason.
Theis was supposed to be a role model, but probably, he’s on a completely different vibe and does not connect with the intended wildish youth. I suspect Theone knows the reason for signing Theis.
Theis worked hard to guide himself into being a Celtic, more than into being an NBA journeyman. He may depart to Germany after next year.
So, Rocket players will continue to be kids until they become widely available as discouraged FAs.
Billy Donovan loved Theis in Chicago but Theis didn’t reciprocate that love and bolted for the paycheck. Wonder if he regrets that decision now?
Yes
Nobody is gonna trade for Gordon before next seasons deadline if ever ! He can help teams but he is always close to his next injury ! Teams won’t want to trade anything of value for him
Now people know FO is not crazy. John Wall is just selfish star who is not willing to do whatever the team needs or wants. He HAS to be a starter or else be wont play! Yet, he gets paid. Goodness!
Disagree
He’s better than the current roster of guards
The current guards on the Houston roster don’t have a NBA resumè like Wall has? I hope that is what you meant anyways. The guards they have right now, are just as good or better than Wall. KPJ had a triple double last game. He has shown the ability to score and move the ball around. He was slow out the gate this year, but he is still young. Last three games, he’s gotten better and I think Silas is given him players he can work well enough with. Wood and Porter Jr look great on the court together. Wall is just going to create a log jam at the position and take away minutes from some young talent. Unless Porter Jr is willing to move to SF and Wall plays PG on a trial bases. His performance will determine if he stays in the rotation. If he underachieves, Porter jumps back into the PG and Wall falls down the chart. The Wood and Sengun duo, is working out better than I thought it would these last 3 games. Sengun needs to move his feet more and use his big body to his advantage. I get it, he’s young. But if he can put some muscle on and control the paint, that would be huge for the Rockets going into the future. Anyways, hopefully this streak continues for 2-3 more games. It’s nice to watch some winning basketball. Even if it becomes short lived, just to see the kids having fun and winning, makes it worth watching
I don’t think this is primarily on Wall’s ego. The Rockets want to tank and to develop their young players. They know it’s almost impossible to trade Wall no matter wether they showcase him or not, so they have absolutely no reason to play him. Moreover, they should hope to reach a buyout agreement in which Wall gives up a few bucks, and this requires he doesn’t get injured. Probably they asked Wall to sit and he accepted because he didn’t want to take a secondary role and thought a trade would take place sooner rather than later. Now Wall is tired of waiting and wants to play. However nothing has changed for the Rockets: they have no real incentive to play him (as OKC didn’t have any to play Horford last year, just to put a recent example) and are not willing to offer him anything but a very limited role. Wall is reticent but he will eventually accept it, as he really wants to play.
#FreeBenSimmons
#FreeYourMindAndYerAssWillFollow
So they will play Augustine but not wall or am I reading the situation wrong
You are reading it wrong.
Bulls would love to have Theis back at the min if they waive him.
Agree…i like theis in bulls.bulls need defensive pf.
He just signed for 4 years and $36 million. No way will he be waived.
Yea, def would love to have Theis back on the Bulls, they could definitely use him. Moreso, they could use a guy like Bagley, but I doubt the Kings are game to trade him now, unfortunately..
DJJ plus a pick for Theis.
Also, I tried telling Rocket’s fans that their draft class this year was going to be one of the best they’ve ever had.
Green and Sengun are EXACTLY what they needed and were missing, and both are already advanced talents for their respective ages. I actually think they could learn alot from playing alongside John Wall, especially KPJ. Wall, KPJ, Green, Wood, and Sengun could combine to make up a very formidable starting lineup, and then with Gordon, Theis, Tate, Augustin, etc. coming off the bench, that isn’t a bad team.
With their last draft, Houston has reset their competitive window, and now they have an excellent young core from which to build off of moving forward..