Asked on Monday about the biggest factor that made the Rockets want to make a deal for Kevin Durant, general manager Rafael Stone offered a simple answer, per Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required).
“He’s Kevin Durant,” Stone said.
Stone went on to laud Durant’s shooting efficiency and prowess as a half-court scorer, suggesting that adding that dimension to the offense should make Houston a more well-rounded team. He’s also looking forward to seeing what the team’s young players learn from the 15-time All-Star.
“His work ethic is just awesome,” Stone said. “The speed at which he practices and kind of the intensity of which he practices is something that has made him great over the years, and it started when he was very young. And so of all the things that that I hope rubs off, that’s the main one.”
There was some uncertainty entering the offseason about how aggressive the Rockets would be in their pursuit of Durant, given that he’s entering his age-37 season and doesn’t necessarily fit the timeline of the club’s young core. Asked about that line of thinking, Stone suggested that Houston is no longer a “developmental” team and that he believes those young players are ready to win now.
“We were the No. 2 seed (in the West) last year, and I think a very legitimate one. And so we think we can contend now,” Stone said. “We lost a close series last year, and we thought we had a real chance of contending in the playoffs last year, and we hope to have a real chance of contending in the playoffs this year.”
Here’s more from the Rockets’ GM:
- The fact that Houston is no longer a “developmental” team is one reason why the front office felt like it made sense to move on from 2023 first-round pick Cam Whitmore, Stone explains. “We want to provide Cam with the opportunity to do in his career what we still believe he very much can do,” the GM said. “I think Cam is an insanely talented, really nice young man, and wanted to provide him an opportunity to go home and be in a situation where he could really play through mistakes in a way that we never could afford him, just in the iteration of the of the Rockets that he joined.”
- Including former No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green in the package for Durant was necessary due to salary-matching rules, but wasn’t easy, according to Stone. “Jalen is awesome. He did everything we asked,” Stone said. “He’s a wonderful combination of talent and work ethic, along with being just a great human being. And any time that you have the privilege to work with someone who is talented and works really hard and is really nice, you should value it. And so organizationally, we’ve valued him tremendously. So yeah, very hard.”
- Asked whether the Rockets still want to add more backcourt depth, Stone said the team will always be on the lookout for upgrades, but expressed skepticism that there are still meaningful moves on the way before the season begins (YouTube link). “I like our team as is,” he said. “… We’re hard-capped at the first apron and we have no space left, so I think very likely we’ll enter the season looking very similar to the way we look now. It’s pretty hard not to.”
- One reason the Rockets are comfortable with their current guards is a belief that 2024’s No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard is ready to take on a larger role. “Reed’s just going to have to be really good for us, period,” Stone said (YouTube link).
- Stone confirmed that the free agency addition of Clint Capela signals the Rockets’ willingness to lean on two-big lineups more in 2025/26 (YouTube link). “We loved that lineup once we discovered it last year. We thought it was really, really effective for us,” he said. “Also, Clint just adds something we don’t have in terms of being a center who can move a little bit easier on the perimeter, also as a lob threat. Finally, we just think depth is super-important. As we’re trying to make it through the season, we don’t want there to be huge drop-offs. We did not anticipate going into free agency that we would be able to get Clint, but we were ecstatic when that materialized.”
Saw the stats on when the Rockets went big last year, and they definitely need to use it more often. There wasn’t a single game that it led to a – pts differential.
I say give it 20 min/g this season, and see if it holds up with more run.
Seriously?! Multiple “jumbo” rotations in 2025? We saw through 4 rounds of playoffs this season that Centers were being played off the floor.
It doesn’t sound right. Capella and Adams can play only Center, and Center is by far Sengun’s best position, and Sengun is not mobile for a modern big.
First, you cannot play can Adams and Capella at the same time. Neither has ball skills. Neither can defend the PnR or score away from the basket. Both have struggled to stay on the floor against heavy PnR over the last few years.
Let’s say Sengun plays 32 mins in each game. He’s the only one of the 3 that can play the 4, so that means the most Houston can go “jumbo” is 32 minutes per game.
But, C is by far Sengun’s best position, so I can’t see the Rockets playing him out of position more than, say, 12 mins per game”. That’s not many minutes to split between Capella and Adams.
So, Clint Capela takes minutes from Jabari Smith? Tari Eason? DFS?
I think you’re overthinking it a bit – Adams and Sengun were the two bigs playing together that spurred this convo and decision. But even if you’re completely right and we’re talking max of 12 minutes of Jumbo per game they had a double digit plus/minus in those lineups last season. If they’re replacing a net negative lineup or even a group producing a small positive lineup that’s a massive net swing per game. That could add +3 to a point differential alone (and I’m underselling I’d guess it given how many of the Rockets negative groupings were driven by Green and Brooks last season). I’m hardly an expert in basketball analytics but I don’t think I have to be to know that’s massive if I have it right.
@dejota, I like your analysis. To be clear, I do think the Rockets jumbo package is well worth using to the extent they did last year. But a lot of its value, like any unconventional package, is in other teams’ unfamiliarity with it…and that changes.
This situation comes up every few years. You can’t use an unconventional lineup — i.e, two pure centers, 5-guards, etc — for too many minutes a game because, one, the other team eventually counters to exploit the weaknesses and, two, your own preferred lineup loses its rhythm.
So, the question is, how much more can Houston’s jumbo lineup be used than this past season? I would have said not that much. What do you think?
The difference between “unconventional” and “gimmick” is razor thin. I don’t think they heavily utilize it, just a nice change of pace tool at Ime’s disposal. I think the real benefit will be the added depth. With the new CBA you can make up a lot of ground with 2nd units if you can have significantly more depth than your opponent. The key to winning in today’s NBA seems to be having 1 guy who can score and the depth to punish teams fighting the CBA. I can see Adams and Capela bullying some weaker 2nd units.
Rockets play zone in their 2-big lineups. The 2-big lineup with Adams and Sengun were worth way above average +points when used.
Sorry you can’t imagine it. But those fans who saw it– saw it work. It smothered teams trying to get to the hoop.
Just to add–
“Double Big Lineup Success: The Rockets’ double big lineup featuring Adams and Sengun has been surprisingly effective, boasting a high offensive rating (127.1) and a low defensive rating (91.5) in 210 possessions according to Cleaning the Glass. Their net rating in these minutes was +35.6, ranking in the 100th percentile for two-man pairings.”
TBF 210 possessions is the equivalent of 2 full games over the course of an 82 game season. That’s significantly lower than the 12mpg Aristotle is projecting as the maximum impact. I agree with your sentiment that the Jumbo package works very well for the Rockets but he’s not wrong to point out it’ll always be a supplementary piece of the game and to grow it’s import would come at the expense of either Bari/Tari/DFS. I think assuming he doesn’t understand isn’t fair especially since your response doesn’t really address the thrust of his point.
JW12, I saw it work also. I’m a Warriors fan, and the lineup killed us in a couple of games in the playoffs.
But I think you misunderstood my post. I didn’t say it didn’t work. I said that it can’t be used for more than a fraction of a game.
It’s about match-ups. For example, when the Warriors play a front-line of small players that can’t shoot — Draym0nd, Butler, Looney, etc — the jumbo lineup can be effective defensively. But a jumbo lineup, zone or otherwise, doesn’t match up well against a lineup with several outside shooters.
Wasn’t too long ago. That all the chatter here was the big man is gone from NBA. Since then the chatter now is can you shoot. The latest is being able to play on perimeter ……
A team plays to its strength. It has always been that way. Today you just need to be able to adjust more. Cause teams are deeper. And change up their offense more. There is no set way. The game tells you what you need to do. More offense or more defense.
Rockets are a deep team. And today teams can go big or small. It’s not about assigning mins. It’s about doing what you need to do to win. Capela and Adams provide depth. Bigs get hurt miss time. Plus you can always move one at TD. You don’t worry about PT if you are winning. IHart was second highest paid player on OKC last year. Yet he avg 27 mins a gm. Fourth highest on team tied with two other guys (Chet, Wallace).
Rockets are built to win. Sengun obviously is one of their key guys. And he can play the 4 with either C. Depth is to get thru the season. Not to find mins for players. All about the playoffs for Rockets. They are young, deep, talented, and ready to go. I like this team. Definitely can beat Thunder. With KD I give Rockets a 3-4 yr window.