Those still looking to hand out blame for the Houston Rockets’ ambitiously abysmal summer aren’t going to be happy.
Their job just got a lot harder.
And weirder.
Initially, the vision was pair to Dwight Howard and James Harden with another superstar, be it Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony, while retaining Chandler Parsons. That didn’t happen. It almost did, but it didn’t. Bosh returned to the Miami Heat at the last minute, compelling general manager Daryl Morey not to match the lucrative offer sheet Parsons signed with the Dallas Mavericks.
Worst still, at least half of this debacle could have been avoided. Parsons never had to hit the restricted free agent market. The Rockets had the ability to keep him for another year while paying him less than $1 million. Bringing him back at that rate would also mean he’d hit unrestricted free agency in 2015, thereby increasing his control, but the Rockets would have an inherent edge by being able to offer him more money than any other team.
Why, then, did the Rockets allow Parsons to hit restricted free agency? Was it out of courtesy and appreciation for what he’s done on a discounted, second-year contract? Or was there perhaps another, more shady reason?
A report filed over at Clutch Fans posits the ladder:
The problem is this — the Rockets were well aware of everything I just outlined in making their choice. They just had no choice. By letting Parsons out of his contract, the Rockets were simply honoring an agreement they made with his agent in 2013 when they signed Dwight Howard.
As I’ve been told, Howard’s agent Dan Fegan did not want Dwight in Houston, preferring instead to steer him to another team. Reportedly, that team was Dallas as the agent has a relationship and comfort level with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Dwight preferred Houston. To seal the deal for the premier free agent, Fegan provided the Rockets a list of needs/demands to bring him here and one of them was to let Chandler Parsons, who also was represented by Fegan, out of his contract this summer rather than wait until 2015.
Woof.
There’s more to it than that, so the entire piece is worth a read, but woof.
The premise, whether you believe it or not, makes sense. Letting Parsons out of his contract would have cost the Rockets even if he stayed; they would have had to commit tens of millions of dollars to him earlier than his contract structure demanded. That in itself is bizarre.
Yet this report also assumes that agents—in this case Dan Fegan—have incredible power over clients.
Could Fegan have really steered Howard away from Houston and onto the Dallas Mavericks? That’s a tough sell. Everyone thought it was Rich Paul who was selling LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers for a while, before they finally realized James is a grown-ass rich man who isn’t someone’s puppet.
Much of the same applies to Howard, though he’s never been touted for his business savvy. It doesn’t make this true, nor does it make this false. This just is at this point. There’s nothing that can be done.
Howard is in Houston.
Parsons is gone.
Those events may or may not be related.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
