On the first day of July, the door of the free market was opened, however, like a silent lake, the Houston Rockets, who are much watched and loved by fans, did not make waves, and the action in the trade market seemed to fall silent. And in the midst of this tranquil picture, the only dynamic thing is the upcoming contracts of Landell, Jeff Green and Tate.
In fact, this operation is not unexpected at all, you know, the current Houston Rockets has been full of talent, there is no need to break the muscles and bones; In fact, under the leadership of head coach Udoka, Jalen Green and Shin Jing played at a quasi-All-Star level last season, especially Green, who helped the team play a wave of consecutive wins in March.
At the same time, Whitmore and Amen Thompson are also newborn calves who are not afraid of tigers and played wonderful performances. As for Ethan, Jabari Smith has also made great strides under Udoka's guidance and has become a "booster" for the team to move forward. The team's results have improved significantly and the young players have improved, which is undoubtedly a good sign.
General Manager Stone intends to strike while the iron is hot and further boost the Rockets' talent in the offseason. So, we can see that the third pick was used in the draft to select guard Reed Shepherd from the University of Kentucky. And with the poor quality of rookies in the second round, Stone made a decisive move, trading back to the Atlanta Hawks' 3-and-D forward AJ Griffin with just a No. 44 pick.
In this way, the Rockets' weaknesses were further compensated, and Udoka's team tended to perfection. But Stone is not a manager who likes to rest on his laurels, and as long as there is a suitable way to strengthen it, the Rockets will never give up. According to a report from The Athletic Rockets reporter Kelly Iko, multiple sources revealed that the Rockets want to use a mid-range exception to supplement the roster, and Achiuwa has become a target.
Achiuwa, nicknamed the Nigerian Beast, is 22 years old, with a height of 2.03 meters, an arm span of 2.18 meters, and a weight of 102 kilograms. Last season, after being traded to the Knicks by the Raptors, Achiuwa played in a total of 49 regular season games, averaging 7.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocks in 24 minutes per game.