Report: Rockets Ink Montrezl Harrell To A Three-Year Deal

We’ve got less than a month to go before the Houston Rockets start training camp.

It has been a whirlwind of a off season — maybe not compared to last year but it was still notable.

This off season was more of a theme of continuity, bringing back the guys that mean the most to us.

The Rockets re-signedPatrick BeverleyandCorey Brewerto multi-year deals.

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In the free agency realm, the Rockets were able to rescueTy Lawsonfrom the Nuggets and add some more depth to the front line withMarcus Thornton.

As much as Daryl Morey has tried to push for that continuity this off season, the reality exists of the unknown.

What am I talking about?

Part of that uncertainty has been resolved a bit and we finally have some culmination to an ongoing saga about our second-round pick.

Yes, I’m talking about Montrezl Harrell.

According to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, the Rockets have agreed in principle with Harrell on a three-year deal:

Harrell had been a free agent since Sep. 5 — the deadline the Rockets had to sign their draft picks to deals.

Money had already been allotted for Sam Dekker, their first-round pick but things weren’t so certain when the Rockets had agreed to a deal with veteran bruiser Chuck Hayes.

Hayes eventually decided to back out of the deal the Rockets had made and eventually signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, likely because they were wrestling on the guaranteed money of his two-year deal worth about $1 million per season.

With that money off the books, the Rockets now had the funds to sign Harrell to which what they’ve wanted to do all along.

Harrell had options — he could’ve went overseas to sign a hearty deal or possibly head to a different NBA franchise but Morey must’ve given him his word in regard to being able to get him a deal.

So how much money could he fetch?

Space City Scoop

Although at the time of this writing (will update later), the terms of deal were not yet disclosed, I imagine that it will be on par or above his counterpart Jordan Mickey who signed with the Boston Celtics for$1.17 millionfor the upcoming season.

His figures could be $2 million per and up but the franchise just has to be mindful of$88.7 millionhard cap that would be imposed because of their usage of their mid-level exception on K.J. McDaniels, who signed a three-year, $10 million deal earlier in the off season.

But if there is a loophole around that hard cap to offer Harrell more money, then you better well believe Morey is going to find a way.

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I give the Rockets nothing but praise for being able to negotiate in good faith and masterfully because it isn’t the easiest working with Rich Paul, the highly-respected agent who represents Harrell in addition to top client LeBron James among others.

I really wanted him on this squad and it’s good to know he’ll be around for the next three years.

The amount of playing time he will get remains to be seen but he’ll be a great project to add to an already burgeoning front line this team has.

Harrell, 21, averaged15.7 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 35.1 MPGwhile shooting56.6 percentfrom the field in35games with the Louisville Cardinals in 2014-15.

He averaged16.5 PPG, 8.0 RPGand27.8 MPGwhile shooting48.1 percentfrom the field at the Las Vegas Summer League competition a couple of months back.

The start of training camp isSep. 29— go Rockets!

Next: D-Mo May Not Be Ready To Go

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