Houston Rockets Trade Deadline Recap

Recapping the Day

The trade deadline has come and gone. At the end of the day, the Rockets ledger shows the following:

In: Top-8 Protected 1^st Round Pick from Detroit

Out: Donatas Motiejunas, Marcus Thornton, blockbuster acquisition Joel Anthony, Denver’s 2017 2nd round pick

Motiejunas and Thornton, and 2^nd Round pick for 1^st Round Pick from Detroit; Joel Anthony to Philadelphia for the rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum

Think of this trade as the worst flight you’ve ever had to book because you’re cheap and have to be somewhere. Joel Anthony goes to Philadelphia through Houston from Detroit. Somehow this is less expensive than a direct and you do it anyway. The Rockets shed oodles of salary to avoid the luxury tax because why pay for a premium tire fire when discount Goodyears are just as fun to watch burn?

More from House of Houston

Full disclosure, I’m a Marcus Thornton fan. When the Rockets signed the sixth year shooting guard I thought we got excellent depth and a good deal at the 2/3 swing position. I’ve always been of the opinion that Donatas Motiejunas was superfluous and the odd-man out in the power forward rotation. Terrence Jones slots better next to Dwight Howard and Clint Capela has been healthy and shown a great deal of worth. On the season, Motiejunas’ injuries have held him back.

On the year, Thornton has contributed 10 points in 20 minutes on the floor with a 15 PER and middling defense. Motiejunas has seen 14 games this season while dealing with injuries and conditioning issues. The former first round pick is a range power forward who made improvements in Houston but struggled with consistency and rebounding during his time here. Both will now ply their trade with the Detroit Pistons. Currently the UN is mulling whether or not to charge Daryl Morey with a human rights violation for this.

The only warm body headed to Houston in this trade is Joel Anthony for a hot second. By all estimates Joel Anthony is roughly as productive as a cardboard cutout of Joel Anthony. In his eighth season in the NBA, Anthony is posting a 15 PER while playing Donatas Motiejunas’s game workload at Luther Head III minutes (Read: nearly non existent). This is why he’s now heading to the city of brotherly love… and innocent robot butchering… and iceballs at Santa.

Why involve Philadelphia in all of this? Well, the 76ers are essentially the NBA equivalent of New Jersey. Everyone just kind of dumps their problems into it and forgets about it. You can hide bodies out there and no one will ever find them. They do it on the cheap, too.

By all estimates, the 2nd round of the next few drafts will just be a list of demands from Philadelphia. The Rockets acquire the draft rights to a guy who I’m fairly certain is a made up Disney character from its vaguely racist moments in the 1950’s and 60’s. At the very least I’m calling him Chewy if he exists and doubt he will ever play a minute for the Rockets.