Getty The Houston Rockets will look to win a title with James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
The Houston Rockets are stockpiling on veteran players.
As the Rockets continue to build their roster prior to the start of training camp this weekend, Houston has signed one of their former starters — none other than Ryan Anderson.
Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the news late Wednesday afternoon. The deal is a partially-guaranteed one.
Free agent forward Ryan Anderson has agreed to a significantly partially guaranteed deal with the Houston Rockets, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Anderson returns to Houston.
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Ryan Anderson Lost His Starting Job with Rockets
Anderson started at power forward for the Rockets during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons until he was traded prior to the start of the 2018-19 season to the Phoenix Suns. In two seasons with the Rockets, Anderson averaged 11.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game while starting 122 of the 138 games he appeared in with the franchise.
However, as the 2017-18 season came to a close and the postseason came around, Anderson not only lost his starting job, but his spot in the rotation. During the team’s run to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals in 2018, Anderson appeared in just 11 games and averaged just 8.6 minutes per contest.
Due to Anderson’s ridiculously large salary at $21 million, the Rockets traded him to reduce their salary cap expenses.
Fast forward a year later and Anderson is back in the team’s plans as they look to win an NBA title in 2019-20.
Rockets Also Sign Jaron Blossomgame
Just a day prior, the Rockets also signed Jaron Blossomgame, who appeared in 27 games and four starts for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game on 44.3 percent from the field.
It’s clear that Houston has been on a mission to stockpile as many veterans as possible on minimum deals. The Rockets had attempted to sign Iman Shumpert less than two weeks prior, only to be rejected on their advances. Shortly thereafter, they signed veteran swingman Thabo Sefolosha and have now signed Blossomgame and Anderson in the past two days.
In case you can’t count, that’s three veterans added onto the roster in the past week alone. Before the Sefolosha signing, the Rockets had just nine players under guaranteed contracts.
Rockets Also Hosted Several Other Veterans During Minicamp
That’s not to mention that Houston also attempted to bring former player Luc Mbah a Moute to minicamp — only for him to back out at the last second. Similar to Anderson, Mbah a Moute played a key role on the Rockets squad that advanced within a game of the NBA Finals during the 2018 postseason, posting averages of 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game in 61 appearances and 15 starts.
The Rockets also hosted veteran free agents Nick Young, Raymond Felton, Corey Brewer and Terrence Jones during their recent minicamp in Las Vegas.
Considering the Rockets can only sign players on minimum deals at this point — they’re at the salary cap floor — Houston definitely has an eye on players that previously played key roles on their recent teams or former teammates of Russell Westbrook.
The Rockets will open up the NBA preseason slate against the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association at home on Sept. 30.
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