Rockets ACE Free Agency Signing Dorian Finney-Smith AND Clint Capela | Houston DEEPEST Team In NBA?

Rockets ACE Free Agency Signing Dorian Finney-Smith AND Clint Capela | Houston DEEPEST Team In NBA?

on today’s show the Rockets make not one but two signings via NBA free agency adding another premier 3 and wing in Dorian Finny Smith and reuniting with their old big man Clint Capella what these two signings tell us about the direction of the team moving forward and so much more it’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets
this is mission control Houston
ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2 1 zero the Rockets have been stacking W’s all off all season long and that trend continues into NBA free agency where they make not one but two additions to the roster what’s up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native Houstononian and credentialed media member i’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcasts or on YouTube just search Locked on Rockets where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like comment subscribe on YouTube now today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins just head on over to fanduel.com to check them out and as always thanks so much for making Lockdown Rockets part of your day every single day whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you so much for being an everydayer rockets add Dorian Finny Smith and reunite with their ex big man Clint Capella in 2025 NBA free agency the DFS signing was reported we kind of expected that one it fits it fits you know what we expect out of an Emma Udoka le team he fits the defensive identity all that good stuff and we’ll get we’re going to get into the specifics of both these signings the Click Capella one was so random like what um even my reaction was like my immediate reaction and many others media immediate reaction to the Clint Capella signing was like are they about to go get Yiannis like that’s kind of what it felt like for a split second and then I had to like temper my expectations and after doing some poking around it it you know I I was able to basically confirm this is just a this is a uh depth play by signing Clint Capella that’s what that the this is the Rockets and this is what they’re signifying that they want to be a deep team they want to have uh plenty of viable options and lineup and roster flexibility at every single position across the board so uh makes sense but it was still a shocking signing nonetheless we’re going to get into the specifics of what each of these signings tell us about the direction of the team moving forward um major you know takeaways thoughts possible concerns all that good stuff uh but let’s just start with the raw contract numbers and just the general reaction so first off Dorian Finny Smith uh Rockets stealing him away from the LA Lakers and LeBron and Luca i’m sure Luca is heartbroken that he only had Dorian Finny Smith back for you know half a season and and now he loses him once again but Dorian Finny Smith four years $53 million deal non-g guaranteed salary and a player option in year four plus a trade kicker so overall really fair value for DFS i think his first year is going to clock in at like just a scoch over $12 million um and with how the salary cap is going to continue to increase you know roughly 10% each subsequent season from here on out um that $12 million salary you know approximately $12 million per year it’ll it’ll you know have uh increasing raises here and there it’s going to be great value over the lifetime of the contract for DFS and that final year being non-g guaranteed salary and a player option bodess really well for Houston so overall great value there and then the Clint Capella deal three years $21.5 million so year one he’ll clock in making about $6.9 million give or take nice um and that was the one that was super perplexing where a lot of people were like whoa what is what does the Clint Capella signing mean and all this stuff um the Rockets are getting Dorian Finny Smith they’re signing him outright using their non-t taxpayer mid-level exception they’re using most of it um again about 12 million of the 14.1 available um 14.1 million available dollars from the uh non-tax mid-level exception that they had and then they’re getting Clint Capella via signing trade and they’re not sending anything out to the Atlanta Hawks except for a future protected second round pick and some cash so the Rockets had a cash allotment left over um from this past season each year NBA teams get X amount of cash they can throw around in trades grease the wheels on transactions all that stuff and so the Rockets are receiving Clint Capella in a signin trade deal with the Atlanta Hawks um it hasn’t been formally executed yet and there’s a strong likelihood that it’s going to get rolled into the existing framework of the Kevin Durant trade in order to make the money like truly work across all sides at least that’s that’s the working assumption um in the immediate aftermath of the signing now things could change on that front but as it stands right now Rockets get DFS with the mid-level ex the taxpayer this sorry the non- taxpayer mid-level exception and they get Clint Capella via signing trade from the Atlanta Hawks but they are not sending out any pieces for either of these guys um and it looks like in all likelihood that Jock Landale will ultimately just get waved um I don’t think Jock Landale is going back to Clint going back to Atlanta for Clint Capella at least it doesn’t seem like that’s the outcome of his situation it looks like he’ll probably just get waved so that the Rockets have full access to that non-t taxpayer mid-level exception to be able to sign DFS and then one of the big hang-ups with these two signings and my reaction to these two signings was the concern the worry you know initially we were operating under the assumption that the Rockets would likely be trying to stay below the luxury tax line uh this year and going into this upcoming season instead the Rockets said screw that and they just went all out they secured DFS he’s making 12 million on his first year uh in Houston and then Clint Capella reuniting with the Rockets he’ll be making $6.9 million the Rockets clock in at just below the first apron currently um with the way things are shaking out financially and one of the major concerns with not one but these two free agency editions was that it meant Cam Whitmore would be getting traded that Cam Whitmore would be long gone that he would have to be the return piece in either a sign and trade for one of these two guys or the Rockets would just have to jettison him for some future draft capital in order to make some space on the roster after reaching out and and you know talking to a source close to the team that is not the scenario that they presented um in fact there’s uh optimism here in their ability to keep Cam Whitmore around in addition to these two reported signings and that’s huge um the Rockets could simply just go in there and cut Nate Williams and cuz Nate right now is kind of their 15th man on the roster again you don’t have to have 15 players on the roster you can just have 14 going into the season that’s fine um and if they do that if they cut Nate Williams and keep Cam Whitmore and all the other pieces stay the same the Rockets will clock in just below the First Apron threshold which is where they are currently hardcaped the Rockets cannot go into or past that first apron number um because of the fact that they spent more than the taxpayer mid-level exception because they signed Dorian Finny Smith using 12 of the available $14.1 million of that non-tax mid-level exception the Rockets are hardcapped at the first apron they literally cannot go over that number um and also because they are receiving a player back in a signin trade via Clint Capella so uh that’s also another factor to consider there but uh some fantastic kind of cap logistics or cap gymnastics I should say from the Rockets front office and one of the signifying things of these two deals is that like the Rockets are hitting full sim they’re going for it right there’s no hey we’re going to skirt the luxury tax a little bit and then we don’t we’re worried about the repeater tax somewhere down the line it’s no they they want to go for it this season and they wanted to arm themselves and be in the best possible position to make a deep run this season and one thing that we learned from this past season and this past playoff run is that the deepest teams have the most success at the end of the day and adding Dorian Vinnie Smith again another premier 3 and D wing and then adding Clint Capella who effectively now becomes your third string center um behind Alen Chingon and Steven Adams those are fantastic depth additions to this Rockets roster that allow them to play a variety of ways right the Rockets have so many wings they can play a uber elite defensive version of small ball with Amin Thompson and Dorian Finny Smith and Tari Een and Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr super switchability AC across all five positions or they can go super jumbo mega big lineup right with Jabari and KD and Shingun and Adams or Capella out there you know they’ve got so much optionality as to how they they’re going to be able to play this next season and that’s the really exciting part about both of these signings so coming up I want to get into some of the specifics of each of these signings what some of these signings tell us about the direction of the team moving forward we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting you’re already following the action why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are busy getting sunburned at the beach look using FanDuel to track your favorite matchups is awesome the app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet it’s easy to use fast to pay out and makes even regular season games feel like mustwatch events head on over to FanDuel.com right now take a look at the odds on favorites to win the World Series this season the Dodgers leading the way at plus 210 the Yankees plus 700 the Phillies and Tigers both sitting there at plus 850 and your Houston Astros clocking in at plus,100 to win it all this season if you’re new to FanDuel new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins again that’s 150 bucks if your first $5 bet wins head on over to fanduel.com open the app or head to the website to get started today and continuing on here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball all right let’s take a look at what the Dorian Finny Smith signing tells us about this team moving forward so first and foremost right the Rockets there was some reporting that the Rockets were looking at targeting um a veteran kind of 3 and D wing to replace uh Dylan Brooks in the rotation that was a unfortunately it was a significant loss for the Rockets you know I’ve seen a lot of fans kind of trying to glaze over the impact that Dylan Brooks had on this team this past season now a big part of the two key differences between DFS and Dylan Brooks um I think they are fully like they’re comparable defenders in fact I’d give DFS a slight edge when it comes to guarding down as I’ll call it you know guarding smaller players smaller quicker faster players that was an area of struggle for Dylan Brooks dylan’s best you know roles the best way that he was being deployed defensively oftentimes was when Dylan was guarding up when he was guarding bigger players defensively i mean think about the times that he was crossmatched on like fours and fives or even using him situationally to guard guys like Victor Wmanyama leveraging his strength and his physicality as a defender which were some of his best attributes but Dylan Brooks would also routinely get you know exposed by smaller quicker more explosive guard play um even when you have a men Thompson who’s a much more adept guard defender guarding smaller quicker faster players so I think DFS gives the Rockets another wing defender who’s a little bit better when it comes to checking guards so now they’ve got Amen Thompson as your ace defender you’ve got DFS backing him up you’ve got Fred Van Vleet who’s still a phenomenal defender in his own right um and so you got two of those three guys in your starting lineup and then you’ve got your wing defenders your true wing defenders in Jabari Jr Kevin Durant and Tari Een and then a little bit further down the line right as part of your you know stay ready crew your reserves you’ve got Jan Tate so the Rockets have three kind of really strong point of attack defenders in Amen Thompson DFS and Fred Van Vleet and then they’ve got their three lengthier bigger stronger wing defenders in Jabarius M Jr Kevin Durant and Tari E i think that’s a really nice balance between those two kind of roles of defenders if you will whereas last season at times it felt like you know a lot of the burden of chasing around the smaller quicker players really did fall on Amnen Thompson Fred Van and to a lesser degree Jaylen Green at times i mean we watched Jaylen Green chase around Steph Curry you know in that Warrior series and it it often it often times felt like Jaylen was the best defender on Steph outside of Amen Thompson and Fred Van Vleet so that’s an underrated part of this signing as well is DFS gives them another point of attack defender another true kind of perimeter guy that can chase around other smaller perimeter players that way it doesn’t have to be Jabari or Katie or Char or Tari chasing around guards on the perimeter um so that’s part one of what I think the DFS signing you know brings to the Rockets um one other thing is you know when you compare DFS and Dylan Brooks I I give DFS the edge there defensively because I think he’s better at guarding smaller quicker players uh Dylan Brooks no contest is a better offensive player than than DFS like far and away the better offensive player but the tradeoff in what you get you know because the Rockets have effectively now replaced Jaylen Green with Kevin Durant and then Dylan Brooks with Dorian Finny Smith and then Jo Landale with Clint Capella um and that’s kind of the major moves that they’ve made this off season what I will say is even though DFS is not quite the overall well-rounded offensive player or has maybe the bag that Dylan Brooks does the Dylan Brooks bailout offense that we saw a lot this past season right where Dylan Brooks would you know take the ball and get to his little mid-range Jimmy or um you know post up against mismatches against smaller players you know it was fun it was nice to see but it was also frustrating when it wasn’t working or when Dylan didn’t quite have it going and the Rockets they don’t they don’t need that anymore they’ve I think outgrown the need for that type of play because now if there’s ever a broken half court play if they’re struggling to find offense right if if things aren’t going their way that’s what Dylan Durant is for now right dylan Brooks would score some of his baskets last season out of broken plays sets that didn’t work out um you know blown up offensive stuff like that’s KD’s role now is KD is going to get 20 to 25 shot attempts a game basically as the Rockets number one option but also as the guy that they go to when things do break down when they command a double team and then when they just need to just throw it out and there’s less than 10 seconds left on the clock and they need a bucket there’s no more oh the ball’s going to find Dylan Brooks and then Dylan is going to try to make something happen it’s like no get the ball to KD and he’ll take care of you so I don’t think the offensive loss is that big of a deal the one major reservation that I have about DFS is is he actually a good shooter um and I say that because you look at his last handful of seasons so with the Lakers this past season um he shot just under 40% from three on 4.8 attempts per game in Brooklyn this past season cuz he spent half and half he shot 43.5% on 5.4 attempts per game that’s great um so combined he was shooting 41.1% this past year with both teams with Brooklyn the season before so the entire 22 23 season he was only shooting 34.8% on threes and then the year before that um both Dallas and Brooklyn combined he was shooting 33.7% on threes and that includes playing alongside Luca um before they traded him for Kyrie Irving now in the years before the Brooklyn trade he was at 39.5% 39.4% 37.6% so I do think that DFS probably trends more likely a good shooter but there have been some slumps in his career however those have kind of directly coincided with the Brooklyn Nets that weren’t winning much of anything if at all when they gave up on the KD Kyrie experiment and everything so I’m not going to hold that too much against him but it’s tough when you go from Dylan Brooks who was literally the team’s best shooter to DFS who does have you know some hiccups you know on his resume as a shooter ultimately I’m going to trust that DFS is a legitimate shooter that he will be a knockdown spot-up three-point shooter and I think he’s going to really excel in his role here in Houston um the identity of this team right so much of the offensive attention is going to be focused on Kevin Durant Alpin Shingun and Amin Thompson as like your big three and all three of those guys are able to command double teams whether it’s operating in isolation operating out of the post getting downhill there will be countless opportunities for DFS to just be spotting up on the three-point line knocking down wide open shots and he’s also not just like a one-dimensional only can spot up and knock down threes he can attack off the catch a little bit he can drive it in he can finish at the rim he’s a decent cutter moves well without the basketball he’s played off of star players like Luca like LeBron previously in his career so he’ll fit in just fine in Houston one more area one more important note here about the DFS signing i think this is significant to to mention i think the DFS signing fully signals you know because we we’ve speculated about what the Rockets may or may not do in free agency the their their potential glaring need for one more you know maybe combo guard or or you know secondary ball handler to take some of the pressure off of Fred Vleet Amen Thompson and Reed Shepard ultimately they didn’t go that route and they added two names they didn’t just add one name they added two names mind you now granted the Capella one is a sign and a trade from Atlanta so like that requires Atlanta’s cooperation it’s not like they could just go out and you know add another $7 million in free agency that’s not how that works but that being said I think the fact that the Rockets signed Dorian Finny Smith is a massive vote of confidence for Reed Shepard and and by extension Fred Van Vlitton and Ben Thompson too cuz it signals that the Rockets really believe in that trio as their trio of ball handlers moving forward that that’s the trio of guys who are going to be initiating a lot of the Rockets offense now I you know obviously look Alpour and Shingun is going to be responsible for initiating offense kevin Durant the offense will run through him a lot this next season but your three primary ball handlers next year are going to be Fred Van Vleet Amin Thompson and Reed Shepard and that tells me that the Rockets truly believe that Reed Shepard’s going to be ready for that role now you also have right in the stay ready crew got Aaron Holiday kind of waiting in the wings and you know he can give you some spot minutes and some decent ball handling here and there um but he’s not at least on paper on the same level as those other three guys and he’s not really a guy you want initiating a lot of your offense he’s more of a you know plug him in at the guard spot let him defend let him spot up at the three-point line while you let other guys run the offense so uh I think that’s important to note here and I think it tells us a lot about how confident the Rockets are in Reed Shepard and again by extension Fred Van Vleet and Amen Thompson moving forward with their kind of collective responsibilities offensively for this team coming up want to talk about Clint Capella surprise addition to this squad what it means moving forward and final thoughts on Rockets uh free agency day one we’re gonna get there in just one moment and final segment here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball one more quick note about DFS um I don’t expect him to start uh I think that there was some speculation about that and and I mean I could maybe see it right because you have a little bit more of a I guess a balanced starting lineup if you start DFS you have a men at the three Katie at the four Shingun at the five and maybe there will be some nights where situationally like against a smaller team a more guard heavy team maybe they would elect to do that but I think the Rockets default starting lineup next season will likely be Fred Amin KD Jabari Shingun and for what it’s worth right the Rockets definitely view KD at least offensively as their two guard um you know he’ll be the guy leading the team in shot attempts he’ll be the number one option offensively um so if you want to restructure that in your mind you know it’s Fred KD at the two Amen at the three Jabari at the four Shingun at the five and then defensively that lineup still has a ton of versatility and you’ve got two guards in Amin you know who will take the toughest defensive assignment and then Fred Van Vleet to guard the smaller players on the floor before you have to worry about Jabari and KD stepping in to guard like you know these six foot tall quick twitch guards on the perimeter even then their length their overall defensive versatility they should be fine uh just wanted to address that really quickly i fully expect Jabari to still be starting this next season um let’s talk a little bit about Clint Capella the prodigal son returns to the Houston Rockets um kind of crazy that he you know had his rookie year in Houston didn’t play much then he played like five really good seasons in Houston got traded to Atlanta played five really good years in Atlanta um well maybe like four really good years in like that last season where he he lost his starting job to Enka Kongu and you know was in a reduced role coming off the bench clint’s a little long in the tooth now unfortunately but Clint gives the Rockets um another kind of insurance policy with that you know in that third string big role um he’s effectively replacing Jock Landale on the roster uh and I will say look when when Clint was first signed I was very confused so were many others i was like “What is happening?” And my immediate reaction to it was “Are are they getting yonas?” Like that was that and I I was I did some I did some poking i did some digging around and no this is just it’s a depth play um the Rockets basically had an opportunity to again add another you know depth piece uh via Atlanta via sign and trade u to bolster the roster and knowing that they were going to have to be you know waving Jock Landale uh in order to open up the cap space to effectively sign Dorian Finny Smith this was a way for the Rockets to get that third string big because you you got to remember Jock Landale played a a you know not insignificant role on this team this past season right because Steven Adams wasn’t fully ready to go at the start of the year he didn’t fully look like himself he wasn’t playing backtobacks for a majority of the season um and that’s the role that Jock Landale held for this Rockets team now unfortunately Jock Landale was clearly like the third worst big or the third best big the third string big god that’s so rude of me to have Why did I have to say it that way um anyways uh Jock was just the third center the third best center on the roster and there wasn’t anything that Jock like did that was like truly noteworthy other than like he could space the floor a little bit at the five but he wasn’t like a knockdown three-point shooter or a traditional like stretch five by any you know by any means he was just he’d knock down threes occasionally um but he was like a you know your prototyp prototypical kind of hustle big coming off the bench you know come in you know play hard you know try to hustle set some good screens rebound do the dirty work um but he wasn’t like this elite monstrous rebounding presence like Steven Adams or elite screening presence he wasn’t skilled you know as a passer or as a scorer like Alpour and Shingun um and so he was just kind of there right he was a spot filler he was an innings eater um when Adams couldn’t play clint Capella gives you that same role but he actually gives you some versatility out of that five spot because now the Rockets have a tried andrue vertical floor spacing big they have a uh oh my god where is it do I have it here there it is
lob threat
they have a lob threat once again um now Nefali Dante did project to be a lob threat and you know some might ask well why couldn’t the Rockets just trust Nefali Dante to be you know that third string big and and whatever clearly they wanted somebody who’s a little bit more of a proven you know commodity and given the fact that they want to preserve Stephen Adams for the postseason this isn’t really surprising this allows the Rockets to you know still run the double big lineup pretty consistently with Shingun and Adams on the nights that Adams is available but maybe Adams is you know if he misses any time or if they still want to be careful with him and not play him on backto backs this allows the Rockets another look at playing that double big lineup potentially with Alpin Shingun and Clint Capella in the middle instead and it’s a different dynamic because now you have Clint Capella who can absolutely play over the rim and you can just have Clint Capella in the dunker spot you can have Alper and Shingun as the primary screener and you know you get Fred or Amin Thompson going downhill with that screen from Alp they get the ball you know over the top to Shingun on the short roll and then the defense is in a bind because what do you do do you stop Alber Shingun do you help in off the wings from the shooters which are you know Kevin Durant Jabarius Jr uh DFS maybe Cam Whitmore Een uh or do you help from the dunker spot and then give up a wideopen lob pass to Clint Capella like there’s there’s a lot of fun ways that the Rockets can play this they can also just play Clint Capella by himself um you know he’s an athletic rim running big um still a good rebounder still a solid defender uh maybe not you know a starting caliber big anymore uh although I’m sure I’m sure the Lakers would have loved to get their hands on Clint Capella so another win for the Rockets and another loss for the Lakers which we love we always love uh talking about Lakers L’s um it’s just another it’s just another great depth addition for this Rocket team where now you look at their depth chart the Rockets have a starting lineup of Fred Van Vetle Amen Thompson Jabari Smith Jr Kevin Durant Alporn and Shingun Flip Katy and Jabari if you’re going to get into semantics off their bench they’ve got Reed Shepard Cam Whitmore Dorian Finny Smith Tari E Steven Adams and then their reserves backing up those guys as it presently stands Aaron Holidayiday i’m not going to factor in Nate Williams because he’s probably going to get cut waved whatever um so Aaron Holiday J Shantate Uncle Jeff Green and Clint Capella that is a ridiculously deep 14-man roster where every single one of those players could actually still be like a a legitimate nine or 10th man rotation guy across the NBA landscape like the Rockets basically have like three different versions of like lineups that are like serviceable NBA quality lineups where you don’t have a bunch of reserves that they you know unproven rookies or young players or guys that are too long in the tooth to still contribute you know motivational support guys at the end of the bench no Holiday Tate even Jeff Green to a lesser extent these guys the Stay Ready crew they absolutely still contributed this past season now you add Clint Capella to that mix basically replacing Jock Landale in the Stay Ready crew um and he gives them again another look at that five spot you get DFS another wing defender the Rockets have just flat out crushed free agency and assuming knock on wood fingers crossed all that good stuff light your your sage your incense assuming that they’re able to still keep Cam Whitmore this is an A++ off season from Rafel Stone Eli Whites Patrick Fertitta and the rest of the Rockets front office that brain trust has done a phenomenal job setting this team up to put them in position to contend for a title right away they’ve got depth they’ve got defense they are going to be a much better offensive team this next season simply with the addition of Kevin Durant but also you’re going to be a better shooting team assuming bigger roles for Reed Shepard and and hopefully Cam Whitmore Dorian Finny Smith also a phenomenal shooter on paper um continued growth for Alpore and Chenon and Amen Thompson right they’ll have much more clearly defined roles offensively this next season with you know the number one option being Kevin Durant and then you know Alin Shingun and Amin Thompson taking turns as kind of the second and third options depending on who’s got it going on what night or favorable matchups or what have you ke uh Fred Van Vleet gets you know back into his ideal role as like a a fourth or even fifth option some nights where he’s just kind of setting the table offensively and letting the other guys go to work um hopefully Jabari Smith Jr has a bigger role offensively this next season as well um there’s a lot to be excited about a lot to look forward to great pair of signings for the Rockets um and yeah man I guess at this point Rafel Stone just gets to go on vacation until the season starts up again because there’s nothing left to do rockets are done they’re done making moves unless somehow Giannis demands a trade and then the Rockets want to be at the front you know front of the Giannis sweep stakes line aside from that this team is ready to contend at the highest level right now i think the Rockets flat out crushed this off seasonason um and I think you got to look look at you know they they flat out destroyed free agency best free agency signings across the board um maybe the Nuggets maybe the Hawks we’ll we’ll we’ll circle back and kind of do an overall evaluation of free agency at some point a little later in the week once everybody else’s moves are taken care of i like what Denver did i really like what the Hawks have done um Hawks are about to give the East a run for their money here uh but with that I want your reactions your thoughts to the signings of Dorian Finny Smith and Clint Capella give me your thoughts in the YouTube comments remember the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day and then like comment subscribe on YouTube but as always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening we look forward to having you back right here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball

Rockets ACE Free Agency Signing Dorian Finney-Smith AND Clint Capela | Houston DEEPEST Team In NBA?

Houston Rockets make waves in free agency with two game-changing signings. Are they now the deepest team in the NBA?

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) breaks down the Rockets’ latest moves, securing Dorian Finney-Smith and bringing Clint Capela back to H-Town. The discussion covers the financial implications, defensive upgrades, and potential lineup combinations these additions bring. Gatlin analyzes how DFS and Capela fit into Ime Udoka’s system, alongside stars like Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson.

Key topics include the Rockets’ luxury tax situation, the team’s commitment to Cam Whitmore, and the evolving roles of Fred VanVleet and Reed Sheppard. Will these signings propel Houston to title contention?

Tune in for expert insights on the Rockets’ path to becoming a formidable force in the Western Conference.

#Rockets #NBA #FreeAgency #DorianFinneySmith #ClintCapela

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#HoustonRockets #Rockets #NBA #KevinDurant #AlperenSengun #JabariSmithJr #TariEason #AmenThompson #CamWhitmore #ReedSheppard #FredVanVleet #JeffGreen #StevenAdams #JaeSeanTate #JockLandale #AaronHoliday #NateWilliams #NFalyDante #JackMcVeigh #ClintCapela