The Whiteboard: Rolling the dice is nothing new for the Houston Rockets

The Daryl Morey-era Houston Rockets have always been willing to gamble. This reported Jimmy Butler offer is only the latest example.

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta owns a lot of businesses, but the casinos he presides over are the most fitting for his position with the Rockets. Houston has been one of the most consistently successful franchises over the last few seasons, and much of their success has come through moves that could be characterized as gambles.

Although now it’s seen as one of the premier swindles of recent years, the trade that brought James Harden to Houston certainly wasn’t without risk. Harden was clearly good, but Rockets GM Daryl Morey gave up two good players and two first round picks to get him, an offer that would’ve been disastrous if Harden didn’t work out.

Morey then took a swing on adding talent in whatever way possible by signing Dwight Howard, which did not end up working out too well. After Houston’s Dwightmare ended, the Rockets nabbed Mike D’Antoni to coach. The new coach had quite the pitch to MVP candidate James Harden: could he possibly play a whole new position?

The grand experiment worked, of course, and Harden looked fully realized as a point guard. Then, just one year later, Morey went and traded for Chris Paul, sliding Harden back to his old position. Questions emerged, as they always do, about if the two stars could play together.

They could indeed, as Houston got so painfully close to knocking out the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Western Conference Finals. The Rockets did what they always do when they come up short, and went and got Carmelo Anthony just to see if there was enough left in the tank to pull off their title run. And now, of course, there’s the reported monster offer to acquire Jimmy Butler.

It turns out Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets are pretty good at this rolling the dice thing. Trading four first rounders for Butler could be an unmitigated disaster, considering the last one wouldn’t be slated to convey until 2025.

That said, Houston’s mindset is championship or bust. Morey and the Rockets will do what they believe they have to in order to get over the hump. This is only the latest gamble for the Rockets, and the franchise has a history of walking away with the most chips.

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