Daryl Morey: Houston Rockets had a 'tough weekend'

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had a busy first week of NBA free agency, only to see the plans for what he "thought was maybe the best team in the
Daryl Morey: Houston Rockets had a 'tough weekend'
Daryl Morey: Houston Rockets had a 'tough weekend' /

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had a busy first week of NBA free agency, only to see the plans for what he "thought was maybe the best team in the NBA" fall through, CSN Houston reports.

The Rockets had extended a four-year, $88 million offer to Chris Bosh last Monday. But, after LeBron James left Miami for Cleveland, the Heat offered Bosh a five-year, $118 million, which the free agent accepted. Had Bosh agreed to go to Houston, the Rockets had intended to match the three-year, $46 million contract offered to restricted free agent Chandler Parsons. Instead, the team let Parsons sign with the Dallas Mavericks.

Morey talked about the potential signings in an interview with SportsTalk 790 on Monday:

"It looked extremely likely (that Bosh would be with Houston). Chris Bosh's camp was very professional throughout. Chris was definitely coming if Miami, at the last minute, didn't put all five years and that huge offer that we obviously couldn't match because of the rules."

The Rockets did trade Jeremy Lin and a draft pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for cash and rights to an overseas player, to clear cap space. Houston also traded Omer Asik and Omri Casspi to New Orleans. That move was part of a three-team trade to acquire Trevor Ariza. The Rockets also added Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson. Both have non-guaranteed contracts for the 2014-15 season.

More from SportsTalk 790, via CSN Houston:

"We feel we were almost there with the Bosh-Parsons moves," Morey said. "When that didn't happen we felt like the best thing to do was step back. We've now got a pick, a guaranteed lottery pick basically that is now is exactly structured like the pick that got us James Harden last time. We now have trade exceptions, we now have cap room and we also have pretty good team that's a top four seed team in the west even with the decision not to match Chandler.

- Sarah Barshop


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