Houston Rockets Sign Fred VanVleet At 3-Years $130 Million: Why It’s A Good Deal, Next Moves, & More
Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) reacts to and breaks down the Houston Rockets signing guard Fred VanVleet to a 3-year, $130 million deal as their first major move of free agency. What VanVleet ultimately brings to the Houston Rockets both on AND off the court, how he fits with the current team, why this was Houston’s biggest priority this offseason, the pivot from James Harden to FVV, why the contact might be better than it actually seems, Brook Lopez staying with the Milwaukee Bucks and how that impacts next steps for Houston and more.
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41 Comments
COMMENT: How do you feel about signing Fred VanVleet?
No way we give up Josh Christopher for capella. Rocket can go for mo bamba, udoka can mode him to be a rebounder and protect the rim, he’s a good 3pts shooter as well
I don’t like this signing at all but he’s a rockets player now. It is what it is
How much better is FVV than KPJ at pt? is he a massive upgrade? don't think so. He's 29 coming off a bad shooting year. FVV is not an "elite" point guard and at 5'10 is a defensive liability. Huge over pay, payed elite level money FOR 3 YEARS for a slightly above avg point guard. See a lot of people trying to SPIN this, but it is what it is, an overpay for what it brings to the team.
Yeah so enough with the Dillion brooks talk. Literal no one wants him in Houston.
Murica daddy
What is Stone doing
Big money for garbage Its for ınsult young and chip salary players..
rebuild move. paying him to train up these rookies. also means settling to be at bottom or near bottom for 3 seasons
A positive move …
Fred Van fleeced by the cap burglar
You will quickly find out how toxic FVV is. Raptor fans are thrilled that he is not coming back.
It’s better than kpj
The Rockets just traded TyTy , Garuba and 2 srps to open more cap space. Bad trade as i like both. But I find it convenient that Jerami Grant wants out of his Portland deal for $30 mill and the Rockets open up just under that. Its the only reason i can think of.
Raptors and VanVleet fan here. I hope FVV can bounce back from last season. He was looking a bit slow, getting blown by on defense, his shot wasn't where it should be, for most of the season. But he also has been playing nearly 40 minutes per game for the last two seasons, since the Raptors have seriously lacked a backup pg. Hopefully he will have more reasonable/less play time and can play up to his talent. Also, there were some rumors of tension between Fred and Scottie Barnes, hopefully that won't be an issue either. Hoping for Fred's and the Rockets success.
Why would we want Dillon Brooks? Please NO
dumb signing…just dumb
My thoughts on FVV signing are extremely optimistic; a lot of people are overreacting to the contract when that might be the least concern.
First, Fred provides a veteran leadership that this locker room really lacks. The same people who are deeming this an overpay are the same people who thought the Rockets should have brought in Harden on a 5 year $200 million deal, which is ridiculous.
Second, he gives both playmaking ability and perimeter defense to a team that has ranked bottom of the league in both areas. Though his shooting numbers dipped last season, a great amount of that can be attributed towards the role issues that he was plagued with. In Toronto, Fred had no clue if he was the guy or a supporting player and found himself struggling because he would force bad shots trying to save the team. On the Rockets, he has a defined role as a primary playmaker and secondary scorer behind Jalen Green while also having the ability to mentor the younger players in these areas. On the defensive end, though he is small, he’s playing with several amazing athletes who have the physical tools to cover up for his defensive liabilities while also mentoring them in effort and impact on this end of the floor. Also, to assume that Fred is a bad defender is incorrect; he ranks highly in deflections and steals that lead to easy transition buckets for our amazing athletes.
Third, I think people are concerned that this could stagnate the growth of Amen Thompson and Jalen Green. Though I do agree that there may be less opportunities for Amen to play-make, it should be noted that Amen does definitely need some time to develop. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about giving Amen the ball immediately, and to those people, I would love to say DEAR GOD I HAVE ALREADY SEEN THAT SHIT FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS HELP ME. Fred gives the team a sense of IQ, intangibles, and leadership that could help give this team an identity as a gritty athletic team. Additionally, I also think it would be interesting to develop Amen as a wing as well, where we could see lineups with him playing alongside Green and FVV. Since our future playmaking could also lie with running actions through Sengun, it would be good to develop Amen as an off-ball player as well.
Fourth, the contract. Though it looks bad on paper (and it definitely isn’t a pretty contract), there are some benefits. We had to give Fred the absolute bag in order to attract his services and I would not be surprised if Toronto was looking at a 4 year, $120 mil for Freddy. Also, Houston’s plan, I assume, is to eventually trade him in his 3rd year for some star. With that contract, matching salaries becomes a trivial issue to attract a distressed star along with the Brooklyn picks and a young player. If we only looked at Fred for his contract compared to his production, he is definitely an overpay, but Fred provides much more value beyond his on the court play.
My final assessment is that the Rockets got their guy on a somewhat overpriced but overall reasonable deal. Good move for the Rockets and we gotta stop overreacting 😂
Overpaid for a undersized guard who had a down year this year. Kyrie got less on the same 3 years and he's levels above FVV as a basketball player. 2 years should have been the deal. 3 years is just flat out horrible.
I really like this pick up.. he really helps with setting up our shooters
If someone gets superstar money it better come with playoff appearance guaranteed…I'm not liking this deal. I was for spreading the money around to atleast 3 proven players like Brook Lopez, Grant Williams, Dillon Brooks, and PatBev. A bunch of guys that can mentor, challenge, and compete with our young guys. And still help us get to the playoffs with their experience 😔
Raptors fan here, he’s all about himself.
He will get his before the teams.
Wish him all the best.
I’m glad he’s gone.
Dillon brooks can't guard a old man
We haven't used j Christopher right get tate out of here he's too use to losing
KPJ will start over Jalen to start the season 👀. Crazy that they are in competition for the starting 2 guard. KPJ > passer
KPJ > defender
KPJ > shooter
Jalen > driver
KPJ is 23 and Jalen is 21. Not that big of a age gap. And whether people like it or not, if KPJ has fixed his character issues, his ceiling is very high.
Don't we have a younger and bigger pg already in TyTy? 🤦♂🤦♂
130M for FVV is a stupid way to spend your money mark my words
I still don't like the money we committed to…but there are positives to FVV.
We are definitely getting d brooks. Don’t like the fit but what do I know
I personally do not mind this. It was obvious the Rockets would have to overpay and a veteran presence is 100% needed. That said I hope we make a few more moves this offseason
They just signed Dillon Brooks
Feel good about FVV. Rockets fans including the Rockets front-office, feels bad that we weren't able to get Brook Lopez. Personally I'm heartbroken we would have been in the playoffs……… The center we have now doesn't have a defensive bone in his 6'8 6'9 body IJS
You don’t give a max contract to a player who doesn’t deserve a max contract; but I can accept that if only for two years; but 3 years? C’mon; we should have just walked away! This is a bad contract! As I mentioned in another chat there’s this quote from the movie Wall Street “I loved it at 40. It’s an insult at 50”
Is this a 2 year and a team option for the third year?
Justify the cost all you want but sorry Houston fans you payed a lot of money for a player who cannot dominate. Its like you bought a Porsche at full price but are going home with a Corvette. Have fun watching VanVleet on his erratic drives to the hole and poor shot selection at the end of the shot clock let alone dribbling the rock too much, ask any of Rap Fan. Have patience you will see and start calling for blood thereafter. Thanks Houston Management.
You obviously never watched any BumVleet while on the Raptors last season. He is everything you dont want in a PG. BumVleet is an aweful floor general.. the bum is a selfish hero ball chucker. BumVleet is a role player at best. Rockets should have gone after Kyle Lowry or CP3 if you wanted a PG that can actually mentor your team.. BumVleet is such a bad choice.. but you will soon find out lol
The Rockets are the Texans now. Im think Im out
I know off topic but in a similar vein, on top of the 3 year contract to FVV, we now gave 4 year contracts to Dillon Brooks and Jock Landale! I’ve been listening to this show for several weeks now and all I hear is that the FA contracts we should sign should only be for 2 years; Indiana was able to do a 2 year for Bruce Brown who I feel is better than Dillon Brooks; Toronto was able to do a 2 year for Schroder; we could have used that extra money from FVV on Lopez who btw also got a 2 year contract!
Overpaid by a lot!!!!
As Raptors fan.. I am often sadden when a key player ends up leaving the Raptors.. players like Vince, Bosch, DeRozan, Kawhi, Gasol, Ibaka and the GOAT Raptor Kyle Lowry. However when I woke up this morning to find out BumVleet is no longer a Raptor.. I felt like a kid on Christmas getting the present that I so dearly wished for. Such a great day for every Raptors fan.. excellent news to start Canada Day.
So disappointed we didn’t get Brook Lopez smh