Monday, Feb 25th, 2019

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Written while listening to Average White Bands' Pick Up the Pieces

Kenneth Faried is Morey’s best bargain find yet

With the max contract and $90 million extension that Daryl Morey handed out this offseason to Chris Paul and Clint Capela, respectively, Houston’s general manager was forced to salary dump Ryan Anderson and let Trevor Ariza walk in free agency, all in the name of keeping new owner Tilman Fertitta happy and under the luxury tax.  James Harden, Capela and Paul are making a combined $81 million this season, though, and are owed $448.5 million over the next five seasons, which has created a reality for the Rockets in which the front office has had to search for production in G-League players and NBA drifters.All season, they’ve had a revolving door of names mostly better suited for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, all of whom have become a cliffnote to Harden’s historical season, many of whom have offered surprisingly quality minutes for season-saving portions of the year.No one has fit that mold better than Kenneth Faried, who was marooned last season in Denver, a holdout from the George Karl era, and traded to Brooklyn this offseason. He was cut by the Nets after 12 uneventful games on Jan. 19, and scooped up by Morey two days later, with his career on life support.Since, he’s played 14 games in Houston, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds on 61 percent shooting in 29.5 minutes per game, all of which would be career-highs over the course of a season. His 116.4 offensive rating is also highest on the team since he joined the Rockets, per NBA.com/stats.Faried has redefined his NBA shelf life in his short time in Houston, and, ironically, may perpetuate Morey’s cycle this offseason by becoming so valuable that the Rockets won’t be able to afford him. Here are some unlikely contributors, big and small, for Houston this season.

• P.J. Tucker, who played in Israel, Ukraine, Greece, Italy and Germany before coming back to the NBA, is 33 and playing a career-high in minutes (35.3).

• Nene, a greying 36-year-old, has played 30 games this season.

• Gerald Green, who was playing one-on-one with his rottweiler in his garage this time a year ago, is shooting 6.2 3s per game in 55 games.

• Austin Rivers, waived earlier this year by the Suns, has been a reliable third guard.

• Isaiah Hartenstein, who, it’s OK, we don’t know much about either, has played 27 games.

• Gary Clark, not Gary Clark Jr., has played 37.

Overall, Houston has played 21 players in at least one game this season (Golden State has played 16), including one- or two-hit wonders like Zhou Qi, Carmelo Anthony (!), Vince Edwards, James Nunnally, Brandon Knight, Michael Carter-Williams, Danuel House and Brandon Knight.Yes, the Rockets, now 35-24, beat the Warriors without Harden on Saturday night. Yes, Harden is still averaging 35.5 points per game and is actively chasing a Wilt Chamberlain record. But no, this season has not been an easy one in Houston.

 LeBron, who loves his team, hates his team  

After the Lakers beat the Rockets on Thursday night, LeBron James, speaking of his current team, which he tried to wholesale trade for Anthony Davis three weeks ago, told TNT’s Rosalyn Gold-Onwude:“I’m happy with who we’ve got. I love our squad.”Then, following a 13-point loss to the Davis-less Pelicans on Saturday night, he reverted back to his disappointed self:“How many know what's at stake if you've never been there?...I'm playing devil's advocate, you know? It's kind of a fine line when you talk about that, because when you've never been there or know what it takes to actually shoot for something like that, sometimes you're afraid to get uncomfortable.”Maybe his teammates like him. We don’t know. But if someone tried to trade us, then told us he loved us, then criticized us a few days later, we’d probably sit a few seats away from him as well.The Lakers are three games out of the eighth spot entering Monday night.

  A flash of brilliance from Marcus Smart

An incredibly athletic play by Marcus Smart during Boston’s 126-116 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.

  Quick Hits

• Mahershala Ali won an Oscar last night. He also used to be a Division I basketball player?!

• The Knicks, who won at home last night for the first time since Dec. 1, got a sarcastic shoutout from Samuel L. Jackson during the Oscars.

• We’re happy to see Isaiah Thomas back hooping. He’s averaged 12 a game over two games since returning February 13th.  

• Steve Kerr took a long time to notice Draymond Green writhing on the ground in front of him.

• LeBron says he activated playoff mode early this season. He also did this in the following game.

• Charles Barkley’s jokes on Jussie Smollett are as darkly funny as you’d think.

• Don Nelson has reemerged to let us know he’s been smoking a bunch of weed.

• Poor DeMar DeRozan got reminded why he was traded for Kawhi Leonard on Friday night.

• Pascal Siakam is nice at soccer.

• An ex-NBA ballboy revealed some pretty great stories during a Reddit AMA.

• ICYMI on Friday, here's Paul George's high-arcing floater that sunk the Jazz in double-overtime. His career-year continues.

 Concrete Reads 

• From last Monday: NBA ratings have taken a dip this year, both nationally and locally [Sports Business Journal]

• The Ringer’s 2019 NBA Draft Lottery Big Board 1.0 [The Ringer]

• From 2014: The grand unified theory of Paul George [ESPN]

• The busted Nike shoe heard ‘round the world [Self Plug]

  Podcast Pick

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony talks Zion and amateur basketball on The Woj Pod [

ESPN

]

Best upcoming games

Tonight, 2/25

Tuesday, 2/26, TNT