SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Let’s debunk one of the most tired, baseless narratives surrounding the Rockets

Let’s debunk one of the most tired, baseless narratives surrounding the Rockets
Draft picks don't always work out. Photo by Pool/Getty Images.

Earlier this week, the Houston Rockets drafted Kenyon Martin Jr. with the 52nd pick in the second round of the NBA Draft. Welcome to Houston, Kenyon, you'll like it here – warm weather in the winter, fantastic restaurants, lots of concerts, plenty of cultural events and lots to do. Plus you may get to play basketball with former MVP winners James Harden and Russell Westbrook, pending tweets from Adrian Wojnarowski.

Just one word of advice: rent, don't buy.

Borrowing from what Michael Corleone said in Godfather II, if anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it's that Rockets draft picks don't stick around Houston very long.

Over the past decade, the Rockets have made 16 draft picks. Not one of them still plays for Houston. The average time Rockets draft picks lasted in Houston is less than two years. Heck, some of Larry King's eight marriages lasted longer than that.

Here's a look at the last 10 years of Houston's draft selections. It's not exactly the roster of last year's NBA All-Star Game. More like Whatever Happened To …?

2011

With the 14th selection in the 2011 NBA Draft, the Houston Rockets pick Marcus Morris from the University of Kansas. Morris played 71 games over two seasons, averaged 2.4 and 8.6 points per game in Houston and was sent packing to Phoenix.

Nikola Mirotic of Real Madrid was taken with the 23rd overall pick. He was immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, later to the Chicago Bulls on draft night.

Chandler Parsons was taken with the 38th pick in the second round. The Florida grad played three seasons in Houston before signing with Dallas as a restricted free agent. Houston told Dallas, "good luck with all that, he's all yours." Parsons embarked on an injury-plagued career, most recently appearing in five games and 2.8 scoring average with the Hawks in 2019.

2012

The Rockets selected Jeremy Lamb, shooting guard from UConn with the overall 12th pick. He played six whole games with the Rockets, and was dispatched to OKC with Kevin Martin, two first-round picks and one second-round pick for James Harden.

The Rockets took Royce White from Iowa State with the 16th pick in the first round. He never played for the Rockets after a tumultuous rookie year in the developmental league battling anxiety issues and fear of flying.

The Rockets selected Terrence Jones from Kentucky with the 18th pick in the first round. Jones lasted four mostly injury-plagued seasons in Houston, eventually landing in New Orleans before returning to Houston for two games in 2018 and calling it an NBA career. He currently starts at center for the Mets de Guaynabo in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional in Puerto Rico.

2013

Isaiah Canaan of Murray State was taken by the Rockets with the 34th pick in the second round. He played three seasons at Toyota Center, averaging 4.6 points in 22 games in 2013, 6.3 points in 25 games in 2014, and no points in one game in 2017. Duncan should hire him to endorse their yo-yo's. He made 13 trips between NBA teams and the development league over five seasons.

2014

The Rockets took center Clint Capela of France with the 25th pick in the first round. Capela spent five years with the Rockets, mostly as the "oop" end of alley-oop passes from James Harden. Capela was exiled to the Hawks last year after the Rockets decided to play "small ball."

The Rockets went with guard Nick Johnson with the 42nd pick in the second round. Johnson appeared in just 28 games with the Rockets, averaging 2.6 points. Johnson was traded to the Denver Nuggets the following year, but was waived after only six pre-season games.

2015

Sam Dekker of Wisconsin was selected with the 18th pick of the first round. He played two seasons in Houston before being traded with seven other Rockets for Chris Paul. Most notable factoid from Dekker's career, J.R. Smith said Dekker was the only teammate he ever hated during his near 20-year NBA career. Now playing in Turkey, he recently offered to sign and play with the Milwaukee Bucks "for free."

Power forward Montrezl Harrell, the 32nd overall pick in the second round, lasted only two years in Houston. He was part of the multi-player trade for Chris Paul. Harrell is flourishing with the Clippers, including being named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2020.

2016

Frontcourt gamble Chinanu Onuaku, the 37th pick in the second round, played a total of six games, averaging 3 points, for the Rockets. He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks who waived him goodbye four days later. He later was signed, and waived, by the Portland Trail Blazers. He now plays in the Croatia pro league.

Center Zhou Qi, the 43rd pick in the second round, played 19 games over two seasons, averaging 1.3 points. He is now back in his native China playing for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, the best team nickname in basketball.

2017

Euro star Isaiah Hartenstein was the 43rd player taken in the second round. After a successful career in Lithuania and Germany, he played only 51 games for the Rockets over two seasons. The Rockets waived him this year during the COVID-19 shutdown. Fun fact: Hartenstein was born in Oregon to a German father and American mother. They moved to Germany when Hartenstein's father signed a deal to play in the German pro league.

The Rockets took small forward Dillon Brooks from Canada with the 45th pick in the second round. He was immediately traded to Memphis, never appearing in Rockets gear - other than a baseball cap on draft night.

2018

The Rockets grabbed De'Anthony Melton from USC with the 46th pick in the second round. He was traded to Phoenix before the season started. Now he's with Memphis, the elephant burial ground of Houston draft picks.

2019

The Rockets had no picks in 2019, making it one of their most successful drafts in recent history.

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Bruce Bochy doesn’t ever want the Texas Rangers to let go of those memories of their first World Series title.

“We just don’t want to lean on them,” said Bochy, whose first season with the Rangers ended with the first World Series championship for the 63-year-old franchise, and his fourth as a big league manager.

While Texas has the opportunity to be the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back world championships — the New York Yankees were the last, with three in a row from 1998-2000 — the Rangers aren’t even defending champs in their own division.

And they aren’t favored to win the AL West this season.

Houston is again the odds-on favorite in the division it has won each of the last six full MLB seasons since the Rangers finished on top in 2016. The Astros won their regular season finale last Oct. 1, matched Texas at 90-72 and won the AL West since they were 9-4 head-to-head.

The Astros have made the AL Championship Series the past seven seasons, even when not division champs in the 2020 season shortened to 60 games because of the pandemic. They made four trips to the Fall Classic and won two titles in that span.

Dusty Baker retired days after Houston lost ALCS Game 7 at home to the Rangers last fall, finishing with 2,183 wins over 26 seasons as a big league manager with five teams.

New Astros manager Joe Espada, their bench coach for six seasons, is certainly familiar with a lineup that has big hitters Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, and a loaded starting rotation.

Espada isn't the division's only new manager. Ron Washington, who took the Rangers to their previous World Series in 2010 and 2011, was hired by the Angels, who still have Mike Trout but not two-way star Shohei Ohtani, now with the other team in Los Angeles.

Seattle again revamped its roster without big spending in free agency and hopes for a quicker return to the playoffs. The Mariners missed by one game last season, a year after its first postseason appearance since 2001.

And just like last year, the Athletics go into another season not knowing if it will be their last in Oakland.

HOW THEY PROJECT

1. Houston Astros. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, reacquired in a deadline trade last July, will start this season on the injured list. But the 41-year-old’s IL stint is expected to be a short one. The Astros still have lefty Framber Valdez (12-11, 2.45 ERA, 200 strikeouts and a no-hitter) and right-hander Cristian Javier. Eight-time All-Star second baseman Altuve signed a new $125 million, five-year contract that goes through 2029. But two-time All-Star third baseman Bregman, the only other position player to make all seven ALCS trips, is at the end of a $100 million deal.

2. Texas Rangers. After going from six losing seasons in a row to a World Series title, the Rangers should be playoff contenders again. They return ALCS MVP Adolis García and most of the lineup that hit 233 homers and scored an AL-high 5.4 runs per game. But World Series MVP and AL MVP runner-up shortstop Corey Seager (sports hernia), Gold Glove first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (oblique strain) and All-Star third baseman Josh Jung (calf) missed significant time in the spring. All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi tops a rotation still missing injured multiple Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

3. Seattle Mariners. The front office put together a roster that might be better than last year, but everybody has to stay healthy. Seattle should be better offensively with the additions of Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley to go with young superstar Julio Rodriguez. If J.P. Crawford can replicate last season at the plate and Ty France returns to his 2021-22 form, the lineup will be deeper. Couple a better offense with one of the best rotations in baseball led by Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, the Mariners should once again contend in the division.

4. Los Angeles Angels. They feel like they’re starting over yet again and still haven't been to the playoffs since 2014. Ohtani left after six seasons for a record $700 million with the perennially contending Dodgers. The Halos added almost nothing in free agency, only revamping their bullpen again and taking low-cost flyers on Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Trout and Anthony Rendon are back, and an open DH spot will allow them to rest their injury-prone bodies more regularly. Their rotation is last year’s group minus Ohtani. The 71-year-old Washington brings a unique blend of expertise and enthusiasm, which should benefit an exciting crop of young talent ready to break through in the majors.

5. Oakland Athletics. This could be the final season playing at the Coliseum with a lease set to expire. So the A's are still trying to figure out where they will play beyond this year with a new ballpark and move to Las Vegas scheduled for 2028. Manager Mark Kotsay has been committed to keeping his team focused on what it can do to be better on the field after two years with a combined 214 losses (112 last season). The A’s acquired Ross Stripling from the San Francisco Giants and added Alex Wood to the rotation.

OLD SKIPPERS

When the 74-year-old Baker retired, Bochy became the oldest manager in the majors. That lasted only a few weeks until the Angels hired Washington. Bochy will turn 69 on April 16, just 13 days before Washington turns 72. Bochy, with 2,093 wins going into his 27th season, is one of six managers with four World Series titles, his first three coming in San Francisco (2010, 2012 and 2014). Washington won a franchise-record 664 games in eight seasons with Texas from 2007-14. He was on Atlanta's staff the past seven years, and part of the Braves' 2021 World Series title.

RELIEF HELP

Several new relievers are in the AL West, including hard-throwing lefty Josh Hader with the Astros, veteran right-hander David Robertson and former All-Star closer Kirby Yates in Texas, Gregory Santos and Ryne Stanek in Seattle and Robert Stephenson with the Angels.

Hader's $95 million, five-year deal was the biggest after becoming a first-time free agent. The 29-year-old, once in the Astros' minor league system, turned down a $20,325,000 qualifying offer from San Diego.

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