The Houston Rockets have had quite a big summer, dealing for Chris Paul while signing P.J. Tucker and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Houston's offseason could have been even bigger had it managed to get a deal done with J.J. Redick.
There was mutual interest between the Rockets and the sharpshooting guard, but Redick ended up signing a one-year, $23 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. Recently, Redick joined Alex Kennedy on The HoopsHype Podcast and explained why a deal never got done with the Rockets.
According to Redick, the tentative deal was for four years, but at the last minute, the Rockets decided to change their offer to a three-year deal, and with that, Redick was out. Via HoopsHype:
"They offered four [years] and then they went three. Daryl [Morey] always has a million things going on, like in A Beautiful Mind with all of the stuff written on the chalkboard. I'm sure he had four or five deals out there [he was working on]. The day before free agency, I thought it was a four-year deal. Chris Paul and I talked for about 30 minutes the night before free agency started. I wanted to go there.
"[It didn't work out] – some of it was numbers and some of it was other factors like relocating the family and – I hate to say this – but you never know with Daryl and how he operates. A three-year deal could really be a six-month deal if you get dealt at the trade deadline for a superstar as part of a package of six."
All of this is pretty solid reasoning from Redick, as was his decision to take a massive payday in his one-year deal with Philly. That move allows him to not only cash in this season, but potentially still sign a three- or four-year deal next summer.
