Rumors

Brooks was proud to have been a part of the Rockets' turnaround over the previous two seasons and had no problem with Houston's decision to include him in a trade for a Hall of Famer who filled their glaring need for a go-to guy. "[Stone] was telling me the whole time that they didn't want to have my name in it," Brooks said. "They wanted to keep me to build more and more to that franchise. But overall, when you got a guy like Kevin Durant, you cannot pass up on it. And they're doing well. They haven't fell off -- like Memphis did."

ESPN

Stone stuck his neck out for Brooks two summers earlier by signing him to a four-year, $86 million deal, a contract that was widely criticized in the wake of Brooks' messy ending in Memphis. "I felt like a lot of people counted me out, thinking I was just going to wash away with the rest of NBA players that had their shine and then were not able to figure out how to evolve and be able to stay in this league," Brooks said. "I didn't want to fall off. I didn't want to call it where I got to go either overseas or chill at home or change my whole career point. I love this game, and I play it because I really love it. I knew that I had to put in the work to be better every single day."

ESPN

But in the back of Stone’s mind, he believed Thompson could play point guard in a pinch if needed. “He’s been playing point guard his whole life. When I looked back at his AAU footage, he was on the ball,” Stone said. “We always had him as a 1 [point guard]. That was the super thing about Amen: he’s a really good basketball player.” Stone was correct. Amen’s older brother, Troy Thompson Jr., told Andscape that Amen and twin brother Ausar, a Detroit Pistons forward, played point guard in youth basketball in the Oakland, California, area.

Andscape

"You can't," Stone said. "But you should try. It's a really good lesson for how to approach the game for our younger guys. He's very interested in the craft and very uninterested, at this stage, in the things that come along with it. "There are so many things that come with being a star NBA player. At this stage, the one he's most interested in by orders of magnitude is perfecting the craft. We're pretty committed to keeping the main thing the main thing. So, we want him to be the player on the court that he can be. We're not going to ask of him anything else."

ESPN

Speaking at practice on Monday just before the team flew to Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant said he was willing to sacrifice money to maximize the Rockets’ team-building opportunities. “Just talking to Rafael (Stone) and Ime (Udoka) and how they wanted to build the team, and how I seen myself in this organization, I just thought it was a perfect contract for it,” Durant said. “So I’m glad we can get that out the way, won’t have to worry about external noise throughout the season if I didn’t have a contract signed. So just worry about basketball, and focus on the season.”

Houston Chronicle

Kevin Durant: “To walk in here every day, you see the attention to detail from everybody — not just the leadership of Rafael and Ime and Tilman but everybody who works in here — the level of detail that it takes to become a successful team and franchise. So happy I’m a part of that. I want to keep working to build and show my worth here.”

Houston Chronicle

Brian Windhorst: "Yeah, you just heard the most important part of it there. He intends to—and wants to—stay here in Houston long term. There was a belief that a contract extension might have been worked out before he helped orchestrate the trade from Phoenix, but that has not happened. He'll start training camp without a contract in place. However, it’s not something the two sides appear stressed about. Rafael Stone, the Rockets' general manager, didn’t comment. Durant and his camp believe a deal will get done. In the modern NBA era—and I know fans hate this—but we have to talk about aprons. In an era where the Rockets have to manage a lot of salary on the roster, they need to monitor both the first apron and the second apron going forward. So there’s going to be negotiation with Durant. But the most important thing: he wants to be here, doesn’t intend to hit free agency, and wants something done long before next summer."

YouTube

Rafael Stone: “A lot of the stuff on social media—or the insiders—are just lies. Like, many of the insiders are not insiders. They're literally just talking to get clicks or to get views. There will be people who say, ‘I talked to a Rockets executive, and they're thinking this.’ And I know what I'm thinking, and I’m definitely not thinking that. And the odds that they somehow randomly talked to one of the three other people who are in discussions on this—who don't talk to the media at all—like, no, they didn’t talk to them. Right? There's no way. So they just went out there and lied. And maybe they talked to like, somebody in season ticket sales."

YouTube

Fullcourtpass: Rockets GM Rafael Stone on if there was any truth to the Giannis-to-Houston trade buzz at the beginning of the offseason "No. I deal well with Jon Horst (Bucks GM), I really like him. Jon was very clear that they weren’t doing anything. So, that was that." (h/t @BucksRealm )

x.com

Brian Windhorst: I think the Rockets are like it's not ideal, but I don't think they would panic if they go into the season with Kevin Durant just on the contract that he's on just on the on the expiring deal. So well, this is one of the things I talked about when Durant was on the market about whether a team looked at Durant as a expire would be comfortable with him on an expiring contract or felt that they needed to give him a two-year 110 to 120 million extension and that that was going to affect what teams would pay for him. And as you said, the the you know, and I'll say this, Rafael Stone, since he's been the GM of the of the Rockets, he's signed quite a few giant contracts, but a lot most of them have been short.

YouTube

Green said that he was notified of the trade first in a call from Rockets general manager Rafael Stone, and then by his agent. Stone said this week that the decision to part with Green was not an easy one, adding that Green "did everything we asked."

Houston Chronicle

"His work ethic is just awesome," Stone said. "The speed at which he goes, not in a game ... but the speed at which he practices and the intensity at which he practices is something that has made him great over the years, and it started when he was very young. So of all the things that I hope rubs off, that's the main one, I think, is that practice makes perfect. And I think one of the reasons he's had such an excellent career is because of the intensity with which he works day in, day out."

ESPN

Another guard on the roster, Reed Sheppard, is expected to continue to grow as well. Stone shared a quick challenge during that interview with the media on Sheppard. “Reed (Sheppard) is just going to have to be real good for us, period.”

Clutch Points

Adam Wexler: Official: #Rockets announced the 7-team trade to acquire Kevin Durant & Clint Capela w/ Atlanta, Brooklyn, Golden State, the LA Lakers, Minnesota & Phoenix. Details below plus comments from GM Rafael Stone & HC Ime Udoka on Durant & outgoing Jalen Green & Dillon Brooks.

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