Ranking the Rockets’ worst free-agent signings ever

James Ennis III was signed in 2018 to a two-year, $3.4 million contract as part of a contingency (along with Carmelo Anthony) to replace Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute, both of whom had recently left in free agency race. Ennis only played 40 games for the Rockets. He makes this list because he had probably the most unsightly game I can remember seeing from a Rockets player – a literal running back in a basketball uniform. He didn’t last a full season.

9. Daniel Theis

Daniel Theis was the big free agent in general manager Rafael Stone’s debut season in 2021, when the Rockets signed him to a four-year, $35.61 million contract to become the team’s starting center. Theis was a consummate professional and tried his best, but the results were abysmal when he started games alongside Christian Wood, with the team dropping 16 of its first 17 games. Theis was benched starting in Game 18, and the Rockets immediately went on a seven-game winning streak. He was traded back to Boston at the trade deadline that season.

8. Brent Price

In 1996, after failing to defend their back-to-back titles, the Rockets made a splash, signing Brent Price to a then-huge seven-year, $18.2 million contract. Mark Price’s brother had shot 46.2 percent from three the previous season, and the Rockets believed the sharpshooter could replace Kenny Smith in the starting lineup. Instead, Price played just 25 games his first season with the Rockets due to injury, never gaining a foothold on the team.

7. Bonzi Wells

The Rockets signed Bonzi Wells in 2006 in what appeared to be the steal of the offseason: a two-year, $5 million contract to team with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Wells, who had once been considered one of the more potent scoring wings in the league, barely made a dent in Houston, suiting up in just 28 and 51 games, respectively, over two seasons.

6. Jeremy Lin

“Lindsanity” landed in Houston in 2012 after the Rockets used a loophole in the NBA’s CBA, structuring a three-year, $25 million offer sheet to include a “poison pill” that was too rich for the New York Knicks to handle. Lin wasn’t bad in Houston (he averaged 13 points and 5.2 assists per game over two seasons), but his star faded significantly when he ultimately lost his starting job to Patrick Beverley. The team had to include a draft pick to offload Lin’s salary on the Lakers to open up cap space two summers after the signing.

5. Carmelo Anthony

In 2018, Melo was signed for peanuts — just one year, $2.4 million — to replace Trevor Ariza in Houston’s starting lineup. Anthony appeared in just 10 games for the team with two starts, playing poorly on both sides of the ball. Off to a 5-7 start with title hopes, the Rockets needed a change – and it was Anthony who got hit.

4. Trevor Ariza, first time

This one may sound surprising, but it’s in connection with Ariza’s first stint with the team, when he was signed in 2009 to a five-year, $33 million contract to replace the departed Ron Artest. With Yao Ming injured, the Rockets rebuilt and Ariza assumed a center role for which he was fully equipped (a career-high 21.2 percent usage rate), making for a brutal watch.

3. Ryan Anderson

Ryan Anderson signed a four-year, $80 million deal with the Rockets prior to the 2016-2017 season. It’s not like Ryno didn’t produce at all. He shot 40.3 percent on seven three-point attempts per game during his debut season with the team, helping the Rockets win 55 games. But he became a major liability for a Rockets team that wanted to build its identity around defense, ultimately losing his starting job to PJ Tucker. Two seasons after his signing, the Rockets had to include promising rookie De’Anthony Melton in a trade to Phoenix just to relieve Anderson’s monstrous salary.

2. Stromile Swift

The Rockets signed Stromile Swift to the mid-level waiver wire prior to the 2005–06 season. Then-general manager Carrol Dawson expressed the belief at the time that Swift would join Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming to form one of the NBA’s elite frontcourts. T-Mac was also optimistic about the marriage, saying, “I’m going to do my best to make him an All-Star.”

Instead, Swift never got out of Jeff Van Gundy’s dog house, averaging just 20.4 minutes per game. game that first season, never replacing veteran Juwan Howard in the starting lineup. He was traded back to Memphis the next summer.

1. Scottie Pippen

Scottie Pippen is perhaps the name most synonymous with “bust” in Houston sports history. Acquired in a sign-and-trade prior to the 1998-99 season, fresh off six championships with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, Pippen was intended to replace Clyde Drexler by forming a new and improved “Big 3” alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. The hope was that Pippen would reinvigorate Houston’s offense and bring over a decade of championship-level experience as a sidekick to one of the greatest basketball teams of all time.

Instead, Pippen delivered a clunker debut season that didn’t nearly match his $67 million price tag, averaging a paltry 14.5 points per game. game on 43 percent shooting. The Rockets went down in the first round to the Los Angeles Lakers, and after a public spat with Barkley and a trade demand, Pippen was sent to Portland the following summer for a forgettable move headlined by Kelvin Cato. Pippen was quickly gone from Houston after that one uninspiring season, but the stench of his legacy has lived on as the worst free-agent signing in Rockets history.