It’s a been a long year in Houston, but Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta doesn’t expect it to be this way forever. In fact, if you ask Fertitta, things will be better soon.
“I never thought I could feel this good after winning only 16 games,” Fertitta told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “I never thought I could feel this good when I’ve been so upset about losing. But when I look at all the draft picks that we have and the future, I’m just happy. I know it’s unusual to feel this good with your coach (Stephen Silas) and your general manager (Rafael Stone), but I do.”
The Rockets do have some hope. A healthy John Wall, along with Kevin Porter Jr., Christian Wood, several others and an incoming lottery pick, presumably in the top four, could be a nice starting point.
Then again, the Rockets unloaded a bunch of picks to the Thunder in the trade for former guard Russell Westbrook — and if their pick falls outside of the top four this year, they’ll have to send that too to OKC. The Rockets would then receive OKC’s pick from the Heat in that scenario.
Either way, Fertitta indicated he’s more than willing to be patient with the rebuild.
“It could be 2027 that we get a top-five pick that ends up being the next greatest player,” Fertitta told ESPN. “We don’t know, but my people have shown all they’ve done so far is made the right decision, and I’m proud of all of them. I’m proud of the basketball ops people and I’m proud of Silas, because they keep showing me they’re doing the right things.”
The Rockets’ string of eight straight playoff appearances has reached an end, and it may be a long road back. That too is ok with the franchise’s owner.
“I can tell you this: I’m going to be patient,” Fertitta told ESPN. “I know my basketball guys know what they’re doing. We’re not going to go do something stupid to try to get into the playoffs next year that then will prevent us from competing for a championship in a couple years. … I think we’ll be much better next year and we’ll be much better the following year and then we’ll be much better the following year.”
