The message the Rockets sent this past week was clear: The time for youth development with no guardrails is over, and the club is willing to put its money where its mouth is.
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Hiring coach Ime Udoka—who was quick to call out his young star players publicly in Boston when their efforts fell short—in late April was certainly one indication change was underway. But the team’s spending in free agency—agreeing to terms with point guard Fred VanVleet at $43 million a year for three seasons and outspoken wing Dillon Brooks for $20 million a year—signals that the NBA’s youngest team wants to be taken seriously after a haphazard 2022–23 campaign.
