According to Ben DuBose of USA Today, the Houston Rockets officially announced the hiring of Rafael Stone of Seattle, Washington as their new general manger on Thursday. Stone replaces Daryl Morey of Baraboo, Wisconsin, who had been the Rockets general manager from 2007 to 2020. Morey resigned as the Rockets general manager on October 15, and on November 2 became the president of basketball operations of the Philadelphia 76ers.
This was the third significant move the Rockets made in the offseason to their non-player personnel. Last week, the Rockets named former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Stephen Silas as their new head coach. The Rockets needed to make a head coaching change when former head coach Mike D’Antoni resigned and became the new assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets.
Also in September, the Rockets assistant general manager Monte McNair resigned to be the head of basketball operations of the Sacramento Kings. In Sacramento, McNair decided to keep Luke Walton as the Kings head coach despite the fact Sacramento missed the playoffs with a record of 31 wins and 41 losses. With the departure of McNair and Morey, the Rockets promoted Eli Witus from assistant general manager to executive vice president of basketball operations.
Stone was the Rockets executive vice president of basketball operations in 2019-20. Prior to that he worked for the Rockets as a member of their general counsel and dealt with legal issues involved with the team. Stone received his law degree from Stanford University, and received undergraduate degrees from Williams College in political science and history. While at Williams College, Stone also played basketball.
It will also be interesting to see how involved Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is involved in their player personnel decisions. Last month, he was very critical of former Rocket Chris Paul’s contract, saying it was the “worst contract he’d ever seen,” and has already stated the Rockets will not trade their two star players in Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
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