In the famous words of Ray Arnold right before Raptors were released in Jurassic Park "hold on to your butts."
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, following the draft Thursday night shared that the Rockets won't be seeing Isaiah Hartenstein, whom they drafted with the 43rd overall pick, likely until next year. But the team is going to be getting an infusion of talent in another way.
"Some of the guys we drafted in the past are going to be here this year," Morey said.
Hold on to your butts indeed!
Big man Zhou Qi is already rumored to be joining the team next season, but what about point guard Sergio Llull, could this finally be the time he comes over?
The Rockets also own the rights to shooting guards Alessandro Gentile and Jon Diebler, center Marko Todorovic, along with a few others.
Zhou has been working out with a lot of the Rockets players already this offseason, and it seems like he is a lock to join the ranks this year. He’s already assimilating like a true American and stocking up on stuff at Target.
Llull is coming off a career year, but will turn 30 in November, and while he's seemingly always rumored to be on the verge of taking his talents to the NBA, if he doesn't come over this season, the chances are the Spaniard will never make his way overseas.
The rest of the Rockets’ stashed draftees have a lot less fanfare attached to their names and seem to be more of a grab bag, but who know's who else could join Qi if Llull doesn't end up coming over. Maybe Chinanu Onuaku will make a leap and earn some minutes.
Maybe Morey just meant one person is coming over, maybe a few will come over, but we should know soon: the Summer League will be here before you know it.