Chandler Parsons on free agency treatment by Rockets: 'I was offended by the whole process'
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Chandler Parsons got paid an enormous sum of money from the Dallas Mavericks and got it one year earlier than the Houston Rockets had to allow him to test the market, but Parsons isn't at all happy with how the process played out.
Speaking with Yahoo Sports on Monday, Parsons said that the way the Rockets handled the situation was offensive, as he felt slighted by the assertion that he was not the "third star" the Rockets have been searching for.
As he told Yahoo:
Honestly, I was offended by the whole process. They publicly said that they were going out looking for a third star when I thought they had one right in front of them. I guess that's just how they viewed me as a player. I don't think I've scratched the surface of where I can be as a player and I think I'm ready for that role.
You can't knock them for always trying to get better. [Houston general manager] Daryl Morey is very aggressive, is a genius, a great GM and I have nothing but respect for those guys. And they are looking to make their team better. That's what they were doing. I just thought I could be that guy that could do that.
On the one hand, the Rockets did publicly say that they wanted to land a third star, long a clear goal of general manager Daryl Morey. Parsons is a very solid player, and a James Harden-Dwight Howard-Parsons core won 54 games last season. Parsons thinking he could be that guy is perfectly understandable.
Still, it's hard to fault the team for being enticed by the idea of landing Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony, or some unnamed star in the future. The team's thinking in not matching his offer sheet with Dallas was that it would tie up their cap flexibility moving forward, leaving them without a championship roster. This, too, is hard to fault, because this same core was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs this season.
One of the issues with free agency is that teams and players do have to negotiate a player's value, and that inherently requires the team to try and justify a lower salary. In this case, it seems to have hurt feelings, even if the argument on both sides has merit.
But the idea that Parsons isn't a top-three player on a contender obviously weighed on the 25-year-old.
"They really showed how much they cared for me," Parsons said of the Mavericks. "They didn't want me to wait for Bosh. They didn't want me to wait for 'Melo. They came forward first."
He also suggested that his presence in Dallas took an asset away from Houston beyond just his on-floor talents.
"I'm the best recruiter in the NBA," Parsons said, clearly referring to his role in luring Howard to Houston. "Whatever Mark and the Mavericks need, they got me to do that."
And hey, even if he was offended, he doesn't seem to hold any hard feelings against the Rockets. Part of that may be that the team rolled the dice in declining his option for this season, allowing him to earn this 1,587 percent raise a year early.
"I have nothing but love and respect for them," he said.