Rockets' Morey says Lawson worth the risk; Nuggets president wishes him well

Tap here to view theScore's NBA Offseason Tracker, which includes the latest transactions and rumors.

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is not a quiet type, or one averse to taking chances. His acquisition of embattled point guard Ty Lawson on Monday was another example.

"I think when you're trying to get the best team out of 30, you got to take risk all over the place," Morey told reporters Monday, in the wake of the trade with the Denver Nuggets. "Again, it's a playing risk, injury risk, character risk. We feel Ty is someone we wanted to add to our team."

Lawson is currently serving a court-ordered 30-day stay in a California rehab facility following two separate DUI arrests within the last seven months.

"We take those very seriously," Morey said of Lawson's issues. "He's had some very serious incidents in his past and in his recent past. We feel like he's part of the Rockets family now, and through our conversations with him, we feel confident he's getting the help he needs, and he's taken that step."

Nuggets president Josh Kroenke wished Lawson well on Tuesday.

"We did our best to try to help Ty," Kroenke told Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears. "I'm excited to see he is embracing the first step of the process to get better."

Lawson has reportedly agreed to non-guarantee the final year of his contract in 2016-17 - possibly foregoing $13.2 million. The 27-year-old is also said to be "excited" about moving on to Houston.

Off-court issues aside, it's not difficult to bet on Lawson the point guard. Productivity hasn't been an issue, as he averaged a career-high 9.6 assists per game last season.

"He's one of the best playmakers in the league," Morey said. "We saw, especially when (James Harden) played a couple of teams last year, we struggle against teams that really load on James Harden, and we feel Ty will be a lot more difficult for teams to do that."

Clearly, Harden will be playing off the ball more now, as he often was the Rockets' de facto point in a backcourt alongside defensive specialist Patrick Beverley. It's also possible Lawson comes off the bench to lead the second unit.

Inside the locker room, team chemistry will play out as it will, but Lawson making amends for this year-old shot at Harden's (since-somewhat-improved) defense would be a good start.

For context, it was posted when the Dallas Cowboys spotted the San Francisco 49ers 21 first-quarter points in the 2014 season opener.