Rockets forward Carl Landry was interviewed on Fox Sports Radio on Thursday, and the 6-foot-8 forward was asked about "hitting the jackpot" for entering free agency after just one year.
"I was kind of excited to have my name called [in the NBA Draft], but it was hard," said Landry. "It wasn't guaranteed. I had to make a roster and I had to do a lot of things that first rounders didn't have to do. I didn't have the best summer league, but I kept working and got better."
Landry said he's hopeful it will work out for him to stay in Houston, but he knows anything can happen.
"I hope so. Houston is where I want to be," said Landry. "Great fans, great city. Everything about Houston right now I'm really feeling [but] it's a business and if I'm unfortunately unable to be here in Houston, I can't look at it personally."
One funny part for me was listening to Landry say at the beginning of the interview that he was the "type of dude" who likes to watch the playoff games still going on as if it was game film, just to better himself as a player.
At the end of the interview, when asked if he would watch tonight's Spurs-Hornets contest, Landry said he might catch a few minutes of it.
Going gangbusters on the game film there, eh Carl?
The Rockets hope to re-sign Landry and given that he's a restricted free agent, Houston has the right to match any offer and Rockets GM Daryl Morey has said publically they intend to do just that. That may discourage other teams from making offers to Landry given that it could be viewed as a waste of valuable free agency pursuit time.
The fans hope that the Rockets can sign Landry to their bi-annual exception (LLE), a two-year deal around $4 million. Anything beyond that will require the Rockets to use part of their mid-level exception (MLE), which would limit their negotiating ability with other free agents.
