Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has acquired the draft rights to center Frederic Weis from the New York Knicks in exchange for forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. 

Weis (7-2, 258, France) was originally drafted by New York with the 15 ^th overall selection in the 1999 NBA Draft but never signed with the Knicks—electing instead to continue playing in Europe.  Weis, who won a silver medal as a member of France’s Olympic team in 2000, is currently playing for Iurbentia Bilbao of the Asociacion de Clubs de Baloncestos (ACB) in Spain.  Prior to that, he played with Unicaja Malaga (2000-2004), PAOK Thessaloniki (2000) and Limorges (1995-2000).  

Ewing (6-8, 240, Georgetown) joined the Rockets as part of the trade that brought Ron Artest from Sacramento to Houston on 8/14/08.  The son of former New York Knicks legend Patrick Ewing was selected in the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft by the Kings after finishing his college career with averages of 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds while attending Indiana University (2003-05) and Georgetown (2006-08).