The Rockets didn’t quite lift off as expected last year after winning the 2013 offseason with the free-agent acquisition of dominant but much-maligned center Dwight Howard. They had a strong regular season, beating many quality teams and establishing themselves as legitimate contenders, but disappointed in the playoffs, losing their first two games at home before falling to Portland in six.
In the offseason, Houston had many a problem. They finally traded Omer Asik, sending him to New Orleans for the first-round pick GM Daryl Morey had been coveting all along, but will lose significant frontcourt depth as a result. Also, Jeremy Lin, also known as Linsanity, was sent to the Lakers with picks an attempt to clear cap space for Chris Bosh to join the Rockets. Bosh decided to remain in Miami in the end, but Morey couldn’t re-do the Lin trade. Finally, starting small forward Chandler Parsons was swiped by the Mavericks during the Bosh drama, leading Morey to sign Trevor Ariza as his replacement. Ariza will bring perimeter defense that Parsons did not, and can hit spot-up threes with the best of them, but this swap looks like another downgrade for the roster.