The Houston Rockets have a championship mentality heading into the 2013-14 season and after signing Dwight Howard, general manager Daryl Morey feels that the team is ready to make the jump and one thing that could add to it is a deal with backup center Omer Asik.
According to ESPN.com, earlier in the offseason after the Rockets signed Howard, Asik formally asked to be traded, as he finally established himself as one of the most consistent starters in the NBA and he did not think the two could play off each other well. Asik hoped that he could move into the starting lineup on another team, but after playing so well last season on offense and defense, Morey and coach Kevin McHale were hearing none of it and said that they would work things out as the summer progressed.
While the two main decision makers decided that a deal was not a good idea, if something came along and it was a quality trade that would better the team, chances are they would go through with it. Asik asked for a trade a while ago and while there hasn't been any serious movement in the market, one deal that has been discussed this past summer and in seasons before is a deal with Asik to the New Orleans Pelicans for Ryan Anderson, a player who Dwight Howard once teamed with in Orlando and someone that could change the makeup of the offense for the better. Grantland.com breaks down the idea of a deal and what is could mean for both sides.
Anderson plays power forward and is more in that position than center, but he was very good on the defensive end last season and he averaged nearly eight boards per 36 minutes and the fact that he can hit threes makes things very interesting. The Rockets have a number of players that could benefit from him and Howard playing together, including Jeremy Lin, Patrick Beverley and Chandler Parsons. Last season he shot nearly 40 percent from three point range and for his career he is a 38 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Anderson averaged double digits in his last two seasons in Orlando and trading him for Asik could help both teams moving forward.
When Anderson played with Howard in 2010, the Magic won over 50 games and the team could try and do that again by making the deal. Asik was excellent last season while playing in all 82 games and averaging 10.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, but if he is not happy, that might not be something that the execs want around Howard, evidenced by how things went in LA last season. The offense was already the top ranked in the league last season and adding an offensive minded guy like Anderson could help reshape the roster without taking too much talent away from it, especially now that Howard is the starting center. Anderson was solid last year while averaging 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
If Asik stays, that would give the Rockets two prime defensive players up front and that could be good when facing teams out west like the Clippers and Thuder, who have DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin along with Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka up front. Teams like the Spurs will be tough too with Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter as well as other teams like the Warriors with David Lee and Andrew Bogut and the Grizzlies with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Either way, the Rockets have a big decision to make.