Houston Rockets Potential Trade Partners

Oct 22, 2014; Orlando, FL, USA; Houston Rockets center

, left, talks with guard

during a timeout as the Rockets beat the Orlando Magic 90-89 at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

Roughly four weeks into the 2014-2015 NBA season the Houston Rockets have been impressive out of the gate, with improved defense.

The Rockets starting five has looked like they can play with anyone in the league when healthy, however, some questions about the bench remain.  Isaiah Canaan has shown that he can play at this level and adds a scoring punch.  Kostas Papanikolaou has been a serviceable bench player as well in several games.

The Rockets are clearly not expected to stand pat with this roster.  They have only had 4 games with everyone healthy.  The Rockets have struggled to find a backup for Dwight Howard having given opportunity to Donatas Motiejunas, Joey Dorsey and training camp surprise Tarik Black.

The Rockets bench is relatively thin in terms of scoring punch and overall talent. If Rockets don’t catch the star that they seek trade, expect them to add a wing player as well as a backup center to improve depth.

We are a little less than one month away from an important date of December 15^th.  This is the date when many players, signed to new contracts in the off-season, can first be traded.

Teams are now trying to get a realistic feel of where they are and if it’s time to start thinking about next year.  This can extend to the trade deadline on February 19, but the December 15 date is the first date that we’re likely to see any significant trades.

So who are the teams the Rockets should be keeping an eye on?