Houston Rockets Rumors: Five wings to trade for who can improve the team

Trevor Ariza, SF, Pheonix Suns

The first place the Houston Rockets may need to look is a reunion with Trevor Ariza. Ariza is the exact definition of what the Rockets what from their guys on the wing. The reason? He was the first one, they literally built their definition of this role on what Ariza could do.

Over the past four years with the Rockets, Ariza became an integral part of this team. He was a glue guy for the team that allowed them to do what they wanted to do on the court: shoot threes and play a switch-heavy defense.

Ariza’s main assignment every time he stepped on the court for the Rockets was to lock down the best offensive player on the opposing team. He could do that at a high level and was able to not only shut them down but he could also switch onto nearly any player and lock them down as well.

Ariza was also particularly adept at nailing the three ball, Western Conference Finals woes aside. Ariza became really reliable from all across the three-point line but he was particularly good at nailing the catch and shoot, corner threes. His three-point percentage jump 60 points when he was shooting from the corner.

However, there is a massive obstacle in the way of the Rockets acquiring Ariza from the Suns. They’re paying him $15 million fully guaranteed. Houston, technically, has the money to make the deal work but the main guys the Rockets would want to trade away, Chriss and Knight, were originally acquired from Phoenix and they can’t reacquire players traded away during that offseason. So, as great as it would be, this one is unlikely to happen.