2. Houston Rockets
With Chris Paul out for the next couple of weeks, the only offensive weapons the Rockets really have are James Harden and Eric Gordon. Granted Jabari brings no defense to the table, he at least gives them a potent offensive weapon that the Rockets can rely on while CP3 is gone.
With the recent signing of Austin Rivers, what little Brandon Knight has done this season is expendable. Marquese Chriss as well hasn’t really gotten the opportunity to play, therefore he doesn’t have a lot of value in the trade market.
By packaging these two and a pick, they receive a 15 point scorer of their bench that allow Harden to take a step back and rest.
The trade is low risk, high reward as whatever Jabari brings to the table is already better than Knight and Chriss. And if he doesn’t pan out, decline his team option next year and cut 20 million from your payroll next year.
But, if Jabari gets a newfound motivation for playing with a championship contender, then the Rockets are in business. They get a forward that can create his own shot and with CP3 back later in the season, heightens their offensive potential. Sure the defense isn’t there, but they have James Ennis, PJ Tucker and Gary Clark who can help hide that.
As for the Bulls, Knight is another guard that’s better than Cameron Payne and can give you a solid 20-25 minutes either starting or coming of the bench.
The more intriguing part of this deal is Marquese Chriss and the first round draft pick. If this trade actually happened, I could see Chriss be like what Noah Vonleh is to the New York Knicks. They are both former lottery picks who are uber athletic forwards who can kind of stretch the floor.
Granted the Bulls didn’t utilize Vonleh correctly when he was on the team last year, hopefully they take note of what David Fizdale has done to develop Vonleh and maybe implement it with Chriss. Play him 15-20 minutes and let him complimentary piece.
He doesn’t have the defensive abilities that Vonleh has, but he is better at the pick and roll and can be dangerous with Markkannen, Zach LaVine, Justin Holiday and Kris Dunn on the wings.