Phoenix Suns: A potential trade with the Houston Rockets
By Luke Swiatek
Why the Houston Rockets do it
The Rockets already want to move Anderson. This way, they get something back other than just salary relief. The Suns may have stolen away Ariza, but giving Warren to the Rockets will give them another valuable wing for those small-lineups.
Assuming Carmelo Anthony and P.J. Tucker are the starting forwards in the playoffs, the Rockets’ bench (outside of their bigs) looks pretty weak. Eric Gordon is a perennial Sixth Man of the Year contender, but the other names are uninspiring: rookie De’Anthony Melton, journeymen James Ennis and Gerald Green, and Michael “How’d he win Rookie of the Year?” Carter-Williams.
Warren would be a very solid seventh man on this team, and he’s clearly quite a capable player. Last year he started every game for the Suns when healthy, and scored nearly 20 points a game.
Super small lineups with Warren and Tucker at the 4 and 5 (possibly even with Chris Paul, James Harden and Eric Gordon as the three backcourt members) could do some serious damage on both ends of the floor.
Warren hasn’t been the best defender throughout his time in Phoenix, but he at least he has positional versatility. At 6’8″ and 230 pounds, he is equally comfortable on the perimeter or in the paint — something that can’t be said for Clint Capela or Nene Hilario. Perhaps the Rockets will be concerned with Warren’s less than stellar defense and shooting, but Melo presents the same concerns, and they still snapped him up.
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Additionally, the Rockets are locked into this core for the foreseeable future. Chris Paul signed an extension for four years (Warren also has four years remaining on his deal) and he’s not getting any younger or less injury-prone.
Last year may have been Houston’s shot at knocking off the Warriors, and they missed. However, all indications are that they’re going to try and do it again this year, and that involves “upping their risk profile,” as Daryl Morey would say.
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In short, they need to make moves like adding Warren or Melo that could pay off in a big way (and soon), because remaining static won’t get the job done. It may not work, but these are the sorts of gambles a team in their position has to take, and a first round pick is an acceptable cost to accomplish it.
Since Anderson won’t play in the playoffs — at least against the Warriors — due to his poor defense, losing him really doesn’t hurt the Rockets. They should and do view everything from the perspective of “Does this help us beat the Warriors?” and this trade certainly does.
Chandler is a solid pickup too. He’s stylistically a very similar player to Capela — sets screens, rolls hard, protects the rim — and he should be able to compete with Nene for backup minutes. Capela has been fairly healthy, playing in 87.8 percent of the possible regular season games over the last three years, but a little extra insurance doesn’t hurt.
Additionally, Chandler’s contract expires after this year. The Rockets could waive him if they need the extra roster spot, or they can keep him as a backup and let him walk in the offseason. He even could be added as salary in another trade like this one. No matter what they choose, acquiring Chandler will give them added flexibility.