Chicago Bulls: 3 potential landing spots for Jabari Parker

1. Houston Rockets

Last, but certainly not least, we have the Houston Rockets. After losing two key defenders during the offseason in Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute, the Rockets have taken a few steps back from a defensive standpoint.

Furthermore, they attempted to inject some scoring punch into the mix by adding Carmelo Anthony. After posting averages of 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds on 40.5 percent shooting and 32.8 percent from beyond the arc, the experiment ended abruptly after just 10 games.

Enter Parker into the equation.

Although Parker managed to fall out of favor with Boylen, he was starting to turn the corner prior to Hoiberg’s firing. In fact, he averaged 17.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per outing during the month of November. Also, Parker posted four double-doubles during a seven-game stretch from Nov. 21-Dec. 1.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Parker is not a great defender by any stretch of the imagination. His real plus-minus rating of -4.38 ranks 448th out of a possible 455 players and he ranks dead last in the NBA among the 94 players at the power forward position.

True, he won’t improve the Rockets’ defensive metrics by any means. Nor will he be much of a threat from beyond the arc, as he is shooting 29.3 percent from 3-point range.

The positive side of the narrative is Parker is still an effective scorer and at 23 years of age, he has a higher upside than Anthony did when he joined the team.

Similar to the scenario with the Pelicans, adding Parker to the mix would be a shot in the arm for a bench unit ranked last in the league in scoring.