Rockets Made Futile Attempt To Bring DeAndre Jordan To Houston

The Houston Rockets were able to address their wing problem but ended up with a worse one. After sending off Clint Capela and Nene in a four-team trade, the Rockets got Robert Covington but ended up with no credible center. Hence, head coach Mike D'Antoni is now forced to play small-ball basketball with P.J. Tucker playing the center slot.

Though small-ball basketball has proven effective for teams in the past like the Golden State Warriors, it will be interesting if the Rockets can do the same. They do have two centers at the moment in Tyson Chandler and Isaac Hartenstein that they can use. However, it remains that they lost big by sending away Capela. The only consolation is that they freed themselves of the $90 million deal that the Swiss center holds. Capela is only in the second year of that five-year pact per Spotrac.

Probably aware that they need a big man to man the paint, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the Rockets tried to pry DeAndre Jordan from the Brooklyn Nets. For those who kept tabs of the NBA trade deadline murmurs, the name of the 31-year-old center was never mentioned in talks -- until now.

Though they tried, not many believed the Rockets had a chance of landing the 6-foot-11 cager. Jordan appears to be one of the silent key pieces of Kenny Atkinson behind main stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Though things have not been easy for Brooklyn this season as Durant recovers from injury, things are expected to become different in the 2020-21 NBA season.

As for the Rockets, pundits feel that they may find it hard to go deep in the NBA playoffs with small-ball basketball. Standing in their way are the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and the Utah Jazz. Unless general manager Daryl Morey finds a suitable center in the free-agent market, their chances are not looking that good.

Then again, the Rockets may be monitoring the buyout candidates and the available talent in the free-agent market. There are big men they can consider such as Joakim Noah. It does not have to be a long-term fix for Houston. Getting someone to plug the hole for the remainder of this season will suffice.