The Boston Celtics have been mentioned in trade rumors with Rajon Rondo all year and now that the offseason is getting closer, those rumors could start to come up again and as the Rockets look to acquire Carmelo Anthony, the team could look to make a trade with Omer Asik or Jeremy Lin as well as Chandler Parsons for the services of Rondo as a backup plan to create a Big 3 for Dwight Howard in the summer of 2014.
The Rockets were one of the best regular season teams in the league this year, but they have struggled against the Portland Trail Blazers in the playoffs and now that they are down 3-1 in the series, if they lose GM Daryl Morey could look to make some moves this summer to rectify things. The Rockets feel that they have a championship roster in place, but there are still a few pieces they need to compliment Howard and James Harden if they want to be true title contenders.
ESPN.com reported that during the season the Rockets wanted to acquire Rondo and that a deal almost came to fruition and involved Chandler Parsons, but that never went down. The Rockets are interested in upgrading at point guard and they see Rondo as an alternative option to the Carmelo Anthony deal. The trades of Asik and Lin would be necessary in any deal to clear the right amount of cap space, but Morey has shown in the past that he is willing to think outside the box to get a deal done.
The Rockets are in position to make moves this offseason and if the team falls to the Blazers in the first round, expect Daryl Morey to reshape the team a bit over the summer around Howard and Harden. While deals involving Asik and Lin could be hard to pull off, it might be easier this season despite the high amount of money owed to those players, as they will be on expiring contracts and for teams like the Knicks and the Celtics, they could be very valuable heading into the 2015 offseason, which is when Kevin Love will be on the market.
Carmelo Anthony will be a target for the Rockets no matter what happens and Kevin Love now is starting to get into Dwight Howard and Melo territory, as he is still another year from free agency and could get traded. The Timberwolves must decide soon whether they want to trade Love and get something in return or simply just lose him as a free agent and that is the dilemma that the Magic and the Nuggets had to deal with when it came to Howard and Anthony.
The Knicks have the chance to give Melo the most money, but they know that he will need to take less to get a deal done and build around him, so they will have to deal with that as well. The Rockets and the Bulls are going to make a hard push for him if he opts out and he is expected to do that, as it is his right and it will likely be the last time he is a premier free agent in his career.
