Predictions for tonight: Mavs top Spurs; Rockets top Lakers.
Can Chandler Parsons be an All-Star this year? I think Dirk/Ellis/Parsons might be the most underrated Big Three in the game.
Rockets are certainly better than LAL, but by how much? There's not much depth to Houston and their roster is severely unbalanced. If Kobe can regain his status as a top ten player, I'm not sure the separation is that great between the two teams. Houston will rely on the star power of having two top 15 players, but outside of that, there's much to be desired.
P.S. Houston could really use Rondo, but there's hardly anything of value to the Cs on that team outside of Howard and Harden. Terrence Jones is about as valuable as Sullinger (from a league-wide perspective), and I'm just not sold on a pure value outlook when it comes to trading Rondo. I want a piece that we can plug in immediately like a promising young center (i.e. Gorgui Dieng or Andre Drummond) or a promising young perimeter player (i.e. DeRozan). I don't want to waste a Rondo trade by not addressing any needs. And if we can't secure that level of a prospect, I at least want a high-potential draft pick. The Pelicans pick isn't doing it for me.
