And just like that, the longest tenured Houston Rocket is no longer Chandler Parsons. The Rockets decided against matching the three year, $46 million offer from the Dallas Mavericks on July 13, paving the way for Parsons to join the Mavs.

The Rockets ultimately decided that the offer sheet was far too rich for their liking, and Rockets’ General Manager Daryl Morey even referred to the contract as ‘the most untradeable’ contract he’d ever seen. Parsons could have remained a Rocket for another year on his rookie scale contract for $926,000. H

owever, Morey was unwilling to lose Parsons as an unrestricted free agent in the 2014 offseason, preferring to allow Parsons to enter free agency a year earlier as a restricted free agent, presumably to keep the rights to match the contract. As you can see, that gamble failed as the Mavs quickly signed him up to an offer sheet as soon as the moratorium ended.

Upon losing Parsons, the Rockets were quick to lock down a replacement. Enter Trevor Ariza, the ex-Rocket, now a Rocket again. The Rockets executed a three-team sign-and-trade deal; Rockets center Omer Asik left for New Orleans, while Trevor Ariza arrived from Washington. Houston clearly feels that Ariza is a more than capable replacement, and was available on a much cheaper four year, $32 million contract.

The question here is: Is Ariza really a better fit than Parsons?