Last season, the Houston Rockets were one game away from the NBA Finals, but unfortunately their star guard Chris Paul went down with a hamstring injury. Ultimately, the Rockets would fall to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

Coming into next season, the Rockets will look a little different. Gone are two key members of the 2017-18 team in Trevor Ariza(Suns) and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute(Clippers). Both guys are 3-and-D players and both guys were a big reason Houston had the best record in the NBA last season. They were replaced by 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who struggled last season in OKC, and at age 34, some question how much he has left in the tank. But he could be motivated after what happened last season.

However, former NBA player Jamario Moon feels the Rockets were better off with Ariza:

“Me personally, I like them better with Trevor Ariza,” Moon recently told Paul Gant. “Because I like people that lock up on defense, and can still knock down some threes or knock down some open shots. “They’re not going to be bad because they got Carmelo, but me personally, I like them better with Trevor Ariza.”

The Rockets are going to be contenders next season, but it should be interesting to see if Anthony will mesh with this team.

Listen below: