According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, the Houston Rockets have agreed to terms for a contract for Luc Mbah a Moute. The deal is a one-year deal worth the veteran's minimum. Moute spent the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers as the team's starting small forward. His career averages are 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds.
Mbah a Moute will enter his 10th season in the league. The former UCLA standout has played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Philadelphia 76ers.
Defensive upgrade
Moute is still viewed as one of the top perimeter and low post defenders in the league.
He is not likely to be the team's starting small forward, but Moute will still play significant minutes for the team. The team already has a steady defender in Chris Paul. Not to mention, the team signed PJ Tucker to a four-year deal this offseason. Tucker is another perimeter defender. Moute will give the team another defensive player with the second team alongside Tucker.
Defense will be critical as James Harden is well known as a below average defender. Plus, the Rockets are linked to possibly making a trade for Carmelo Anthony. If the team reels in Anthony, that will be another below average defender on the court. In crunch time, head coach Mike D'Antoni will be able to play more defensive down the stretch with his choice of players.
Moute wanted to win
Moute must have saw what the Rockets are building, and he wanted to be apart of it. Moute had a $2.3 million player option with the Clippers. Even though the Clippers wanted to re-sign Moute, the 30 year old small forward chose to take less money to go to Houston.
The Clippers traded Paul this offseason for a package that was headlined by Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, and Lou Williams.
The team re-signed Blake Griffin to the second largest deal in history at the time. Moute could have stayed with the Clippers, but a championship persuaded changed the decision.
Rockets not done making moves
As of now, trade talks with Anthony have been paused since the Knicks hired Scott Perry as their new general manager. However, Anthony has been rumored to say that he is counting on a deal happening to Houston.
Anthony wants to play with his close friend in Paul and the MVP runner-up in Harden. The holdup is finding a team to take on Ryan Anderson's contract.
The Rockets added Moute with their sights on taking down the Golden State Warriors. Now, they are going to pay full attention to making a trade for Anthony happen.
