Terrence Jones an underrated piece for Houston Rockets

After missing out on Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony, then losing Chandler Parsons to the Dallas Mavericks, this offseason was a bust for the Houston Rockets. The team still has James Harden and Dwight Howard leading the charge and were able to add Trevor Ariza this summer to help replace Parsons. The Rockets figure to remain a contender in the Western Conference.

But the Rockets came up short last season and will need younger players on the roster to continue to develop to improve this season.

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One of those players is Terrence Jones, who in his second season with the Rockets had a quietly strong year. As John Zitzler pointed out, Jones is among the most underrated power forwards in the NBA.

"He finished the year with the third-highest PER on the team (19.1) behind only Howard and James Harden. Still growing as a player, Jones has the chance to be even better this upcoming season and may not be underrated much longer."

After the Rockets’ brief experiment with a Omer Asik-Dwight Howard front court failed, Jones was moved into the starting lineup. He started 71 games for Houston after appearing in just 19 games as a rookie. He provided a good complement to Howard, as he can hit the mid-range shot and is respectable from three-point range (30.7 percent). He averaged 12.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last season and figures to improve on those numbers in 2014-15.

The Rockets struck gold when they drafted Parsons, but Daryl Morey may have another young gun waiting in the wings.