Rockets: Patrick Beverley reveals Trevor Ariza was his mentor early on

Patrick Beverley has established himself as a bulldog on the court, which was partly due to his time being mentored with the Houston Rockets.

As he discovered recently himself, Patrick Beverley is still beloved by much of the Houston Rockets fanbase. The defensive menace began his NBA career with Houston in 2012, earning a starting spot for the next four seasons before being traded to the LA Clippers in 2017.

Now, Beverley finds himself on one of the favorites to win it all this summer, playing alongside Paul George and last year’s Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard. While he’s moved on to Hollywood physically, Beverley certainly hasn’t forgotten what’s helped him get to this point in his career.

Guesting on The JJ Redick Podcast, Beverley was asked about mentors he had while coming up in the league. “Trevor,” said Beverley. “We had a young team. You’re talking about James Harden — max. Chandler Parsons at the time was max, Jeremy Lin was max. That was our team, so it was just [about] trying to figure it out early on.”

Trevor Ariza joined the Rockets for the 2014-15 season and played alongside Beverley for three seasons before Patrick departed. In their first season together, the Houston Rockets were in the top 10 in defensive rating (8th) and made the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1995-96.

Given both of their abilities to defend at a high level, it’s no surprise that they got along so well during their time in Houston and helped them get so far.

Another former Rocket, Chris Paul, also recently gave praise to Trevor Ariza and what he brought to the court.  When Ariza went on to sign a one-year deal with the Phoenix Suns, that was the biggest blow to the Rockets, according to Paul. “He was that glue for our team,” said Paul.

In a new era of Rockets ball focused mainly on offense, it will be up to veterans like P.J. Tucker and new additions like Robert Covington to make sure the team stays committed on the defensive end if Houston wants to get back to the NBA Finals this summer.

If the Rockets put themselves where they want to be, it’s likely they’ll be running into Beverley’s Clippers sooner rather than later.