Trading Asik trickier than Houston hoped

What do the Houston Rockets want in an Omer Asik trade? They are not, I'm told, boxing themselves into a specific position to target an exchange. Word is they're just looking for a difference maker. At any position. The Rockets, according to the latest whispers, are still in the early stages of working through their Asik options, because trading a proven defensive anchor who protects the rim and gobbles up rebounds isn't necessarily as easy it sounds. (Not when said defensive anchor also has well-chronicled offensive limitations.) Houston's other conundrum is this: There is some sentiment within the organization that Asik, while widely regarded as superfluous to requirements now that Dwight Howard has landed on NASA soil, is the Rockets' third-best player. So they've got to get something undeniably good in return to convince themselves that it's truly better to make a deal as opposed to dealing with the internal headaches of keeping Asik around ...