Rockets free agent departures mean they need Carmelo Anthony

The departures of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute leave the Rockets in need of frontcourt help. Suddenly, they need to sign Carmelo Anthony.

Even in the NBA, one team’s trash can be another team’s treasure. While the Oklahoma City Thunder clearly have no use for Carmelo Anthony and his massive contract, the Houston Rockets suddenly really need to sign him. Houston desperately needs competent frontcourt players to help support their star backcourt of James Harden and Chris Paul.

Re-signing Paul garnered a lot of headlines for Daryl Morey and company once free agency began, but things haven’t gone well for the Rockets since. First, Trevor Ariza left the team to accept a big one-year deal in Phoenix. That left the team with huge hole in its starting five.

The news that Luc Mbah a Moute is also leaving only compounds Mike D’Antoni’s issues at the forward position. He’s leaving the Western Conference finalists for a one-year, $4.3 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. Mbah a Moute struggled to play through injuries in the playoffs, but he was a key part of the team’s regular season success.

Even assuming the Rockets are able to bring Clint Capela back, Houston has a serious depth issue up front. P.J Tucker, at 33 years of age, can reasonably be expected to play one of the forward spots, but the team’s options at the other position are ugly. Unless the Rockets intend to reintegrate Ryan Anderson into the team’s core, they’d be forced to rely on a player with no meaningful experience to become a starter.

Luckily, the Rockets still have one bullet left in their free agency arsenal. Most sources around the Association believe they are Carmelo Anthony’s preferred destination. His close friendship with Chris Paul makes the move particularly appealing to the former All-Star. Originally, it seemed as if he might move to Houston as a complimentary piece, but recent events have changed all that.

Now the Rockets have a legitimate need to sign Anthony and insert him into the starting lineup. He’s nowhere near the player he used to be, but he would at least give D’Antoni an experienced option to play with the rest of his starting group.

The hope would be that Anthony could give the team something similar to what Ariza provided last year. Anthony is certainly the inferior defender, but it’s at least possible he can be a more dynamic offensive option than Ariza was. Of course, the Thunder organization had the same thoughts and we see how that turned out.

Next: Rockets can't let Clint Capela hit free agency

Ultimately, Anthony isn’t the perfect answer for the holes in the Rockets roster, but he suddenly looks like their best option. That statement might be the perfect illustration of how far the Rockets have fallen this summer.