This is picking up some serious steam... Rockets Linked to NBA start

This is picking up some serious steam as the Houston Rockets have just been linked to a recently released NBA star or maybe even former NBA star at this point. We talk about why DeMar DeRozan has been linked to the Houston Rockets, whether or not he's a fit with the organization and all the reports surrounding the connection between him and Houston here today on Rockets Digest. Welcome everybody. Hope you're having a great day wherever you guys might be. Make sure you hit that subscribe button right now as you're gonna try and help us out to get to that 8.5 thousand subscriber mark. We're currently 286 subscribers away. We currently got about 8.214 or 8,214. I don't know why I'm putting decimal points. 8,214 subscribers. We appreciate every single one of you. If you're not subscribed, what are you doing, man? You're getting free Rockets content pretty much every single day. So get on there. Hit that subscribe button. It's 100 percent free to do so. So let's talk about DeMar DeRozan and the interesting reports that have come out. So the Sacramento Kings are waiving DeMar DeRozan and they made the six-time All-Star now one of the top free agents on the NBA market. The sides worked collaboratively on the resolution after exploring trade routes that none of which came into resolution. Well, that's where the Rockets started to get linked to DeRozan. First, we go to a tweet from BGN Hoops talking about potential good fit saying that DeMar DeRozan last season averaged 18 points per game and 50 percent plus from the field. A very efficient score. He would be a good fit on contending teams like the Lakers, Cavs, Rockets, and Wolves. And I would argue the Rockets are probably one of the top teams on there. Now, there's articles now going along talking about the potential of the Rockets signing DeMar DeRozan. And I figured it'd be fun to kind of explore that and see if that is legitimately a possibility. 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That's the question you have to ask for Raphael Stone and this Rockets team, because he averaged nearly 30 minutes while getting up to 18.4 points, 2.9 on the rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. I think he would actually be a very good piece to add. However, when it comes to DeRozan, it does add the intriguing point of what is going to be the number one point guard in that situation. Because you have Fred VanVleet coming back, and by all accounts, VanVleet should be ready to go day one. So are you getting DeRozan as a backup? Are you showing that you don't have the faith you have in Fred VanVleet? Are you making a trade with Fred VanVleet elsewhere and then signing DeMar DeRozan? That's where the interesting part of this is. Now, I hate to say it, but the easier selection in this is VanVleet not being here, and then it's an easy thought process of, okay, let's sign DeMar DeRozan. I just think that that's not where you're at. And we know how much the Houston Rockets have spoken in very high ways about the way that Fred VanVleet has handled himself and ultimately the way that he has been a good piece of this team. So it's definitely intriguing. But when it comes to the reports and the overall conversation behind it, here are some quotes from it saying, the Houston Rockets currently only have 13 standard NBA contracts on the roster, meaning they need to bring in at least one more player before the season starts. You have 15 contracts, you have to have 14. So the Rockets have until the start of the regular season to bring in one more. That shouldn't be hard, but I don't want it to be just a Jay Sean Tate, an Aaron Holliday, just some guys on the back end of the bench, right? That is where you could have DeMar DeRozan. And that's where Yahoo Sports kind of talks about it saying, just look at the Rockets last season, where guys at the end of the bench were forced into big games. Obviously that was due to injuries, but this team has a lot of older guys. Health isn't a given with them or anyone for that matter. If or when guys start to go down, would you rather have Jay Sean Tate and two way players filling that hole? Or would you rather it DeMar DeRozan? I don't think that's a difficult choice at all. So this way he's putting it as a injury substitution or a depth option in DeMar DeRozan. Which while that is a great option, it is hard because there's thought processes that he is going to cost more than a depth role. You're not going to be able to pay him the vet minimum as you would for Jay Sean Tate. And the Rockets currently just under the first apron. Maybe that's what their reasoning is in not acquiring DeMar DeRozan, is that they're trying to stay under that. But I can't disagree with the take there, that if you want to put yourself into the most competitive possible format, then DeRozan is the guy to add onto the bench. Not adding Jay Sean Tate. That's a disrespect to Tate. I don't want to sit here and try and bash on him. That's not what I'm trying to do. But it's just a very easy thing to see when it comes to this team and to the ideology of trying to put yourself in a very good spot. And even though DeMar DeRozan, you put the Kings numbers, say the back end of his career, they've been very good. 20.3 points is the average. 3.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists. Average around 48% on the field. 51.9% from two-pointers. That's a career high. And an 86.2 free throw percentage, which was really, really good as well. So this guy can be an effective person in the roster. It's just about if the Rockets are willing to spend the money. And that's where the market value has to come in, intriguingly add stuff to that, because I don't know what type of money would be offered up to DeMar DeRozan in that situation. When you look at the thought processes of his career, it obviously makes sense for why he would be such a good piece for the Houston Rockets, looking at the points per game, how they've gone, and where they, even at the back end of his career, could be. It's strictly about what is the faith in Fred Bentley, right? That's the huge thing. I have to say, as much as I want to sit here and agree with the sentiment that I don't want it to be these back-end bench guys that we're ultimately going to sign, that's probably what it's going to be. It's not a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing, but I do agree with the sentiment that a better option, of course, would be DeMar DeRozan. I do want to ask you the question of if you'd even like to have DeMar DeRozan, if you would like the Rockets to sign him, then I want you to type S for sign. If you think that this is not a good option, you would not like the Rockets to do this, then I want you to type P for pass. Put your thoughts down in the comment section, because I want to know what y'all are thinking on this sentiment. For me, obviously, in a perfect world, I'm signing him, for sure. I would love to have him on this team. I'd love to have him on this roster. I'd love to have him as even a backup option, if that's the way it goes. Realistically, knowing Rafael Stone, knowing the Rockets' financial restrictions, I doubt that's going to be the way it goes, and I understand the link to them, but it's just a hard time to really put that into perspective. It's not a hard time to get on prize picks, though. You can make your selections right now for the Home Run Derby, starting in just a little bit. You can check them more on these three guys and their first-round homers. I like Junior Caminero. I like Kyle Schober. I love Wilson Gutierrez. You can go make these selections and more on prize picks using the link in the description. Use code digest when signing up for a count. That way, when you play $5, you're going to get $50 instantly in your lineup. Final thoughts here with DeRozan. Do I like to have him? Would I like to have him? Absolutely. The realistic option is not to put him on this roster. The realistic option is that he is, at this point, going into age 37 season and would be very helpful to a degree, but you can't spend the money on him. As sad as that is, that's the reality of the situation. Let me know what you think down in the comments section. Here's for your take, and for now, guys.