The Rockets have signed 28-year old point guard Aaron Brooks.  Brooks played in 46 games (20 starts) earlier this year for the Kings and he averaged 20.8 minutes, 8.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.  He has now played in 318 games (149 starts) in his first five years in the NBA and he is averaging 24.4 minutes, 11.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.  Brooks spent his first four years in the NBA with the Rockets.  His best year with the Rockets came back in 2009-10, when he played in 82 games (all starts) in which he averaged 35.6 minutes, 19.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.  Brooks led the NBA in both three point shots attempted (525) and made (209) in 2009-10 for the Rockets.  He will likely bump Patrick Beverly to the #3 spot at point guard.  This was a good move for the Rockets.

The Houston Rockets have acquired 21-year old rookie power forward Thomas Robinson, 31-year old SG/SF Francisco Garcia and 22-year old small forward Tyler Honeycutt from the Kings and a second round pick in 2013 from the Phoenix Suns.  In return, the Rockets sent 23-year old power forward Patrick Patterson, 26-year old PG/SG Toney Douglas, 24-year old center Cole Aldrich and $1 million bucks to the Kings and they sent 23-year old forward Marcus Moore to the Suns.

Thomas Robinson was the #5 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.  He played in 51 games (0 starts) for the Kings this year and he averaged 15.9 minutes, 4.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  He is a power player and he will complement Omer Asik pretty well.  Robinson has a huge upside.  Francisco Garcia played in 40 games (15 starts) for the Kings this year and he averaged 17.8 minutes, 5.2 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  But, he didn’t shoot too well, hitting only 37.6% from the floor and 36.7% from three point range.  Garcia has now played in 462 games (128 starts) in his first eight years in the NBA and he is averaging 22.2 minutes, 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.  22-year old forward Tyler Honeycutt has had a rough career to this point.  He has played in only 9 games (0 starts) for the Kings this year and he is averaging 3.6 minutes, 0.9 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  He has now played in 24 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the NBA and he is averaging 5.0 minutes, 1.2 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.4 assists per game.  He is only shooting 31.4% from the floor so far in his NBA career.

Patrick Patterson is off to the Kings and he probably won’t start there.  He played in 47 games (38 starts) for the Rockets this year and he averaged 25.9 minutes, 11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  Patterson played in 163 games (45 starts) in his three years with the Rockets and he averaged 21.9 minutes, 8.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  Toney Douglas played in 49 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this year and he averaged 18.6 minutes, 8.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  Cole Aldrich played in 30 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this year and he averaged 7.1 minutes, 1.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  Marcus Morris goes to Phoenix where he will get to play on the same team as his brother Markieff.  Morris played in 54 games (17 starts) for the Rockets this year and he averaged 21.4 minutes, 8.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  He played in 74 games (0 starts) in his two years with the Rockets and he averaged 18.0 minutes, 7.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.

The whole success of this deal from the Rockets’ perspective will depend on how well Thomas Robinson plays.  They dealt Patterson and Moore to open up a shot for Robinson to start right away for them.

UPDATE:  (3/6/2013) - The Rockets have released Tyler Honeycutt.  He didn’t play any games for them before getting let go.

The Rockets have signed 25-year old shooting guard Terrel Harris and they have assigned him to the D-League. Harris played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Heat earlier this year and he averaged 4.1 minutes, 1.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Harris has now played in 29 games (1 start) in his first two years in the NBA and he is averaging 12.0 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. He is only shooting 34.1% from the floor, 20% from the three point line and 69% from the free throw line so far in his career. Harris will have to play well in the D-League before he gets a chance to play for the Rockets.

The Rockets have waived 22-year old rookie point guard Scott Machado. Machado played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this year and he averaged 3.5 minutes, 1.3 points, 0.2 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Machado wasn’t about to get any P.T. any time soon for the Rockets, but they didn’t want to guarantee his contract for the rest of the 2012-13 season.

The Rockets have signed 23-year old SG/SF James Anderson. Anderson played in 10 games (0 starts) earlier this year for the Spurs and he averaged 9.4 minutes, 3.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. He has now played in 87 games (4 starts) in his first three years in the NBA and he is averaging 11.3 minutes, 3.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. The Rockets hope that Anderson will be better than the recently waived Daequan Cook.

The Rockets have waived 25-year old SG/SF Daequan Cook. Cook played in 16 games (1 start) for the Rockets this year and he averaged 10.3 minutes, 3.4 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. He only shot 35.6% from the floor, 36.7% from three point range and 66.7% from the free throw line this year, which is pretty pathetic. This is not much of a loss for the Rockets moving forward as Cook just wasn’t playing too well.

The Houston Rockets have waived guards Shaun Livingston, Gary Forbes and forwards Jon Brockman, Lazar Hayward and JaJuan Johnson to get down to a 15-man roster to open the 2012-13. Livingston will likely have little trouble finding a new gig soon, but the rest of the guys might wind up in the D-League for a while before getting another shot at the NBA. The Rockets won’t miss too many guys out of this bunch.

The Rockets kept making offers to teams over the summer for star players, but no one bit….that is…until last night. The Rockets have acquired 23-year old shooting guard James Harden, 23-year old center Cole Aldrich, 25-year old SG/SF Daequan Cook and 25-year old small forward Lazar Hayward from the Thunder. In return, the Rockets are sending 29-year old shooting guard Kevin Martin, rookie 20-year old shooting guard Jeremy Lamb, a first round pick in 2013 from both the Mavericks and Raptors and a 2nd round pick of Bobcats in the 2013 NBA Draft.

The Rockets are likely going to try to sign James Harden to a max contract extension and make him their starting shooting guard from Day #1. He will team with Jeremy Lin to give the Rockets a pretty good looking starting guard tandem. Harden played in 62 games (2 starts) for the Thunder last year and he averaged 31.4 minutes, 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Harden has now played in 220 games (7 starts) in his first three years in the NBA and he is averaging 26.7 minutes, 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. His scoring average has gone up three years in a row now and he was voted the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2011-12. Cole Aldrich was a first round pick just three years ago, so he might have some untapped talent. Aldrich played in 26 games (0 starts) for the Thunder last year and he averaged 6.7 minutes, 2.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Aldrich has now played in 44 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the NBA and he is averaging 7.2 minutes, 1.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. Daequan Cook is a gunner off the bench. He played in 57 games (22 starts) for the Thunder last year and he averaged 17.4 minutes, 5.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. He has now played in 279 games (48 starts) in his first five years in the NBA and he is averaging 19.9 minutes, 7.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Lazar Hayward played in 26 games (0 starts) for the Thunder last year and he averaged 5.4 minutes, 1.4 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He has now played in 68 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the NBA and he is averaging 8.2 minutes, 2.9 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. Hayward is only shooting 35.4% from the floor so far in his career. Aldrich, Cook and Hayward could help the Rockets off the bench….if they all make the team.

Kevin Martin has been in head coach Kevin McHale’s Dog House for a while, so he probably welcomes this deal. He will likely have Harden’s role in Oklahoma City as an assassin off the bench. Martin played in 40 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 31.6 minutes, 17.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He played in 144 games (142 starts) in his three years with the Rockets and he averaged 32.8 minutes, 21.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Jeremy Lamb was one of the Rockets’ first round picks in last June’s NBA Draft and he has a big upside. The Rockets also gave up three valuable draft picks that they had in their kitty. The Rockets really need for James Harden to be a star to make this trade look good for them as they gave up a lot to get him.

UPDATE: (10/29/2012) - The Rockets have waived Lazar Hayward.

The Rockets have waived 24-year old point guard Courtney Fortson. Fortson played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 8.2 minutes, 3.0 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He played in 10 games overall last year (0 starts) as a rookie for he Rockets and Clippers in which he averaged 9.5 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. The Rockets won’t miss Fortson too much as they have a lot of depth at point guard set up for the 2012-13 season.

The Rockets have signed 22-year old undrafted rookie point guard Scott Machado to a partially guaranteed 3-year contract. Machado played in 33 games at Iona last year and he averaged 35.5 minutes, 13.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He played in 132 games in his four years at Iona and he averaged 31.4 minutes, 12.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Machado will have a decent shot of winning a roster spot for the Rockets in 2012-13.