Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The other day, the Houston Rockets announced that they have signed aged veteran forward Marcus Camby to a one-year contract worth $1.4 million.
Camby, who was with the New York Knicks last season, only played in 24 out of the team’s 82 games, mostly because he was either hurt or couldn’t find his way into the game.
At this point of Camby’s career, at age 39, and with a long list of injuries during his 17-year career, this decision to sign Camby makes no sense for the Rockets.
Now before the supporters of this signing jump down my throat, I know that the Rockets signed Camby purely to be a depth player. But how many forwards and centers do the Rockets want?
The Rockets already have Dwight Howard, Omer Asik, Terrence Jones, Greg Smith and Donatas Motiejūnas. How much depth at forward and center does one team need, not to mention when I think depth players, I think of guys who can stay healthy and fill in when needed. Camby can get hurt without even stepping on the court.
I rarely see him playing any minutes with the Rockets this season, either due to injuries or just not making it into the game like last season with the Knicks. Maybe if the contract was less than $1 million I can see the move and understanding taking the risk but to give Camby $1.4 million to play maybe 20 games and only a handful of minutes is crazy in my opinion.
Hope it works out for the Rockets in their 2013-14 season, but I highly doubt it since Camby has never played a full season in his entire career, dating back to 1996. He is now 39, which means the injuries will just keep coming.
