The Rockets could use Omri Casspi, again

Word on the street is free agent forward Omri Casspi is healthy, and contenders are interested in acquiring his services for playoff runs.

One of those likely many teams could and should be the Houston Rockets. As luck would have it, the very last game Casspi played in was against the Rockets, the first game after the All-Star break.

In that game Casspi would snap his thumb in half, figuratively speaking, and the New Orleans Pelicans cut him the very next day because they are dumb. Since then, he's been rehabbing trying to get back.

With Casspi healthy, signing the veteran forward is all the rage in the NBA, as it should be.

The need for Casspi isn't overwhelming for the Rockets, but he can be helpful and signing him would keep him away from any other contending teams.

With the Rockets essentially having 14 rosters spots (Troy Williams is the 15th man and on a 10-day contract) and $3 million in cap space to sign a free agent, the potential marriage seems just too good to pass up.

While Mike D'Antoni's track record in the playoffs is for his bench to get even smaller, having Casspi would allow the Rockets to have some much-needed depth.

With Sam Dekker mired in an awful shooting slump, having a forward off the bench who can shoot threes to spell Ryan Anderson and Trevor Ariza, or fill in in case of injury, could be huge.

Corey Brewer didn't provide much in terms of offense but he has length, in short supply since the trade. Without Brewer, the Rockets have been using a lot more three-guard lineups and have really blitzed teams with threes and speed.

The Rockets are getting away with this because the team's offense is just so hard to prepare for in just one game. But when teams are getting seven games to prepare and scheme, the lack of size, if not addressed, could come back and haunt them.

Casspi is no 6-11 power forward who's going to come in and really change things one way or another. But he is a 6'9 combo forward and a proven three-point shooter which is something Dekker is not (yet).

Dekker, for all purposes, is still a rookie and right now he's going through a pretty rough stretch. Since the All-Star break, he's scoring 4 points per game on 43 percent shooting to go along with 23 percent from deep, cutting his season average nearly in half.

Casspi wouldn't be brought in to replace Dekker, he'd just be another tool in D'Antoni's toolbelt.

We've all seen what Casspi can do for the Rockets. Back in 2013 he played 71 games in Houston. He's not great, but he's not bad. He is a helpful, bigger body and that's something you don't find just growing on trees this time of year.