Bonzi Wells to Sign With Houston

Ric Bucher reports that Bonzi Wells' agent, Merle Scott, says that Wells and the Rockets have agreed to a 2 year, $5 million contract.

This is a great deal for the Rockets. That's obviously great value for a player of Wells' talents (Sacramento reportedly offered a 5 year, $36 million contract that he turned down earlier this summer) and not so much money that they'll be damaged if they have to tell Bonzi, as Memphis did, to go away.

At this point in Tracy McGrady's career, the Rockets must assume the need for a pretty good player to step in on the nights when McGrady can't answer the bell. Before signing Wells, the Rockets were looking at Kirk Snyder, Vassilis Spanoulis, or (his body willing) Bob Sura to play heavy minutes in the 10-15 games McGrady must be expected to miss. Wells is an obvious upgrade over that trio.

Houston still needs to figure out who is going to play the important minutes at point guard. Rafer Alston is at his best with the ball in his hands but he's unlikely to find himself in that circumstance too often playing alongside McGrady and Yao. Little John Lucas doesn't figure to be more than a decent backup at best, and one whose value skews to the offensive side of the ball. Houston's best hope is that Luther Head proves he can play the point passably, at the very least when McGrady is doing most of the ballhandling.