Aaron Brooks says he’s returning to Rockets yet again

Aaron Brooks is hoping the third time’s a charm.

Brooks, who was waived by the Rockets on June 30th, shocked everyone late Thursday night when he tweeted that he was returning to the Rockets.

Brooks was a guest on the Steve Sandmeyer Show in Seattle earlier in the day and seemed to hint that he was returning to Houston (podcast, 6:15 mark — found by J.R.).

Aaron Brooks is staying in Houston… but it’s still pretty crowded at his position

“I already found one,” said Brooks when asked if he was still looking for a team. “I made a decision already. I just wanted to play. I like the situation. I’m familiar with it, if that’s any indication.”

The question is — why? As much as I love seeing Aaron Brooks stay in red, why would he come back to a situation as crowded as this one at his position when it would seem playing time is so essential to his next contract? The Rockets have Jeremy Lin as a starter, a backup they love in Patrick Beverley and a high second round pick in Isaiah Canaan.

It certainly raises suspicions that the Rockets are stockpiling players that will be bumped up when a trade comes at some point down the line.

As far as Canaan is concerned, here’s what Daryl Morey said on draft night about how he expects the Murray State product to start the season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

“He’ll be the third point guard,” said Morey. “He’ll probably spend a lot of time dominating with the Vipers and someday we hope he helps us. He’ll probably go down, show what he can do, and my guess, given how tough he is, hard-working he is and how good he is, pretty soon, sometime during the season, Coach McHale will be like, ‘Hey, you can’t have him with the Vipers anymore.'”

So with Canaan starting out in the Valley, the situation for Brooks would be relatively unchanged from last year — a third-string point guard who is primarily insurance… and only until Canaan is ready to compete in the big leagues. Is that a situation for Brooks that is conducive to landing his next deal? I don’t think so.

It’s probably a bit much to fire up the Jeremy Lin trade rumors yet again based on this, but right now, similar to the Rockets showing interest in Marcus Camby when the team has Dwight Howard and Omer Asik at the position, this move sure does feel like an indication that the team is preparing for the next one.