Yahoo's Rockets Team Report

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Rockets Team Report
Yahoo! Sports
Jun 15, 6:45 am EDT

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Getting Inside

The Rockets spent the season overcoming obstacles and developed a great deal of pride about their resilience. The problem with that is that there were so many obstacles.


They did earn the right to feel some measure of satisfaction about their fortitude. They rallied throughout the season following the worst, most discouraging losses. They turned the season around when Tracy McGrady(notes) went out for the season due to microfracture surgery. They stunned the Lakers twice after losing Yao Ming(notes) for the remainder of the playoffs with a fractured foot.


Still, their prospects would seem considerably improved if they did not have so many problems to overcome.


The Rockets remain committed to building their team and chances around Yao. They hope that McGrady will return from knee and shoulder surgery to bring the offensive trigger their offense lacked. But the idea is to build a team not as dependent on its stars.


“We hoped to accomplish more this year, so we’re not satisfied, but we feel like there are a lot of things that happened this year we can build on,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “Just the attitude we bring defensively, the experience we got for our young players, there are a lot of things we can build on. We’re very optimistic going forward.


“The town has invested in us. (Rockets owner Leslie Alexander) is going to invest in this team. He’s someone that is always going to invest smart. That’s how he got where he is. But he’s going to give me whatever resources I need to help this team be better next year. I look forward to that.”


The Rockets have been aggressive in the trade market, careful in free agency. They will head to the offseason seeking to re-sign Ron Artest(notes) and Von Wafer(notes), and to find a backup for Yao who won’t take up too much of the budget.


If they can do all that, they likely would push up close to the luxury-tax line. In an offseason in which there would seem to be more free agents than there are teams with money to spend, the Rockets could be in a position to build a team able to go through fewer obstacles, rather than to have to overcome them. They spent 12 seasons trying to get beyond the first round. Now that they have, they said they will try to become a team able to do more.


“We’re in a position now we can go after it,” Alexander said. “We have a team to go after it. If we can take advantage of some (financial) problems (of other teams), we’d be willing to do it.”


Season Highlight: The Rockets were devastated. They were down to the Lakers, 2-1, and knew they needed a win to stay in the series. They believed they would be without Yao Ming, but only for one game, with his ankle sprain not considered too severe to keep him out longer than that.


Yao even spent that day at Toyota Center treating the ankle sprain and watching video of the Lakers. Late that afternoon, he was told that his season was over, ended by a hairline fracture in his right foot.


The Rockets, however, blew out the Lakers, opening a 29-point lead and tying the series. They reprised that surprising win by stunning the Lakers in Game 6, forcing a seventh game in Los Angeles.


“We will never count ourselves out,” Aaron Brooks(notes) said. “We’ve been through a lot this year. Mac (Tracy McGrady) being out, Deke (Dikembe Mutombo(notes)) being out, Shane (Battier) being out at the beginning of the year. Now we have Yao out. It seems like we keep going. We’re used to it.”


Turning Point: There were many losses that could have contended for the Rockets’ worst of the season. They lost twice to Memphis, lost to the Clippers and Wizards. They blew a huge fourth-quarter lead at home against the Pacers.


The worst, however, might have been in Milwaukee, in which they were blown out from the opening minutes, putting up little fight.


With the Bucks playing without Michael Redd(notes), Luke Ridnour(notes) and Andrew Bogut(notes), Milwaukee led by as much as 25 and cruised to a 124-112 rout of the Rockets. Tracy McGrady had a breakaway dunk blocked by the rim, began a search for second opinions that led to his microfracture surgery and never played again. Ten days after the loss in Milwaukee, the team was stunned with the trade of Rafer Alston(notes).


The Rockets, however, responded with their longest winning streak of the season, six games, and went 22-8 the rest of the season.


Notes, Quotes

• Ron Artest made his preference clear.


Asked if he wants to be back with the Rockets, he said, “Yes, God willing. It’s not up to me.”


He did not stop there. He spoke repeatedly about how he wants to grow with the Rockets’ young players, and when asked if that meant he would be back if things work out in contract negotiations, he removed any gray area.


“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” Artest said. “That is yes. I just know this team was so good, I think we’ll grow together.”


The Rockets had decided in midseason that they would like to bring Artest back. They knew, however, that there have to be a great deal of negotiations before that could happen. Artest was not interested in a contract extension that with maximum raises would have been worth $37 million over four seasons.


“He has a desire to come back,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “We have a desire to make it work. That’s step one, with a lot of steps from here.”


Artest said he has not considered the sort of free agent offer it would take for him to remain with the Rockets.


“I’ll take everything into consideration, but it’s hard to get into that right now … what I’m thinking as far as somebody making an offer I can’t refuse,” Artest said. “We’ll try to get this thing done as fast as possible. I don’t have a figure in mind. Personally, I feel I’m one of the best all-around players in the NBA.”


• The Rockets extended the contracts of assistant coaches Elston Turner, Jack Sikma, T.R. Dunn and R.J. Adelman for one season to match Rick Adelman’s three-year deal with the team.


“We have an underrated coaching staff,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “We are very happy they got the national recognition they deserve when they led us to a seven-game series in the second round of the playoffs even with all our injuries this season.”


• The Rockets spent the season demonstrating resilience that became a point of pride. Including the playoffs, the Rockets went 13-2 in games following a double-digit loss.


Their final comeback from a bad loss came when they returned to Houston to beat the Lakers in Game 6, a win they considered more typical than stunning.


“I’ve stopped trying to figure this team out,” Shane Battier(notes) said. “When you think we’re down and out, this team comes with an unbelievable effort. We might not have the most talented team, but there is not a team with more heart in this entire league. We’ve shown it again and again and again and again.”


Quote To Note: “I feel great about our team. We’re not too far from really being there. We need health, which I say every year on the first day of training camp. But if we continue to add a few more pieces and continue to grow with the young guys, I think we’ll be a tough out for anybody.”—Shane Battier.


Roster Report

Most Valuable Player: C Yao Ming came back from foot surgery to play in 77 games, leading the Rockets in scoring (19.9 points) and rebounding (9.9) in the regular season and playoffs (17.1 points, 10.9 rebounds).


Opponents usually built their defense around swarming Yao, especially after Tracy McGrady went out for the season. But when the Rockets could still get him the ball, they usually won, going 32-4 when Yao scored 20 or more points, including a 7-0 record when he topped 30.


Most Disappointing Player: G Tracy McGrady spent the season going in and out of the lineup, back-and-forth from seeming to recover from his offseason arthroscopic knee surgery to unable to play.


He averaged 15.6 points on just 38.8 percent shooting, with the uncertainty about his ability and availability to play seeming to hamper the Rockets even more than his diminished abilities. Even when he chose to end the season with microfracture surgery, he caused issues, announcing his decision on ESPN before discussing it with the team.


Free Agent Focus: The Rockets have just two free agents, want both back, and both have been outspoken in saying they want to return.


Keeping Ron Artest and Von Wafer would dramatically change the team’s free agent plans. Though the Rockets would still have their mid-level exception, they are expected to hold that until signing Artest and Wafer so they can use it to find replacements if necessary.


If they do not need to add a free agent at the shooting guard and small forward spots, they likely could spend a portion of their mid-level allowance on a backup center to replace the retired Dikembe Mutombo.


Player News:


• G Aaron Brooks was one of five point guards in his first training camp and a summer-league project for two seasons. By the end of his second season, however, he had become the Rockets’ second-leading postseason scorer (after Yao Ming) and a key to their postseason success against the Trail Blazers and Lakers.


“You always have questions about yourself, about the starting point guard thing, if you’re ready,” Brooks said. “I think I answered that. I can compete at a high level. I’m looking forward to playing again.


“I’ll work on getting stronger, work on my defense, watch a lot of film, work on my passing. What don’t I want to work on? I want to work on everything and get better in every area.”


• G Von Wafer was a longshot to make the Rockets before he beat out Mike Harris(notes) and D.J. Strawberry(notes) for the last spot. He became a key scorer for the team, especially when Tracy McGrady went out, and said that he was ready to end his tour of NBA franchises with his fifth team.


“I love it here, love the fans, love the organization, love Yao Ming, love where the franchise is headed,” Wafer said. “I just hope we can get it done as soon as possible so I will be here and get to work.


“I’m not satisfied. I still have a lot I can show to everybody and I can get a lot better at. I’m happy with the progress I made, but I’m going to try to work the hardest I’ve ever worked this summer.”


• C Dikembe Mutombo faces a long rehab after his knee surgery, but he said that even had he not been hurt in the first round of the playoffs, he was content with his decision to retire, with none of the second thoughts he had heading into previous offseasons.


Medical Watch:


• F Tracy McGrady, weeks away from moving his rehab from microfracture knee surgery to the court, also had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder to ease the discomfort he had in the shoulder the past two seasons. That procedure is not expect to keep him from offseason workouts as long as the rehab from the knee surgery.


• C Yao Ming progressed as expected from the hairline fracture in his left foot and returned to China with no rehab necessary.



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