We’re living in a scary, scary world when Kyle Lowry helps to set the agenda for the Houston Rockets. He didn’t really alter anything the Rockets didn’t already need to decide but he certainly managed to establish the first thing to be addressed this summer. We all know the Rockets had to find a solution with their point guard position, either Dragic or a trade for Lowry. Obviously, the easier of the two to address is to keep the guy you already have on contract. That, unfortunately, is now easier said than done. I figured we could use something to break up what will surely be more great content about the point guard drama in Houston.

The Rockets entered the post season in familiar territory with a familiar shopping list. We’re picking 14^th… Again. We’re in need of a franchise player, a resolution of the point guard situation, a young big man, and no pressing need to upgrade the small forward position (But certainly to obtain one if it becomes available). The new item on our agenda this offseason is also shooting guard.

So, folks, bear with me after the jump and let’s look at each position (Primary players) and let’s ask ourselves, earnestly, is this team messing with us? After we look at our offseason priorities (Broken down by position, evaluated, and projected (Using nbadraft.net as a guide) with "ideal/attainable" players for the Rockets). Remember after every section I am only evaluating at the position (Not a total draft strategy).

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Welcome back to the 3-on-5 Roundtable folks! This week we’re joined by our new addition, Xiane. The reason it’s not 4 on 5 yet is that one of our intrepid contributors has one of those "real life" things I read so much about. He’ll be rejoining us next week and we’ll be playing with only one man down from a legitimate game! We had a lot of fun with your questions this week. You asked us to pick a side in the battle of the point guards, to look at what this team needs to pull off to consider the offseason a success, and we even go out on a limb to pick a starting lineup on opening day!

We want to encourage everyone to continue the submissions because this column lives for you guys. This week we owe a special thanks to mtl1986, makinmajik, joshsm07, Irish Thrasher, and Tisbee. We want to remind you that you can submit questions by e-mailing tdsmailbag@gmail.com, tweeting your question to @VismundGarret, or posting the question here.

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Well folks, here we are again. This Friday we talk about Daryl Morey, Marcus Morris, Courtney Lee, Goran Dragic, Marcus Camby, and our Europeans. We appreciate the suggestions and hope you guys enjoy this column. I want to remind everyone that submissions can be made in three ways. You can e-mail tdsmailbag@gmail.com, post in this thread with your questions, or tweet at me @VismundGarret. We encourage as many submissions as possible because this column is about you guys... and the Rockets, mostly you though. A bit of a disclaimer, trade proposals and what not, although fun to receive, are best left for the fanposts, you guys are better at it than we are and there's literally millions of ideas that can be tossed around.

This week we can send our thanks out to Dupax, Joshsm07, and mtl1986. We usually look to give 5 different posters an opportunity every week, so by all means, be as eager as you want to when submitting questions. Just to give you a heads up, in the coming weeks after the draft order is set we plan on doing a TDS Mock Draft where each writer has a group of teams to pick for and we even have a guest contributor for that week. Join us after the jump to see what was rattling around the heads of Pat, AK, and myself this week.

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Here we go folks, we’re back with our weekly installment of the writer’s roundtable. Today we address a wide variety of questions and Patrick, AK, and I give you a wide variety of answers. This week we have to lend our thanks to Dupax, Twinkilling0303, VBG, datruth1, and ak2themax for questions. Yes, I recognize AK is both a writer and had a submission but you can mock him relentlessly here for hogging the spotlight. We’ll talk to you about the draft, free agency, Kevin Martin, JaVale McGee, and the amnesty clause. I hope you guys enjoy this and we love answering your questions. We received a lot of great questions and hope to continue this momentum. You all ask wonderful questions and we enjoy taking them so make sure you keep them coming.

You can submit your questions via e-mail at tdsmailbag@gmail.com or post your questions directly to the thread here. You don’t need to be a registered TDS user to submit questions, either! All questions are saved for use either today or in a later edition. We’re happy to take multiple questions from the same user but we do try to get a different user for each question. Don’t worry, that just means you’ll get more exposure next week if you ask a lot of great questions.

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Lately I’ve seen a lot of commentary on the Houston Chronicle and some posts here on The Dream Shake relating to the NBA’s draft lottery system. The common theme I have noticed is the sentiment that the Rockets are being punished by such a system. "The general lottery system punishes teams that are well managed and rewards teams that are awful!" is the rallying cry of this debate. I have spent a lot of time turning this issue over in my mind. Does the NBA Draft Lottery system actually reward poor teams? Does the draft lottery team punish well-managed teams? What is the purpose of the NBA Lottery generally? There are arguments to be made for a change in the format of the lottery. Some advocate a single lot system where every team gets just one chance at the top pick. Some advocate a playoff series for teams that failed to make the NBA title hunt to determine seeding. Some have wondered why we can’t just go in reverse order seeding. All of these arguments have their pros and cons of varying weight. After the jump join me as I look at the NBA Draft Lottery system, its purpose, and I deliver on a promise I made to a commenter here on TDS.

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Hello TDS, this is the inaugural post for our own 3 on 5 here. Joining me today are my fellow writers AK2themax and Patrick Harrel and I'm grateful for their input and time. We are responsive to your requests and want to make this an interactive bit in addition to columns that constitute our own thoughts and today, you see the fruits of your suggestions. We'll be taking 5 questions each week, submitted by you guys, pertaining to anything Rockets related you want. We are open to suggestions here and I really should get back to checking the e-mail address of tdsmailbag@gmail.com for further contacts as well. It's our hope that you guys enjoy the column and will want to contribute to help it grow and thrive. The way it works is you guys make the suggestions and we select five of them, and save the rest.

This week we owe thanks to 4luvofthegame, Irish Thrasher, Twinkilling0303, makinmajik, and ehburrus. We got a lot of great suggestions from you guys and ultimately the selections come down to trying to pick one different user for each question. After the jump see the questions and answers and don't forget to add in your questions as well as your input guys! Enjoy!

Edit: Not sure how I missed it but if you want to submit your question either post it here, or if you'd rather submit it privately, please send the e-mail to tdsmailbag@gmail.com and we'll consider the proposal!

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Well folks, I’m glad we can come back together and be in a familiar place. The Rockets are sitting at 33-32 with one game left against the New Orleans Hornets. Although the season is not over from a literal standpoint, there are no playoffs in Houston for the third straight season and there’s nothing to play for but pride. Just about a week ago the Rockets were shakily sitting at 6^th place in the West and in control of their own destiny. Unfortunately the Rockets went Tommy Boy on their hopes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1EyN9xTK94). Unfortunately for us fans we’re left with questions, an abundance of cap space, a vortex of roster spots (coming up), fingers to point, and a front office to condemn. I hope to offer a glimpse on what went right, what went wrong, what we’re doing moving forward, and what we should be looking to do. Join me after the jump for my take on the Houston Rockets this year, the familiar place we’ve arrived at, and just what can we take from this season?

I am going to go ahead and ask for suggestions for a 5-on-5 mailbag of sorts amongst myself and a couple other writers. Please make suggestions in this thread, I will close it after one week and vote with your rec’s (Click Actions at the end of a post you like, click Rec), top 5 will get answered. Plus, who needs to bother studying for law school finals, right? My apologies for the formatting getting all weird.

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The Rockets are approaching the end of the 2011-2012 lockout shortened season. Last night the Phoenix Suns came into the deserted shell we call the Toyota Center and took our lunch from us. The Suns closed the gap between themselves and the Rockets with their efforts. The Rockets have 7 games left to go in the season and need to finish strong to assert a claim to their playoff spot that can’t be challenged. They could also receive some help from teams resting their starters or just plain having bad nights. The teams we’ll be looking at after the jump are the Utah Jazz, the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and the New York Knicks. The Mavericks and Knicks are included for draft-pick watch.

As an update, the Rockets sit at 32-27, which is a 54% win percentage (Not bad for Kevin McHale who many thought would come in and see an instant drop off caused by a statistical anomaly called "not being Rick Adelman."), 7^th place in the Western Conference playoff race, and, intriguingly enough though it doesn’t matter, would be good for 7^th out East (Mostly brought up because it’s interesting with the talk about parity that the Rockets would be in the same place with this record out East, all other factors equal of course). Join me as I look at the upcoming schedules of each team in the hunt and which teams are the must watch and must win.

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Apologies for the late game thread. Didn't know who was on top of it and I'm not really tethered to this thing. Hopefully someone else can snag the recap since I have to be up early tomorrow. The Rockets take on the Phoenix Suns in the ghosttown Toyota Center in Houston. The Rockets are looking to solidify playoff seeding in a game that I'm considering a must-win but most analysts aren't. Steve Nash leads a surging Phoenix Suns team and the Rockets take their depleted line up in. How will Marcus Camby perform? Can Dragic continue playing his way out of Houston? We'll see. All that and more to be answered at the end of the night. The Rockets need this game to clinch the tiebreaker between these two squads and all but guarantee their spot in the playoffs. The game is televised nationally on ESPN so expect a bunch of crappy analysis and mistakes as to who is on this roster. This is Houston's ONLY nationally televised regular season game this year. Enjoy!

Internet, loyal DreamShake readers, fellow silent readers, I have something to confess and it is certainly something that you should not expect to see that often because it rarely happens. Yes, like Haley’s Comet this will happen once every 75 years. I was wrong. I defied my usual maxim of not investing in a rookie after their first year. Patrick Patterson ended last season with feelings of late lottery lightning having struck. Patrick stepped in for the injured Luis Scola and produced at a high rate, he hit the mid range jump-shot, he tore down rebounds, he defended well, and even netted some help-side blocks. I gave in to the hysteria and became cocksure about trading Scola saying Patterson could get near the 16-18 and 10 mark in his second season. Confusingly, this lock out shortened season seems to have harmed Patrick’s production more than it has offered him an opportunity to continue his growth and development.

After the jump we’ll take a look at where he was last season (With everyone’s favorite reading material, statistics!), what has happened in the interim (With my favorite material, baseless speculation and nominal historical analysis!), and try to figure out just what is going on with the Rockets’ 14^th pick in 2010 (Open ended baseless speculation!).

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Recently I was requested to post my thoughts on how the Rockets could best take care of the now and the future and build the franchise. Before I delve into my plan I wanted to extend a special thank you to the people who kept that thread going. I appreciate the words of encouragement, the requests, and the people on this board that keep things moving and I certainly hope I can come off as somewhat informative or at the very least moderately interesting to keep everyone engaged.

After the jump you will have my assessment of what the problem is (I think this is the most widely known issue of my opinion), the conundrums facing the Rockets currently (The post-trade deadline Rockets are very different than the ones I was dealing with before), and a restructuring plan I would like to see Houston pursue. Admittedly, if a fan comes up with a better plan of action than those currently occupying the front office you’re either a fan of the Charlotte Bobcats or your GM needs to be fired. I hope this sparks some discussion at the very least that you guys might enjoy. Feel free to critique, I'm not overly attached to my views.

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The Lakers came into town and in the first quarter set their season high for points in a single quarter, 40. The Rockets were settling early for long jumpers, lazy close outs on shooters, and a general lull that forced me to question whether or not the Rockets had any interest in winning this game.

Fortunately for us but not our hearts/stress levels the Rockets decided they would pursue a game strategy that didn’t center around getting abused in the paint, giving up uncontested jumpers, and throwing the ball in the general direction of the basket no closer than 18 feet in. This game brought us the luxury of seeing Andrew Bynum ejected, Matt Barnes commit a flagrant foul, and made a case for why Courtney Lee and Goran Dragic should be retained or see an increased role.

After the jump you’ll get the notes I made throughout the game. Houston improves to 25-22, Miami drops the Suns (good for Houston in the standings) and, as of writing this, Utah leads Oklahoma City (bad for Houston in the standings).

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The Lakers are at the Toyota Center tonight to take on the Houston Rockets. Come see the man who caused Houston fans to obsess from the pre-season (Pau Gasol) against the team that Derek Fisher didn't want anything to do with. Houston continues to recover from injuries with Kyle Lowry still out and Kevin Martin still nursing a sore... something or other. Hopefully Kobe Bryant is kept under control and the Rockets can continue to integrate new piece Marcus Camby. I still need to get over the post limits on this thing but 150 words just to clear the post limit? Come on?

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The Rockets approach the last 20 games of the season with the task of either sinking out of the playoff picture to get their 1st round pick back from New Jersey or pulling off a push for the 8th seed or better (Realistically Denver's 7th place spot could be taken, Dallas's 6th place spot is less likely but still in the realm of possibility, I don't see Memphis dropping their 5th place spot). Houston has a slate coming up of 13 games against opponents over .500 (50% winning percentage) and four back-to-backs.

After the jump we will take a peek at the Rocket's schedule and see what that means for the team as they move forward into this season. As the season progresses to crunch time, and if the Rockets are still in the playoff picture, I'll do a rooting interests column to help coordinate the board into who to root for if the Rockets are to get into the playoffs/improve their seeding or what to root for if the Rockets are to plunge into the lottery and have two 1st round picks guaranteed (Yes, I am still not counting that Dallas pick).

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The 2012 trade deadline came and went, as it has so often recently, without a definitive move from the Houston Rockets. Houston has passed yet another deadline by shuffling around pieces for "solid players" without actually making a definitive statement about what the franchise is doing.

Rumors swirled about the Rockets being active, Daryl Morey abandoning the pursuit of Andrew Bogut for another trade, and questions abound about what the Rockets would do. As the clock wound down the Rockets offloaded some players who wouldn’t be on the team next year anyway for Marcus Camby and Derek Fisher. Fisher is most likely going to be bought out and Camby is a bench addition for the Rockets. After the jump I’ll evaluate each trade and briefly discuss this team moving forward and give you my opinion.

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Here's your game thread for tonight's action. It's essentially just an injury list. The Rockets are playing without Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic is gimpy, I don't know the status of Jordan Hill. We may be preparing for life without Kyle Lowry anyhow but the upshot is that we'll have finality in when you wake up in 6 days. The Nyets are missing Deron Williams and Robin Lopez. Basically this turns into what New Jersey's future could potentially be against guys who may be having increased roles for the Rockets soon. Enjoy the game and remember, this is going to be sloppy and we're going to regret it in the morning no matter how it turns out.

I really hate having to dig for this 151 word limit and I really wish I had something more to offer. Instead here is just an example list of rambling as I pushed to reach the limit. PLAY DARK SOULS.

Hello TDS, it’s been a while. I think we need to catch up. I’ve managed to pull myself away from my hobbies of clinic work in law school and tweeting mean things at 2kSports for producing such an awful product. Today we’ll be looking at where the Houston Rockets stand today, discuss the personnel, anxiously await the trade deadline, and much more!

First things first, the Rockets sit at 6^th in the Western Conference with a record of 20-14 (59% win percentage). The second half of the season features a relatively rigorous schedule. Many of the teams on the horizon are teams that are tough to call dregs with only a few exceptions. The Rockets, and McHale’s, true challenge will be to recreate history and see if they heat up or collapse in the second half this year.

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First thread I've put up in a while, make sure you have your prediction in the game preview put up by AK. This is my first formal post in a while. Hopefully I can make a habit out of bothering everyone more often than not once I get a grip on this clinic work thing. Hope the game turns out well for the Rockets and I might keep an eye on things, I'm trying to get caught up on work. The important thing is for you guys to have fun anyhow, right? Sit back, enjoy the game and hopefully enjoy a win for the good guys at the hands of our downtrodden rivals. Their roster has been gutted but they have some up and coming big men that are bound to make us jealous. Just how long do I have to stretch this freakin' word limit?

Enjoy

Weird Utah Jazz Fan Dancing (via ChristianWheel)

The Wizards roll into Houston tonight to face the Rockets fresh off their 7 game streak getting snapped. The Wizards enter tonight’s game with a recent change on their squad too. Washington fired Flip Saunders earlier this week amidst their 2-15 start. Washington sits at 3-15 with Randy Whittman winning his debut as the Wizards coach over the Charlotte Bobcats 92-75. Interestingly enough Washington also failed to pick Javale McGee’s option which begs the question as to whether or not Ted Leonsis is going to fully commit to his initial philosophy when he bought the Washington Wizards, that being to go ahead and burn it to the ground and build through the draft. Currently the Wizards employ the BOYD (Bring Out Your Dead) strategy in which they acquire draft picks and eat bad contracts for cap space to turn it around later. Enough about the Wizards, let’s focus on the Rockets. The Rockets have declined options on all of their 09 players and they have subsequently disappeared from the lineup. This is of course after only one game but I am confident in my stance that they have been exiled to Corpus Christi after their options were declined.

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The deadline for taking up team options on contracts was today (1/25/12) and the Houston Rockets decided not to entertain bringing back any of the 2009 draft collections they have amassed. The Rockets state that the reason for doing so is to acquire as much cap space as possible this summer. It seems like the Rockets are going all in on free agency and we’ve been through this song and dance before. This works out since I was going to do a "State of the Rockets Address." Not trying to cut in on OAL’s article but why not have multiple views, eh? After the jump we’ll look at the implications in this move but what you need to know will be above the jump:

Jordan Hill, Hasheem Thabeet, Johnny Flynn, and Terrence Williams will become Unrestricted Free Agents, Courtney Lee will be a Restricted Free Agent. The Rockets will acquire 16 million dollars in additional cap space bringing their total cap bill to 42 million dollars. If they don’t bring back Courtney Lee that number expands to 39 million for 19 million in savings. After the jump, for confirmation via Twitter, click the link.

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Tip off is set to begin soon and I don't see a thread up about the game. This is the game I should be at but due to financial constraints is not. The Rockets are looking to make it three straight against a Wizards team that for all intensive purposes is made inept by its coaching staff. The Wizards have the size advantage but the Rockets have cohesion and quality coaching. I'm really reaching to get to the word count limit to put this thing up, so I think you all should appreciate the effort I can marginally put into this. Make sure your predictions are in the preview thread if you want TCWHRO to count it.

Again here are important links for you today:

Washington Wizards SBNation

Shameless Kyle Lowry bump

And a reminder, no posting of illegal links or streams to the game in order to cover SBNation's policy regarding websites that share pirated information.

Tonight the Rockets roll into the Verizon Center and play the Washington Wizards in Chinatown. I am taking the recap being the resident District resident of the board. My upset comes from the fact that there was a screw up with my financial aid and I am currently unable to afford a ticket to the game… or to buy food… or to really do much of anything right now (Thanks educational institution!). The Wizards are 1-11 this season and seem to be going through the motions of what basketball is without really understanding that it is a game to be played to win, not just to kill an hour. The Rockets enter on a two game winning streak with a record of 5-7. The Rockets are starting a back to back and have been playing the starters heavy minutes to notch a win here and there. The bench has been faltering but they come in tonight to play a relatively inept Wizards team coached by the hapless Flip Saunders.

The Wizards have seen strong improvement from their center, Javale McGee, but don’t seem to care enough or have a coach that can snap them into line. Word has snuck out that there is dissension all throughout the team best stated as follows: Those with talent tend not to care, those who aren’t talented enough to start are starting because they do care, and the veterans can’t tame the locker room. John Wall is considered the exception but there are questions about his leadership, this being his second season and having no one to help guide the kid since day one it shouldn’t be surprising. It’s shaping up to look like a slam dunk for the team but let’s not forget the last time the Rockets came to the nation’s capital Yao Ming was lost for good.

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So, ladies and gentlemen (Who am I kidding, gentlemen…) the good guys fall to 2-6 with a close loss to the Seattle Super… Oklahoma City Thunder tonight on the second night of a back-to-back. The game seemed lethargic throughout and picked up intermittently. Tonight we saw Kevin McHale get creative with the lineup, some impressive production from Chandler Parsons, and overall some very disappointing execution towards the end. I had fun watching this game after the first quarter and wound up hating myself by the end.

I’m going to use the three up and three down format along with a bit of caveat at the end, mostly because I’m ripping the format from other SBNation sites and some done right here. So buckle up cause you’re in for a disappointment!

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So, I’m back from a vacation to New Hampshire for a few days, rang in the New Year and came back to a site that has kept the content rolling with the good guys at 2-2. We’ve seen reliance on the bench, sustained displays, and some slight turbulence but overall our team is evolving in front of us. I also returned to some speculation regarding the DeMarcus Cousins drama and why not? It’s fun, he’s talented, and this team wants a centerpiece to build around. I feel like it’s a good spot to take stock in what we have on the way in this season and what this writer’s wish list for the New Year of Houston Rockets basketball.

First, I have to eat a bit of humble pie. I’m a rebuild now guy but I’m getting excited about these rockets. They emerged from the back-to-back-to-back 2-1 and McHale has shown no second thoughts about using the depth in his roster to make things pan out. The acquisition of Samuel Dalembert was something I was a fan of from the start because I like what he brings. I think the fact that he chunked up a bit in the post season was perfect for the Orlando game because you need mass to defend him but I digress. The Rockets are drawing me in to the belief that they can get into the playoffs and run some other teams off the court. I guess that’s to be expected in a lockout. The players have acclimated to Kevin McHale, which I assumed would happen. He’s a champion, a Hall of Famer, and an affable guy from all accounts. I see improvement in the guys who needed to be difference makers, and I see hope. Granted, I’m a big proponent of finding a franchise guy in the draft I’m willing to see what comes of a trade. Follow me after the jump for a quick look at the Rockets and your fuel to criticize me at the end of the season.

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So our two preview games have begun. The time of the season when coaches can begin getting a look at how their players stack against people they haven't been practicing with is a time for evaluation, technique development, and progress assessment. Is it a guaranteed thing that what you see in the preseason is a prequel to the actual season? Of course not. As it stands what stood out to me throughout this game was the progression of Jordan Hill and Hasheem Thabeet. Their techniques and motors seemed to have been found and Jordan Hill showed strong with 17 points and 13 rebounds (8 of which are offensive). Thabeet gave us 4 points, 3 rebounds, and a block but shot alterations don't show in the stat sheet and the Spurs recognized he was 7'3" and standing in the middle of the court for us. Hill contributed a block as well. Luis Scola continued his string of consistency with 20 points and 5 rebounds for the Rockets today.

What follows below is the live game journal I kept. It's not a formal recap but it gives you a quarter by quarter assessment of the Rockets, the player, the number, the offense in general (When noteworthy) and the defense in general (When noteworthy). Consider this an immediate reaction/small scale recap with actual valid analysis to come from my fellow writers in the coming days. Tomorrow you'll get my thoughts on things along with my new twitter hashtag #BD34sThabeetBandwagon

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