Last night, before going to sleep, I read about the trade speculations surrounding Pau Gasol and our beloved Houston Rockets which might explain why I had a dream about it, but first, here's the trade scenario that would make the dream come true:

Lakers get Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola

Rockets get Pau Gasol + pick (LA's or Dallas')

Not much discussion on this since it's already out there.

Now, even though I hate them...

Jazz get Kevin Martin and Samuel Dalembert

Rockets get Al Jefferson + Raja Bell (throw in)

Yes, the twin towers once again. Jefferson is an above average center, certainly not a star, but combined with Gasol they would better each other. I'll even go as far as saying that Jefferson > Nene. If this trade doesn't make sense to you for both teams please state why on the comments. Plus, Jefferson gets reunited with McHale, under whom he had the best year in his career.

This last one would make things interesting, though I hate David Stern

Hornets get Hasheem Thabeet + Jordan Hill + NY's pick

Rockets get Chris Kaman

That pick has lost it's value and you can't deny that Kaman would be at least a reliable back-up

Our depth chart would look like this:

PG Dragic/Flynn/T-Will

SG Lee/Bell

SF Parsons/Budinger/Morris

PF Gasol/Patterson

C Jefferson/Kaman/Smith

With 2 open roster spots to sign a FA or call up D-leaguers

Onto my dream... Rockets went on a 22-game winning streak to close out the season

Is it coincidence that this morning I noticed there are 22 games left after the trade deadline?

... and then there were none

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In case you haven't been following the latest developments:

• Marc Gasol signed a 4 year $58 million deal to stay in Memphis
• Nene signe a 5 year $65 million deal to stay in Denver (slightly less money per year)

These developments leave us out in the cold... so where do we go from here?

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How did Daryl Morey pass this guy up????

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First, who the hell is DeMarre Carroll? And, at 6-8, how dare he be listed as a PF!

Second, I'm very optimistic about Thabeet. With him (and Yao Ming, may he not retire yet) we now have the two tallest centers in the NBA (He's listed at 7-3, get it right). I feel that if he just gets enough PT and gains about 30 lbs he'll be ready to start for us next season. Because of his size he will be prone to injuries (as we saw with Yao) so Morey will send him down to the Medical Center, where a specialized team of doctors and nutritionists will evaluating day and night, which will culminate in the injection of adamantium into his bones... creating the ultimate center.

Finally, exactly 29 games ago, our beloved Rockets sat at .500 with a record of 15-15. Since then, they have gone 13-16 and although the team's play has been up and down with disappointing losses (Phily and Minnesota) and impressing victories (in Boston, in Atlanta, in Utah), they are just about where they need to be to make a run for the 8th seed, as I stated in my last progress report.

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First, as the Heat vs Thunder game wraps up (which was a very good game by the way), I noticed the poor offensive production the Thunder got from their bench and came up with a possible trade scenario that would benefit us both.

Trade Aaron Brooks for Serge Ibaka

And before anybody starts pissing on the idea, look at Ibaka. He leads the Thunder in rebounds per game (though not many), in FG% and blocked shots. Most importantly, he's still under rookie contract for 2 more years. AB could help them in the playoffs and if/when Westbrook gets injured (it's bound to happen the way he plays) and is a better backup PG/SG than Harden, Cook or Maynor (at this point). But it might be the Thunder the side unwilling to pull the plug. Anyway, I'm going to be rooting for the Thunder come playoff time. Now onto the subject at hand

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By now, you should know that the trade talks for a deal between Denver and New Jersey have been put to an end by the Nets' owner Mikhail Prokhorov. However, it does not mean that NJ is not looking to make any moves...

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Looking over the standings I noticed that, out of the Western Conference, the top 7 teams have played more home games than road games, except for the Lakers (by 1 game)

This is specially true with San Antonio and Dallas, who have played the most home games (21) in the NBA (along with the Clippers and Kings, but who cares about them).

Nobody can deny the added perks of having more home games (more time to practice, less energy spent traveling, etc.) and I believe this has led to their relative success compared to our beloved Rockets (who have played 16 home games and 20 road games).

You never know, have we had a schedule like that of San Antonio we might be at .500 right now even after the current 4 game losing streak. But, then again, that would never happen cause David Stern hates us...

Also, give it up to Portland for having that record even after playing the most road games (22) in the NBA

Any thoughts?

I've been putting off writting a progress report till our Rockets reached a significant milestone, and they've finally done it. After a disappointing 3-10 start, the Rockets have gone 12-5 to reach .500 for the first time since the start of the season. Over the last 17 games, the team has finally come together, rotations have been more effective and the defense has stepped up in late game situations. This is a look at where we stand...

Continue reading this post »

To ease the emotional strain of losing Yao, I have spend some time looking at the overall picture and the future of the NBA that led me to uncover a possible scenario unfolding right before our eyes.

Disclaimer: This is not directly related to the Rockets and, as any other conspiracy theory, is filled with "what if?"s and speculation about the unknown. But in the end, it sounds so crazy it might just be true. Read at your own risk.

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Why must the Rockets play with my emotions?

Yes, we all had high expectations (after all, this team could only get better right?). Now we've been smacked in the face with this 3-8 record and have us speculating about a roster shake up (which could come as soon as December 15, when signed free agents can be traded). And after all, who can blame us, our only wins are against lowly teams like the Wolves, Pacers and Knicks and have some of us (me) wishing we played the Clippers, Kings, Pistons and Sixers on our next games as a confident builder. But how exactly did we get here?

Continue reading this post »

According to a personal source inside the Rockets organization, whispers in the halls of Toyota Center have been heard saying that

The Rockets are trying to get Landry back and have offered the Kings part of the trade exemption. The Kings have asked for a sweetened deal, one of the NY picks, but are currently weighting other options.

Yes it's only a rumor, but it makes sense. The Kings have drafted DeMarcus Cousins and are currently overloaded at the PF position, parting ways with Landry would allow more mins for Cousins to develop. However their biggest need is in the backcourt and may look into striking a deal to help them right now. Most likely they will wait until the trade deadline to see what's available.

And no, my source is not the janitor if anybody is wondering lol

Finally, a quick poll

Guys, what's going on?

Some of you are actually DEYING Morey's decision making?

Please take a minute to look over the facts and let this sink in, stop the panicking!

OAL said it best:

At first, I was kind of pissed. Then I started to think about it:
1) Lee’s a better three-point shooter.
2) Ariza’s defense, while great, can be replaced (and perhaps was with this trade)
3) Fewer turnovers, even if Ariza were to return to form
) Saving money is always good

Yes, it only LOOKS like a salary dump but most of you are overlooking one HUGE benefit from this trade:

                                       $6 MILLION TRADE EXEMPTION

Yeah, you know like the one the JAZZ used to get Jefferson for free (theirs was $12 mill), remember that?

This is just to set us up for the next trade

So please, get back in your seat, captain Morey is stirring this ship in the right direction

In Morey 'I' Trust

P.S - In yo face BD34 "how are we going to trade a player we promised to be the future of the franchise", just like that

First off, I hate quoting a source that lacks credibility (apparently, thanks for the heads up Tom) but I will only do so as a starting point for this thread.

According to HoopsWorld (I know)

Another front court player who is drawing a lot of interest is Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola... the New Jersey Nets are preparing a "big money" offer sheet for Scola.

Whether it's true or not, the fact is there are teams out there with cap room that need good players and are willing to spend a LOT  to get them

Now I was reading BD34's Observations on the Offseason and decided to come up with my own definition of a star.

A star transcends the sport they play, their presence (or lack there of) has a great effect on his team's performance (boy did Mueller's absence hurt Germany vs Spain) on the court/field and are also very influential in their surrounding community (like Lebron, money wise). Some are the highest paid athletes (a few big paycheck players are not stars, just overpaid like Bynum) on their team and/or league (and if they're not, they'll eventually be i.e Derrick Rose) and, on the other hand, there's the Robert Horry's of the world (underpaid, not really influential, but a star non-the-less)

You can argue that a star should be judged as such depending solely on their production, but then do players stop being stars when they start to suck? No, and this is arguable

I have a question too, is Lamar Odom a star or a celebrity? I'd say he was the key for the Lakers wins against Phoenix (presence) and he did marry the ugly Kardashian (influence?) lol

So, is Luis Scola a star? To me yes, falling on the Robert Horry category... for now. He might just become the highest paid player in the Nets roster. If it does happen, will his chinese followers go with him? It's a possibility that would bring more money for their franchise (Scola merchandise made in the US sold in China) or maybe they'll just forget about him. But if it does happen, I believe we could bring them back by signing Yi Jianlian (but I digress, that's a story for another day)

How much is Luis Scola worth to us? He made less than 3.5 million last year. The mid level for this upcoming season is about 5.7 million. The luxury tax starts at 70 million and New Jersey currently has about 30 million left to spend (including latest signings). That's at least 1 max contract, and they're looking for someone to spend it on. They're already adding Jordan Farmar (guard), Travis Outlaw (SF) and Johan Petro (C). All they're missing is a PF... you see where I'm getting here

If you've made it this far, your prob ain't got nothing better to do lol i just wanted to post this poll up

Update - The max the Nets can offer is a 5 year contract, a 6 year contract would require a sign-and-trade. Plus, it doesn't have to be ALL guaranteed, there could easily be a Team option on years 3 or 4.

Via HoopsWorld:

Several teams have shown interest in the guard, who averaged career highs across the board before leaving for Greece. The Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets have each expressed some interest in Wafer.
Read more NBA news and insight:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=16689#ixzz0ssTBVqAI

This would be awesome!

If he's back at a 100%, he could back-up Kevin Martin (since Jermaine Taylor doesn't look ready for NBA play yet) and give us even more production off the bench???

Any thoughts?

UPDATE -  I'm intrigued by reports that say Jermaine Taylor has had major improvement over the off-season, we can wait and see how much he's improved. Regardless, nobody is going to sign Wafer right now, so he'll prob still be available late August and we can give him a non-guarantee less than 1 mill deal by then

We are currently sitting on a 36-36 and riding a 4 game losing streak

Add a barrage of injuries and lack of defense and the playoff picture has become gloomy and almost unattainable

Although an encouraging sign tonight, the Nets beat the Spurs... it's the NBA where anything happens

So just for the fun of it, I wanted to get a sense of how many optimistic, hopeless romantics, realistic and pessimits we have around

I got us between 2 and 3 wins, unless Kevin Martin comes back before the end of the season

From Chron.com

Let's summarize all our injuries by position:

PG - Kyle Lowry has a sore left ankle and tendonitis on his left knee

SG - Kevin Martin has a bruised left shoulder

SF - Shane Battier has a hyperextended left knee

PF - Jordan Hill has a sprained left ankle

F - David Andersen has a sore lower back and Jared Jeffries has a strained left Achilles tendon

C - Yao Ming

Just end our misery already!!! please?

Story - UH beats UTEP
To all my fellow cougars on here...
For the first time since 1992, the Houston Cougars are going to the BIG DANCE! and for the first time EVER they've won the Conference USA Tournament!
Kelvin Lewis led the team with 28 pts and made 6/10 3pt shots and we also have Aubrey Coleman leading the whole NCAA on points, look like good prospers for this year's NBA draft
Even though I think last year's team with Lanny Smith and Mckiver was better, the fall of Memphis as a power house in the conference has allowed this team to make it happen
Cinderella Team? prob a long shot
but we can always dream!

From Yahoo Sports

We got:

* Aaron Brooks, Tracy McGrady (even though he's not playing and in the inactive list) as guards

* Trevor Ariza and Luis Scola

HOWEVER, we DO NOT have a CENTER listed!!!!!

There's no love for Chuck Hayes!

This is an OUTRAGE. How many minutes does David Andersen have to get to qualify?

Chuck is down-right dominating other centers in the list, Oden sucks!

-> My 2 cents and 75 words

If the Lakers win tonight in Orlando, I think we can ALL be very happy that our Rockets were the only team to take them to 7 games...

The Denver Nuggets and the Orlando Magic as teams were not able to make Kobe work for his shot as Shane Battier did single-handed.

Rafer sucks!!! We should try to get Rashard for T-Mac!!! Yao is greater that Dwight!!! and those are my 75 words...

Do you get the feeling that Von Wafer has not played well since they diagnosed him with a bulging disk after game 5 in the first round?

I think his poor performance is hurting the team, he's very slow on the defensive side and not productive on the offense.

Reminds me of the injured T-mac.

Tonight he was 2-10 with 2 TO.

We need someone else to step up, what you think?

I need 75 words, so this sentence is pointless...

Lakers' Fisher, Magic's Alston each suspended for a game

By Official release

Posted May 7 2009 5:41PM

Rafer Alston of the Orlando Magic and Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers have each been suspended one game without pay for their roles in separate incidents last night, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced Thursday.

Alston has been suspended for swinging and making contact with the head of Eddie House of the Boston Celtics with 48.6 seconds remaining in the third period of the Magic's 112-94 loss to the Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night at TD Banknorth Garden.

Fisher has been suspended for striking Houston's Luis Scola with his shoulder and head with 13.2 seconds remaining in the third period of the Lakers' 111-98 win Wednesday over the visiting Houston Rockets in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals at Staples Center. Fisher received a Flagrant Foul Penalty Two and was ejected from the game at the time of the play.

Jackson also announced that the Lakers' Kobe Bryant has been assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty One for elbowing Houston's Ron Artest in the chest area with 6:57 remaining in the fourth period of Wednesday night's game.

Alston will serve his suspension on Friday when the Magic hosts the Celtics at Amway Arena. Fisher also will serve his suspension on Friday when the Lakers visit the Rockets at Toyota Center.

Disregard this rant as it full of incoherentness and lacks any kind of sense whatsoever...

Forget ALL the statistics, the matchups, the experts' analysis, and probabilities!!!

If the Rockets WIN TONIGHT, THIS WILL BE A SWEEP!

Yeah, 4-0. It all depends on whether Yao can dominate and establish his game early.

Of course, that's a big IF, but I'm feeling HYPE right now. Can't wait for game time.

Hope I don't regret this later...

I believe the Rockets cannot afford to let Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry get enough experience from the remaining games to carry us thru the playoffs. Too much trial and error...

Would anybody object to having the Rockets sign Sam Cassell for the remainder of the season? Is it even possible? Can we waive Brian Cook to do it?

IMO, if we can afford to sign Dike just to be an inspirational cheerleader, we can do the same with Sam. I actually think Sam could even get on the court and show this boys how it's done...

What do yall think?

Last week we were celebrating Von Wafer's amazing play that had allowed us to beat Denver and eventually Utah (by the end of last wednesday) without T-Mac and Crazy Pills in the lineup.

Yao was destroying defenses and Rafer was impressingly playing well, but then...

* DISASTER *

Yao goes down, we lose and get swept by Indiana

T-Mac and Crazy Pills come back, we blew a big lead to the Pistons (the only reason we won is called Luis Scola)

And then our luck runs out and we end up losing to the Knicks!

But enough has been said about T-Mac and Artest sucking it up since they came back, and how Coach Sleepy needs to wake up. Bring back Von Wafer for crying out loud!!!!!

And with that, I'll bring back a poll I had a while back, just to see if more people will agree that Brent Barry should be taking 3 pters with less than a minute in the game to tie. However, I predict a fan favorite will win...

There are 7 days left to vote in the All-Star ballot and we pretty much have two of our stars, Yao and Tracy, set to play in Phoenix since they are leading by a couple hundred thousand votes. But there's one missing, Crazy Pills.

Rawn hasn't been in an All-Star game since 2004, I think he, as a Rocket, deserves to be in the All-Star game more so than T-Mac. And he is not that far, as of Thursday the Forward candidates stacked up like this:

Tim Duncan                             1, 454, 918

Carmelo Anthony                         905, 121

Amare Stoudemire                      894, 690

Ron Artest                                      890, 992

And honorable mention to Luis Scola with 281, 372

I think it'd be cool if we had 3 players in the All-Star game,

yeah not one but 3!!!

So go vote now and tell all your friends to vote!, you can vote once per day!

Things we already know...

So the Rockets currently sit on a less than expected 21-14 record and are carrying a two game losing streak. With Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest as former/current All Stars, how did we get to this point?

It is undeniable that we have the BEST center in the league in Yao (or one of the best, putting aside my own bias), and that we have 2 of the Top Defenders in the league in Ron Artest and Shane Battier. However, looking at our loses there were some statistics than stood out and seemed repetitive...

1st  Loss - 103-99 Boston Celtics:

    GUARDS - Ray Allen 29 points & Rajon Rondo 10 points

    CENTER - Kendrick Perkins, 15 points

    Yao 8 pts, TMac 26 pts, Artest 15 pts, Rafer 4 pts, Brooks 12 pts

2nd Loss - 101-99 Portland TrailBlazers:

    PF - LaMarcus Alridge 27 points & 9 rebounds

    PF - Travis Outlaw 14 points & 13 rebounds

    Yao 13 pts & 6 rebounds, TMac 30 pts, Artest 9 pts, Luis-Landry 18 pts & 6 rebounds

    OutRebounded 16-5 (offensive rbnds)

3rd Loss - 111-82 Los Angeles Lakers:

    GUARDS - Kobe Bryant 23 points & Jordan Farmar 16 points

    F - Pau Gasol 20 points

    Yao 12 pts, TMac 3 pts, Artest 8 pts, Rafer 7pts, Luis-Landry 24 pts

4th Loss - 77-75 San Antonio Spurs:

    GUARD - George Hill 17 points

    F - Matt Bonner 11 points, 3/4 3pt

    Yao 13 pts, TMac 7 pts, Artest 18 pts, Luis-Landry 12 pts, Rafer DNP, Brooks 14 pts

5th Loss - 96-86 Dallas Mavericks:

    GUARDS - Jason Kidd 8 points & Jason Terry 31 points

    PF - Dirk Nowitzki 24 points

    Yao DNP, TMac 16 pts, Artest 14 pts, Luis-Landry 20 pts, Rafer-Brooks 31 pts

6th Loss - 91-90 Indiana Pacers:

   GUARDS - TJ Ford 10 points & Brandon Rush 11 points

    PFs - Danny Granger 16 points & Troy Murphy 21 points, 4/6 3pt

    Yao 19 pts, TMac DNP, Artest 19 pts, Rafer-Brooks 14 pts, Luis-Landry 30 pts

7th Loss - 104-94 Denver Nuggets:

    GUARD - Chauncey Billups 28 points, 4/9 3pt

    GUARD - JR Smith 19 points, 5/9 3pt

    Yao 18 pts, TMac DNP, Artest 13 pts, Rafer-Brooks 31 pts, Head 3 pts

8th Loss - 109-97 Memphis Grizzlies:

    PFs - Rudy Gay 20 points & Hakim Warrick 18 points & Greg Buckner 8 points

    Yao 14 pts, TMac DNP, Artest DNP, Luis-Landry 28 pts

9th Loss - 95-82 Los Angeles Clippers:

    PFs - Al Thornton, 26 points & Zach Randolph 30 points

    Yao 24 pts, TMac 19 pts, Artest DNP, Luis-Landry 13 pts

10th Loss - 99-90 Cleveland Cavaliers:

    GUARDS - Mo Williams 23 points & Daniel Gibson 11 points

    F - LeBron James 27 points & 9 rebounds

    Yao 19 pts, TMac 4 pts, Artest 14 pts, Rafer-Brooks 30 pts

11th Loss - 88-79 New Orleans Hornets:

    GUARD - Chris Paul 26 points

    Fs - David West 23 points & Rasual Butler 13 points

    Yao 19 pts, TMac 11 pts, Artest DNP, Rafer-Brooks 12 pts, Luis-Landry 19 pts

12th Loss - 89-87 Washington Wizards:

    F - Antawn Jamison 30 points

    Yao 12 pts, TMac 15 pts, Artest 20 pts, Luis-Landry 22 pts

13th Loss - 94-73 Toronto Raptors:

    CENTER - Andrea Bargnani 19 points

    Fs - Chris Bosh 19 points & Jamario Moon 7 points

    Yao 14 pts, TMac 4 pts, Artest 12 pts, Luis-Landry 10 pts

14th Loss - 103-100 Atlanta Hawks:

    CENTERS - Al Horford 10 points & Zaza Pachulia 10 points

    GUARD - Flip Murray 17 points

    F - Josh Smith 29 points

    Yao 16 pts, TMac DNP, Artest DNP, Luis-Landry 34 pts, Rafer-Brooks 19 pts

We have two weaknesses @ the Guard & PF positions. Yes, while I agree that Luis Scola and Carl Landry are formidable players and can provide a spark on offense, in a position-by-position comparison against similar players, in our loses, they have either been shut down by the competition or lacked the ability to stop the competition. They lack size against those players (Glad Mutombo's back). However, I'm not taking into consideration that Shane or Artest might have been defending those players or whether their absence impacted our defense.

Just look at the Dallas game, it's not good when the scoring output of two of our players TOGETHER is less than or equal to the output of A player from the opposing team that plays in the same position.

However, it is ok sometimes when that player is the Star of the other team. That's when our own stars are supposed to step up. So to continue "Bash T-Mac Week", in the 10 games he's played that we've lost in, he's averaging 13.5 pts, and that's ONLY because of the first two games we lost where he put up decent scores. Taken those out of the equation, he's averaging 9.8 pts in our loses when he plays, truly a waste of 21 million dollars.

Have no fear dreamshakers, we can still look on the bright side. We've yet to lose to the same team twice (although that might change on wed when we play the celtics), Crazy Pills will snap and maybe T-Mac will decide to earn his paycheck on the last half of the season...

After seeing the Wizards game debacle, I started pondering on who should take the last second shot. On monday's game it was Yao, even though he was already 4-13 before taking a fade-away jumper that bounced off the rim. We have had games with similar situations but I fail to recall any successful last-second shots this season. I know Ron Artest and Tracy have both failed in a couple of instances.

So Dreamshakers, I leave it up to you to vote for whoever you think should take the last shot, either to tie or win the game.

My vote goest to Brent Barry, after some penetration by T-Mac/Brooks and a dish out for the 3. I believe that at this point T-Mac is not shooting well enought to take on the responsibility, even though he's better at it than Yao and Artest (in my opinion). Brent is like our upgraded Novak (who hit a game-winner against Sacramento last season) and could become our version of Big Shot Rob, for Robert Horry.

Take your pick!

or add more suggestions, we'll take the top 3 and have a poll in january...

For me:

# 1 - Sign Mutombo

# 2 - Get rid of Luther Head, for ANYBODY

My personal choices for #2: Stromile Swift, Cuttino Mobley (if the knicks release him/want to clear more cap space for LBJ in 09), Marcus Camby. But knowing our owner he won't be too happy to pay the extra bucks of Luxury Tax, so he'd just trade them for draft picks...

Got better ideas?