The Rockets have some big games coming up and we're here to help you get to them cheaper. You can choose from either of both of the Nuggets game on the 16th and the Hornets game on the 26th. As always these are the cheapest tickets you are going to get directly from the Rockets. Let's try and fill this place up, the games have been getting closer and closer to selling out and bringing the team down the home stretch.

Houston Rockets ticket pass available for the following 2 games!

4/16 Denver Nuggets

4/26 New Orleans Hornets

Click on the button below or go to www.rockets.com/tickets, enter your promo code and start saving today!

http://tinyurl.com/d387mmv

Promotion Code: thedreamshake
Please contact your Rockets representative, John Donovan at 713-758-7453 if you have any questions!

...or whatever combination you want! Some of these deals are up to half off, and this is the first time the Rockets have discounted a Lakers game since TheDreamShake has been around. I know the guys have struggled a bit lately, but let's show up and show them what their fans are made of!

From the Rockets Ticket Office:

Join us as the Houston Rockets make a strong playoff push over the month of March. Come out and see as we take on the L.A. Lakers on March 20th, Sacramento Kings on March 26th and the Memphis Grizzlies on March 30th. You will not want to miss any of the action with great pricing to these games. Save up to 50% off individual ticket prices through this offer.

Use the link and the promotion code below to purchase your tickets:

Link: http://tinyurl.com/6o5g4gr

Promotion code: thedreamshake

For questions or to purchase over the phone or by email contact John Donovan @ 713-758-7453 or jdonovan@rocketball.com

The Houston Rockets own the New York Knickerbockers' pick this year, and as Rockets fans, we are rightly excited about the Knicks current plight. If the season ended today, the Knicks would pick ninth. I think we can all agree that in a 20-25 player deep draft, the ninth pick would be something that could turn the Rockets' luck around. Given how well Morey drafts in the late teens to twenties, drafting in the top 10 in this draft would give the Rockets a chance at something special. But as Lee Corso used to say, "Not so fast my friend"*

Houston does indeed own the Knicks pick, but only if the lottery does not bless them with a top 3 pick, or if they don't suck all the way into the top 5. There is no way at this point that they can get to bottom 5 worst records (okay, it COULD happen, but it's not going to), so that leaves David Stern's NBA Draft black magic. The same voodoo that brought you this:

That's right, I truly believe that the frozen envelope/bent envelope was in play that year. So given that, and Stern's apparent appreciation of boning the Rockets' trades, could it happen again?

I'm not a huge conspiracy theorist, and the Rockets did once benefit from the lottery in getting the number one overall pick, when they should have been 14th**, but this is the same league that brought you the above, the Tim Donaghy scandal (and you are oblivious if you think he was/still is the only one), and allowed guys like Joey Crawford and Jake O'Donnell to referee forever. Crawford T'd Tim Duncan up for laughing at him, on what was an absolutely terrible call I might add, while Duncan was sitting on the bench. O'Donnell was so obvious that he refused to shake Clyde Drexler's hand, then double tech-ed him for effectively nothing. Even the NBA had to do something about it because it was so blatant. It's the same league that somehow decided to kill the Rockets trade to the Hornets and Lakers even though it was an infinitely better deal. The same league that allows a clearly bumbling/almost assuredly racist Donald Sterling own a team, but rewarded him with Chris Paul. And before that let the Sonics move out of Seattle even though the owners clearly had no plans to do that before buying the team *wink*.

So, in a draft this deep, don't we, at least deep down, want the Knicks to get the worst record that makes the playoffs so these types of shenanigans can't happen?

If the Rockets do someone get an 8th or 9th pick though I want Austin Rivers.

And just for fun, just to show you how big of a cheater Joey Crawford was:

* I still like to think of Corso as pre-2007 Corso, not post dementia Corso

** I think it was 14th, but I'm too lazy to look it up

Rockets starting point guard Kyle Lowry is out 2-4 weeks with a bacterial infection, and when you thought the Rockets' woes were drastic enough - you know, with that whole losing thing - everything suddely gets put in perspective. Houston will be without it's starting point guard for likely a month. That's absolutely devastating. And before I get into this, I'd like to say to Kyle : "Get well man,

It's devasting to the team, to the portion of the fanbase that wants to win and to the Rockets shot at the playoffs. I've never made it a secret that I'm a bigger fan of making the playoffs and seeing what happens than of tanking or simply not putting as solid of a team as possible on the court. As a blog purveyor, of course the Rockets winning, even simply above .500 is better for us than losing is. Though it's inarguable that losing with the guarantee of getting to the elite in a few years is better. The problem is that it's never a guarantee. Kyle Lowry is the reason the Rockets were winning this year, and that too is an inarguable point. Without him, the Rockets just do not have the horse to lose their best player.

Without him, who is going to step up? Clearly Kevin Martin is a lost cause as a Houston Rocket. And that's coming from one of his biggest proponents. The "trade" shattered him and while he has had a few good games, it's despite himself instead of something to see. The good thing is those few good games should allow him to be traded in a few days with a higher upside than he is showing on a nightly basis. Luis Scola has fallen off a bit but is what he has always been, a great third player. With the Rockets he's being asked to be 1C, not 3 on the best players list. At this point in his career that's not going to happen. I'm really hoping he gets traded to a team where he can do just that because as a hard worker and good guy he deserves it. If that player is Goran Dragic, that's great, but now we don't have his minutes coming off the bench and I'm sorry (ok, not really), but Johnny Flynn is just horrible. As is Terrence Williams. The point is, there isn't anyone likely to step up and actually have it matter.

But there is no joy in Rocket-ville --Kyle Lowry is out. So it looks like those of you screaming "Tank, TANK, TAAAAANNNNNNKKKKKKK!!!!!" at the beginning of the season are going to get the result for which you were looking. The Rockets loss the Raptors a few nights ago, to Cleveland last night, and the should have been loss to Brooklyn the night before were just the beginning. This team is in trouble. I hope it's worth it to you to endure the rest of this season. If the Rockets do not make a trade, or two, or three (but not seven) the rest of this season is likely over from a playoff stand point.

Or, the Rockets could just be hiding Kyle out so that no team tries to include him in a trade...

I don't know how you feel about Simmons but he has been, and continues to be, my favorite sports writer not named Matt Campbell (aka MDC). Does he talk too much about Boston? Sure. Are his movie and TV references about 15 years older than they should be? Depends if you are my age or not, if so, no. But I can never get past the fact that if I had his job my fandom would clearly come out just like his does.

This year's column is light on Rockets, with Kevin Martin and Luis Scola ranked last year and obviously falling out this year. Neither deserves to be in the top 50 right now, so it's hard to argue the fact. Martin was 19th in PER last year and Scola was 49th. This year they are 73rd and 159th VERY dis-repectfully. (Oddly Chris Kaman is tied with Scola, yet some are falling over themselves to add him to the Rockets like he's the solution).

But our resident bulldog did make the list. I think the ranking is low, but so far I can only argue with James Harden and Jeremy Lin over him. Everyone else he has listed is correct in my opinion, though I'd probably be persuaded on a few.

LINK

38. Kyle Lowry
Killer value ($17.5 million total through 2014) for a quality point guard (16-7-5, 39 percent 3FG, elite defense). Let's have a round of applause for Dork Elvis — he basically traded Carl Landry, Rafer Alston, Aaron Brooks, a washed-up Tracy McGrady and Vassilis Spanoulis¹² for Lowry, Martin, Scola, Dragic, Jordan Hill, the no. 23 pick in 2011 and New York's 2012 no. 1 pick. Also, did you know Houston is the only above-.500 team without a lottery pick in its nine-man rotation (much less starting for it)?
Bill lemme know what else you need or if this paragraph will suffice. Good seeing you in Boston. Thanks, Daryl.

(Whoops, I forgot to take that last part out. Sorry about that.)

Oh, wait, Hasheem Thabeet made the list at 30? What? That was a joke? SCREW YOU SIMMONS THE ROCKETS JUST HAVEN'T GIVEN HIM A CHANCE!!!

It's short notice, and the discount isn't huge, but it IS a cheaper way to the Rockets game against the Clippers on Sunday. And as always, no fees when booked through the link. Dave and I will be there. Come out and join us!

Seriously, come join us out there, you won't likely get a less expensive way to see CP3 and Blake "DirtBurgler" Griffin dunk in person. And you will get a chance to see the Rockets be David to another team's Goliath again.

Promotion code: DREAM

http://www.ticketingcentral.com/V2/Home.aspx?&&&I=AQAAAAAAAABzcsCEAQAAAABo%2fv%2f%2f%2fwD%2f%2f%2f%2f%2fAAD%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2fw%3d%3d

Usually we get some really great prices for some, well, how do I put it "easy wins". This time we have some really good games.

If you think Kevin Durant is the best player in basketball (you should), then have we got a deal for you.

We all know that the Jazz, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Jerry Sloan suck, right? Well you can see ONE of those three live get beaten by your Houston Rockets, I'll let you guess which on.

What about Bears from the middle of Tennessee? Yep, got that too.

How about proof that you don't need a superstar to compete? (You know, besides our team), The Denver Nuggets may be your choice.

No matter how you choose, one, or multiple, you'll get to see two teams on the court at a time that have legitimate playoff chances.

From the Ticket Office:

Don’t miss as the Rockets take on some of the best in the west. Come out and see as we take on the OKC Thunder on February 15^th, Utah Jazz on Sunday February 19^th, Memphis Grizzlies on February 20^th or the Denver Nuggets on Friday March 2^nd. Upper level seats starting at $13 and the lower bowl starting at $35.

Click on the link below or go to www.rockets.com/tickets and enter promo code: thedreamshake

Call John Donovan at 713-758-7453 to order over the phone.

Email questions to jdonovan@rocketball.com

http://tinyurl.com/6nkfn9c

I did a pre-recorded spot with David Nuno that will air at 6:30PM CST on The Drive.

You can listen live here

We talked Rockets vs. Bucks, contract extension denials, free agency, great moments in Daryl Morey history, Kyle Lowry and Samuel Dalembert vs. Pau Gasol.

Hope you get a chance to listen. You should be listening to @davidnuno every day on your way home or out anyway.

I even got a dig at my least favorite Rocket of all time. (And it's not Buck Johnson (2nd) or Scottie Pippen (because THAT NEVER HAPPENED)

As always, these ticket deals are the best your going to do without trading "favors" for your tickets.

You can see the Rockets next great center currently playing for the Kings. Or maybe you want to see a team that nobody should lose to all year, not even the Bobcats. Is the next great PG your flavor? Then John Wall and the Wizards are your guys. And last, but the best, you can see Rick Adelman and the exciting new look TWolves.

The Houston Rockets would like to start the 2012 year with special offers, give-a-ways, and great on court fan experiences for our Ticket Passmembers for the following games:

Friday, January 13^th Houston Rockets vs. Sacramento Kings. The first 5,000 fans will receive a 45^th Anniversary Poster. All Ticket Pass purchasers and their guests will have the opportunity to shoot a free throw after the game on the Houston Rockets court.

Tuesday, January 17^th Houston Rockets vs. Detroit Pistons. The first 5,000 fans will receive a RPD Calendar so arrive early. All Ticket Passpurchasers will be entered into a drawing to go on court and high five the Houston Rockets.

Friday, January 27^th Houston Rockets vs. Washington Wizards. All Ticket Pass Members purchasers and their guests will have the opportunity to shoot a free throw after the game on the Houston Rockets court.

Monday, January 30^th Houston Rockets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves. 10 Lucky Ticket Pass purchasers will sit on the Houston Rockets Bench before the game and watch the players warm up.

Don’t miss any of the action with great pricing to these games. Save up to 50% off individual ticket prices through this offer.

Click on the button below or go to www.rockets.com/tickets, enter your promo code and start saving today!

CLICK HERE

Promotion Code: thedreamshake

Please contact your Rockets representative, John Donovan at 713-758-7453 if you have any questions!

If you haven't done one of these before, I think everyone that has will vouch. It's the lowest price you are going to get to go see the Rockets live from the ticket office. It is seamless and John is a great guy to work with.

From the Houston Rockets Ticket Office:

We are excited about the start of the Houston Rockets 2011-12 season and would like to offer Special Pricing to our TicketPASS members for the following games: Home Opener on Thursday, December 29^th Rockets vs. San Antonio. Be the first 5,000 in the building and receive a t-shirt. New Years Eve game Saturday, December 31^st Rockets vs. Atlanta and Saturday, January 7^th Rockets vs. Oklahoma City.

Don’t miss any of the action with great pricing to these games. Save up to 50% off individual ticket prices through this offer.

Click on the button below, enter your password and start saving today!

CLICK HERE

Password: thedreamshake

Please contact your John Donovan at 713-758-7453 or jdonovan@rocketball.com if you have any questions!

I'm still angry that the NBA and its players made me miss basketball.  And all for effectively nothing.  Every bit of this deal both sides would have agreed to in June if they didn't have their heads up their butts so far.  

The Rockets have a lot of great pieces in place and will be making the playoffs this year, again have some fantastic trade pieces and I fully expect them to be in the running for Dwight Howard mid season.  So why would anyone try and rob me of that?  I want to say it's greed, but it's not.  It's never only about the money, it's about making the other side do what you want.  It's about trying to have some mythical control.  Hey morons, without the owners you don't get a job, and without the players you don't get to make money hand over fist as owners (regardless of the BS they try and tell us about losing money).  

I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough, probably around the time Kevin Martin draws a foul on someone that hasn't figured out not to take his ball fake.  Maybe it will be when Luis Scola shoots a fadeaway jumper.  Or when the Rockets finally decide that Chuck Hayes isn't quite good enough to play center for an NBA team (but secretly I hope that someone overpays him so it makes me feel better).  

Anyone else still mad? 

Chase Budinger is getting a chance to workout and play a sport he loves during the lockout according to him and ESPN.  (Link)  He's a ridiculous athlete and volleyball is something that appears to come naturally to him.  At least based on the few highlights from his high school days that I've seen.   

Like here, where he's like 12 feet in the air at his hand

Or here where the ground still hasn't recovered

And here are a few highlights in one video

Good for you Chase taking some time to do what you love to do.  I'm thinking a few of the guys on the pro circuit (who I realize are pretty awesome themselves) won't know what hit them

Look what Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Tyson Chandler and others are forced to do!

Tyson Chandler has some wonderful advice for all you recent break up victims.

Seriously, the lockout sucks.  The Rockets couldn't even comment on Yao Ming's impending retirement because "he's still a player and locked out".  That's next level dumb on the part of the NBA.  "Hey, we're already alienating fans by telling them we lose money when we really don't, but let's not honor someone who singlehandedly brought us into another country/continent!"

The Houston Rockets have added two new coaches to their coaching staff to go along with Chris Finch.  McHale has been rumored to be putting together an "all star assistant" staff.  I'm not sure from a giant names list that's true, but from a coaching standpoint it certainly is.

Finch we know pretty well as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and England National team coach.  Also as the rumored guy to be next in line after McHale.  The Rockets and Daryl Morey seem to have a lot of faith in him as a coach.

Kelvin Sampson is definitely a name.  As a hater of everything OU (never have figured out why they aren't UO) I actually have a lot of respect for Sampson as a coach.  He's won everywhere he's been as a head coach and he won't have any NCAA violations as an NBA assistant.  Plus, are texting and phone calls really THAT big of an issue?  Or is the NCAA just too lazy to fix actual problems?  His coaching ability is up to a high standard, and like him or not, he's a great hire for the Rockets.

J.B. Bickerstaff is Bernie Bickerstaff's son.  Yep, that's about all I have for you.  Okay, he was on the staff with Minnesota for four years.  NOW that's all I have for you.  I hear good things, but he's an NBA assistant coach with T-Wolves experience, not sure how much you can glean from that.

Either way, the reviews have been positive across the league today, with me not seeing much negative.  I'm happy with the hires even if I have to deal with a dirty Sooner.  

It's so bad right now here at The Dream Shake that I'M the one breaking the silence and writing.  Seriously, it has to get pretty bad for that to happen, right?  I mean, only OAL coming out of nowhere and writing something would be more surprising, right?  

I know that BD34, (our resident love him or hate him addition to the team, because no one loves Dave) already broke down the Owners vs. Players scenario, but I quickly have to get this off my chest.  I am pro-players.  

There, I said it.  Ok, I've said it in other words before, but it's true.  I'm not 100% on their side, clearly there are teams losing money, that's really not arguable.  The question I have is, whose fault is that?  To me, there is no way we can blame that on the players.  No one makes a the Pacers pay 10.5 million on Mike Dunleavy.  They did that all on their own.  As did the Bobcats in giving Boris Diaw 9 million.  The Maloofs pay Samuel Dalembert 12.5 million?  Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.  Joe Johnson and Rudy Gay are max players?  Also smashing decisions.  And what's worse, all of those were terrible decisions at the time of the contracts, not just in retrospect.  Am I really able to blame the players for accepting those contracts?  I would have too, and so would you.  

Fans ripping the players for striking is ridiculous.  First of all, the players didn't strike, the owners locked them out.  There is a big difference.  I've even seen our own commenters ripping Kevin Durant for this comment:

Durant says "no matter how long the lockout's going to take, we're going to stand up. We're not going to give in."

What exactly in that comment is bad?  Do you expect him to say: "we're going to cave and let the owners have everything they want"?  That would be stupid.  You don't like the sentiment that they aren't going to give in?  I'm fine with that, but I can't in good conscience agree with your line of thinking.  The players are behind the 8 ball.  The NBA has a ton of leverage because, frankly, a lot of NBA players are as smart with their money as Frank McCourt has been with the Dodgers money.  

So is that the deal?  Those strictly on the owners side think that the players make too much money so they should just suck it up?  Then where do you think that money will go if the players don't get it?  To charity?  To workers on the team?  Because the answer is neither, unless an owners tax burden gets too high and they need a write off.  They're good at those, especially depreciating players like they are old milk cows and then saying those are real losses.  And they are good at taking operating expenses and players salaries and finding ways to deduct them from the bottom line twice.  

That's, again, not to say that some teams aren't losing money.  But the answer there is contraction.  The league has no business being in multiple of the cities it's in.  The product is watered down by 2-4 too many teams as are the books.  If they want to contract and leave salaries where they are, I think that would be a logical move.  If you are losing money because you are stupid, then I have no sympathy for you.  If you are losing money because you simply can't compete in your market, well, isn't that a form of stupidity too?  Contraction would allow the NBA to truly build the NBDL up like it should as well.

This argument is about money.  Isn't every argument?  And the owners have made bad decisions with their money.  Instead of changing those decisions, they are trying to regulate the game to protect them from themselves.  

And to everyone saying that players shouldn't go overseas.  Frankly, I think you are wrong.  It's one of the easiest, and fastest ways they have to gain immediate leverage.  No, they shouldn't go to certain places, but there are plenty of countries where they are safe and there are plenty of insurance companies ready to write policies for them.  Go make a few million, grow the game outside of the country and let the NBA know that they cannot simply make up numbers and come to a negotiation.  

Here's the last thing I have:  If you believe the owners are right, then make them open their books 100%.  There is nothing to hide if they are truly losing money and the books are kept, so it should literally be as simple as producing them from the year before.  Oh, some are committing fraud on their taxes?  Wait, some are taking out the expense of purchasing the team and calling that a loss?  Some are saying that building a new building is a basketball loss?  Great, so they're lying.  That's pretty much the point.  And if they aren't, they have no reason to keep the books closed or only partially open.  

And Yao just retired too?  I have no nice words for that event.   For Yao I have plenty, but for his feet and legs forsaking such a good person I have none.

Kevin Martin is 28, plays hard, scores lights out and is effectively a superstar level scorer that simply isn't considered a star (not superstar, but still) for some dumb reason.  And not playing good defense is not a reason for that.  He was the number nine scorer in the league this year, number 4 among shooting guards.  He's also clutch and shot almost 89% from the line.  He's also in the top 20 for rebounds, assists, steals and assist to to ratio for SGs, which puts him above the half way mark comfortably.  You cannot replace him, that's pretty much all there is to it.  You know who else was like that?  Reggie Miller, they are statistically similar in almost every way.  I don't think anyone would be wanting Miller gone off this team in his prime.  

That is all.

*  views stated as by the blog as a whole may not be those of the whole of writers or founders on the blog.  But still, since I started this mofo I'm doing it!

As much as I love Dirk and Cuban -- yes, both of those guys are awesome, and I simply do not see how anyone that is a huge basketball fan can disagree -- we're going to pretend this didn't happen, right?  

Or are we going to say, "Well yeah, but, um, we have TWO!" ?  I think that's the route I'm going to go.  The Rockets are one of 9 teams (doing this from memory) to have won more than one championship (Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, Pistons, Nationals/76ers, Warriors, Knicks, Rockets).  Only 18** of the 30 (I had to look that up) teams have won a championship at all with the Celtics at 17 and the Lakers at 16 hogging all of the glory.  So, winning two is pretty impressive, though winning 1 put you in pretty rare territory.  If you look at when basketball as we know it started (1979 with Magic coming into the league) it shrinks to only 10 teams winning a ring.  Of those 10 teams, 7 won more than once.  

There are two big questions that come from this Finals:

Continue reading this post »

I should be on the radio today at around 6:15 on the Travis Rodgers show.  It's a national show now, so the Dream Shake will be heard nation wide on Sporting News radio!

I'm traveling for work.  Any other fellow DreamShakers going to be there?  I was able to get lower level half way up right at the end of the court before the baseline seats for $17 each.  

The Rockets take on the Indiana Pacers Saturday (tomorrow as I write this) at 7:30 PM.  

The Houston Rockets ticket office and The Dream Shake have once again teamed up to bring you another great ticket deal.  Discounted tickets start at $13

http://www.ticketingcentral.com/V2/Home.aspx?&&&I=AQAAAAAAAACi6iVBAQAAAACg%2fv%2f%2f%2fwD%2f%2f%2f%2f%2fAAD%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2fw%3d%3d 

Password: Dream

Take advantage of this deal as the Rockets look to get back on the winning path and move closer to a playoff berth.

UPDATE: LINK IS WORKING

We are excited to offer Special Pricing to our fellow DreamShakers for the following games: 

February 12th Rockets vs. Dallas

February 16^th Rockets vs. Philly

March 5^th Rockets vs. Indiana

Save up to 50% off individual tickets! 

Seriously DreamShakers, this is a great deal, and quite a few of you have taken advantage in the past.  I'm still not above thinking that Andre Iguodala could be a Houston Rocket.  

Make sure you contact John Donovan if you have other games you are interested in:
713-758-7453 or jdonovan@rocketball.com

Click on the button below, enter your password and start saving today!

www.rockets.com/thedreamshake

The Password is on the site

Please contact our Rockets representative, John Donovan at 713-758-7453 or jdonovan@rocketball.com if you have any questions!