After watching the first half of the season go by, I have to say that I'm impressed by what the Rockets have accomplished and believe that they could have a solid postseason run if they can get one more player. Everyone wants the big names and they should as people like Dwight Howard can change the course of a franchise

I was curious if there are any non-all stars (or Pau Gasol) that interest you and you think the Rockets should pursue as they can get good value. The Kevin Martin trade was a great value trade for a good but not great player.

The first restriction is the player cannot be an All Star this season and there should be some possibilty that the player could be traded.

The second is that the idea of the trade is to improve the Rockets roster for this season or for a postseason run

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After a great win over the Utah "barely recognizable if not for Raja Bell annoying everyone" Jazz, the Rockets welcome the owners of the worst throwback jerseys in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies to the Toyota Center on Monday night. The Grizzlies won back to back games with Rudy Gay missing game winners and other Grizzlies (Tony Allen and Speights) bailing him out with tip ins. That is representative of the way the Grizzlies play overall. Never take a play off and frustrate the other team.

Currently, we are tied in the standings, for 6th in the West, a half game behind the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Grizz lead the league in steals per game by a decent margin so turnovers are probably something the Rockets should be extra careful to avoid.

Lost the last matchup with Kevin Martin scoring an entire 0 points, 29 points off his average against the Grizz last year. So yeah, get him the ball and stuff.

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16 - 13, 7th in the West, the Rockets looked like a team at the end of their longest road trip of the season. It was another ugly offensive game by the Rockets who shot 38.5% from the field and 30% from three. The Grizzlies were taking and making some tough shots and really using their size advantage over the Rockets (Marc Gasol over Scola/Patterson and Rudy Gay over Courtney Lee). The Rockets on the other hand were missing wide open layups, airballing open 3s and always falling short on each run

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Suspended for a game for walking out on the Rockets last night. I think it's worth a caps lock thread title?

He's not playing against Denver on monday. Here's the tweet-

Jonathan_Feigen Jonathan Feigen
Aaron Brooks suspended for Monday's game in Denver for walking out in fourth quarter Saturday. #hounews

So thoughts? His play has been really disappointing so far. He's just not been playing well. At least he's frustrated. Interesting to see how the Rockets handle this and whether AB is professional after this

Recently, we saw that graphic about Kevin Martin in the clutch and how he scored at a much higher efficiency than most players. He was way higher than Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant. 

In the most recent NBA Today Podcast (fun listens. Ryen Russilo the host is kind of a douche but it makes the show way more interesting and entertaining. He usually tells it how he sees it and has good guests.) Henry Abbott came on from True Hoop to discuss Melo.

 And Kevin Martin came up

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It's kind of sad that not a single Rocket has made All star Weekend.

Dunk Contest-  Nate Rob, Gerald Wallace, Shannon Brown and Derozan/Gordan

3 Point Contest- Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups, Daequan Cook, Curry, Danilo Gallinari and Channing Frye.

Skills Contest- Brandon Jennings, Steve Nash, Derrik Rose, Deron Williams

No Rocket made the allstar game or the rookies/sophomore either. Were any Rockets deserving of a place? Maybe Brooks in the skills/3 point shootout? I wonder how many teams have 0 players in the all star game

I find it shocking how few people think the Magic are the best team in the east. Here's the quote from Charley Rosen-

Unless Orlando can shoot close to 40 percent from beyond the arc, the Celtics' stingy defense will force them to labor for good shots. In any event, the chances of Orlando making a return trip to the NBA Finals are nil.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/10238508/2009-10-preview:-Cavs-vs.-Celtics-vs.-Magic

I personally think the Magic still match up well against Cleveland with Rashard Lewis being a huge difference and Vince Carter being underrated shockingly enough.

This is a video I found while wasting time on clutchfans. It was in a random post.

http://www.skillzlab.com/Lab/5/Dr-Z/Videoz/Gallery/989/T-Mac-Sneak-Peak/Album/1004/Sneak-Peak-Of-T-Mac-Rehab-Videoz/Video/264

It's an interesting vid. It's more of the T-Mac rehab but it also has like a short interview with T- Mac where he describes what he's done and what he's planning to do.

It seems like he's planning another shoulder surgery on his left shoulder. I thought he already had one surgery.

Comments?

ESPN Insider Rich Bucher is saying that A.I. is close to signing a 2 year deal with the Houston Rockets. Terms of the deal are not disclosed.

I heard it on Ric bucher's ESPN XM radio show.



That's gonna be absolutely crazy. T-Mac and AI on the same team? That's gonna be a lotta shots wasted. On clutchfans, there's something about the deal being for only 1 year and 5 million dollars. Here's the link to the original article-

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/231135-leon-rose-thunder-rockets-and-pacers-interested-in-allen-iverson

two teams (the depleted Bucks and Nets) incapable of making the playoffs. At least twice as many teams in the West (including the Kings, Grizzlies, Warriors, Timberwolves and Rockets) appear destined for the lottery.

Link to Article

Sad isn't it? Being compared to the Bucks, Kings and Grizzles. I still don't personally think that we are that bad. Even without Yao, we pushed the Lakers so we won't be complete fodder. Just like most of those teams we lack a true superstar, at least unless a healthy T-Mac comes, but we have a much stronger supporting cast than any of the teams in that list.

Any comments? Are we really in that tier of teams?

I thought this was an interesting article from SI. The Rockets were 4th on the list of most popular teams for Free agents after the Lakers, Heat and the Suns (I was surprised to see the Suns).

Link to Article

Hopefully, we can get some good free agents like Gortat this year.

4. Houston: I was surprised several years ago when I learned how many players league-wide spend their offseasons living and working out in this steamy city. Now that the Rockets are loaded and with management that can explain in intricate detail why you're the perfect fit for their system, it's an even greater place to be in-season.

So Rafaer made it to the NBA Finals by beating the Lebron James or the cleveland Cavaliers, whatever name you prefer.

Who are you rooting for and who do you think will win?

I'm rooting for the Magic. They've played brilliantly and have knocked out Boston and Cleveland already.

Bynum vs Dwight- Superman 

Pau vs Lewis- Matchup of the series. It can go either way. I think it can define the series.

Ariza vs Turkoglu- Important matchup again. Turkoglu is clutch though

Kobe vs Lee/Pietrus- Obviously Kobe will dominate

Fisher vs Alston - As bad as Alston is Fisher is much much worse.

I think these two youtube vids speak for themselves-

Ron Artest-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjlxCyUbpMo#

The way Ron Artest reacted to being ejected. I'm really proud of this interview. It had its funny moment.

"You gotta have balls to hit a guy like me in the throat"

Derek Fisher-

There's no question that Derek Fisher did this on purpose. He fucking JUMPED BACKWARDS AND STUCK HIS ELBOW RIGHT AT SCOLA'S FACE. I was ridiculously angry.

Here's the vid-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDX2ktK9OR4&feature=related

From Yahoo Sports

Roy did not practice Monday afternoon because of flu-like symptoms, but he was listed as probable for Tuesday’s game. A call to the Blazers to provide more details about his symptoms was not immediately returned.

Lamarcus Aldridge who was averaging 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds for Portland during the playoffs, also didn’t practice Monday because of a right elbow strain. He was also expected to play in Game 5.

The two best players are unjured....