After hearing earlier this week that the seven time All-Star Yao Ming was concerned about his foot, and contemplating retirement. I decided to reach out to Yao and give him some encouraging advice.
Dear Yao Ming,
For starters Yao, telling the media that “If the foot injury does not heal next season, I might choose to call it quits,” doesn’t help the Rockets, or your trade value.
You haven’t played basketball in over a year, and you tell the media that you might quit! You sir, are too honest. Yao, your supreme honesty strikes fear in the heart of Rockets fans that Brad Miller is probably going to be the starting center at the beginning of the season.
I know you have been playing basketball as soon as someone noticed you were six feet tall and only 7 years old, and the constant running and jumping on your massive feet has wore down the giant bones. But Houston needs you to suck-it-up, and play. Sure you could play five more years and always walk with a limp, but Bill Walton did it, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas still does it. From now on when someone asks you about your foot simply reply, “Foots good” and thats it!
You should get around Houston and the Toyota Center on a Segway, like Clutch does.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in effort to quell depression in Houston responded saying “Yao Ming is working diligently on his return and has consistently received positive feedback at each of his scheduled medical checkups.” “He is currently participating in on-court basketball workouts & we continue to expect him to be ready for training camp which begins on 9/25″
DocFunk’s 2010 Free Agency Recap is full of hilarity, including the above image. As funny this is, I’m sure Brad Miller has a camoflauged version of every jersey he has ever owned. Miller came to this contract signing sporting camo pants, and a polo the Rockets gave him. Which presents the question…Did Brad Miller show up shirtless?
The world may never know! Love Miller’s smile though.
Brad Miller has finally found his paradise signing a 3- year $15 million dollar deal with the Houston Rockets today. The city of Houston and Brad Miller are a match made in heaven. Of course Houston has changed a bit over the last five years with the addition of its first light-rail system and the migration of nearly everyone form New Orleans. But what Brad Miller will love will be the incredible access he will have to all those things a person from Indiana maybe loves, guns, millions of places to eat, and so much air conditioning there is never any reason to go outside.
Houston is like New York City compared to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Miller is from. Both cities have major flood issues but Houston’s heat and humidity will wreck havoc on Miller’s nature walks. Interesting that Fort Wayne is nicknamed the Summit City, and the Houston Rockets once played in the Summit, before moving into the Toyota Center in 2003. The Summit is now Lakewood Church.
Last season the NBA came down hard on Gilbert Arenas and his gun collecting. Unfortunately for Arenas he was in Washington D.C. where handguns are against the law. In Houston old ladies at bus stops have nice shiny .32 millimeters in their purse waiting to “pop a cap” in someone that looks troubling. Gun racks are visible in the back windows of pick-up trucks, and sports retail stores sell the M4 Carbine semi automatic firearm at the low-low price of only $950 dollars.
“Awesome,” Miller told FOX 26 Sports. “I told my agent from the day the season was over Houston was where I wanted to be. I’ve been trying to get down here for, what Rick’s been here four years, so about four years. ”It’s been something I wanted to do.”
Miller could have made more money elsewhere, but playing for Adelman and the Rockets was the package he wanted most. Miller played for Adelman for three years in Sacramento when Adelman was the Kings head coach.
Miller will be the much needed back up for Yao Ming at the center posistion, and will probably play more minutes then Yao early in the season as Yao works his way back into the rotation. Last season the Rockets started 6′, 6″ forward Chuck Hayes at center for 71 games. General manager Daryl Morey said Miller fills a “huge need” for his team.
The Houston Rockets have launched an interesting campaign to attract free-agents to the city:
Jason Friedman Rockets.com
This afternoon marks the beginning of one of the most ambitious – and perhaps craziest – projects I’ve ever been a part of. It all started with a particularly inspired email from a fan to ideas@rocketball.com. Today I, along with 10 of the world’s biggest, most passionate Rockets fans, am leaving Toyota Center to launch the beginning of the 2010 Rockets Free Agency Caravan. Our purpose: to meet Morey and deliver him to his initial meeting with one of Houston’s primary free agent targets. For more of Jason’s blog head over to: JCF Blog
I pray that the caravan is well air-conditioned, because the Houston humidity could single handedly turn away a free-agent. You have to love the mom & pop attempt at wooing a free-agent. Cities like New York, have million dollar campaigns(Come On, LeBron) that involve famous citizens begging for LeBron to come to play. The Rockets definitely have a solid team, and a hungry fan base that are desperate for one of the cities sports teams to excel. Heres hoping that the caravan goes well, and doesn’t embarrass the team or the city.
How often does a NBA general manager tweet about his scouting trip in Europe while his team ends its losing streak. Well that is just what Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is currently doing.
DMorey: Players high fiving fans after the win. This is something the NBA could try.
Busy scouting overseas, far from a vacation, but working on the Rockets future. The incredible part is he is tweeting about it. Morey has been giving travel updates for about a week, and there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there. Morey went to Belgrade to watch Partizan take on Maccabi Tel Aviv in the third game of a best-of-five series. It’s a fair bet Morey was paying special attention to Jan Vesely, a versatile Partizan forward who is currently projected to be a late-lottery pick, and dunks like the rim slapped his momma.
Partizan ended up winning the game 81-73, with Vesely scoring 14 points in 24 minutes of play for the winning side. The decisions that Morey has made this season accompanied with the Rockets finishing above .500 should earn him GM of the Year honors. This is Morey’s 4th year with Houston, who has benefited from his statistical-based analysis, whatever that means. Since Morey took over the Rockets are 145-92 (.634) and made it out of the first round last year for the first time since the 97-98 season. Keep up the good work Morey! Here is a nice dunk by Vesely. There are currently no Rockets that can dunk like this, well maybe Jordan Hill, but I doubt he could catch the ball.
The Houston Rockets have ten games left on a grueling, injury filled season. Six of the last ten games are on the road in places like Phoenix, San Antonio, and Boston. The Rockets also sit eight games out of the playoffs. Sadly it’s time (well it could have been time weeks ago) to put up the “NEXT SEASON” signs.
The Rockets have a 0.7% chance of winning the Draft Lottery. I know its never endorsed, but losing the last nine will only help to improve their draft chances. Also giving players like Mike Harris, Jermaine Taylor, and Jordan Hill minutes only helps their needed development. There is no reason to rush Shane Battier, or Kevin Martin back.
This was a roller coaster season for the Rockets, where every two wins equaled two loses. The Rockets were forced to start a 6′,6″ Chuck Hayes at center, and never played defense at the level of previous years(NO YAO). Tracy McGrady left the team, and free agent signee Trevor Ariza played uncomfortable in “Batman” role. Playing with Kobe Bryant gave Ariza the ability to watch, and enjoy. On the Rockets Ariza faced double-teams, and teammates watching him. Speaking of Trevor Ariza, I hope he returns next season with some sort of offensive moves. We at theruthsports.com started a drinking game based on Ariza’s game. Every time he travels, shot. He drives in the post and spins on his pivot, shot. Goes for steal and leaves his man wide open, shot. Shoots and misses three pointer, shot. Needless to say we ended this game early in the season due to liver pains.
Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry are two point guards that if combined would be unstoppable. If only Aaron could pass, and command the court like Lowry, and what if Lowry could shoot like Brooks. Last season I thought Brooks was irreplaceable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rockets looked to add another point guard.
The Rockets have a fascinating mix of players, and a general manger in Daryl Morey that can literally turn coal to diamonds, with his mind. With the current cap-space the Rockets will be in the running for Chris Bosh, and Amare Stoudemire. I would also entertain the thought of the Rockets signing David Lee. Alas, all of this fantasy can all be brought back to earth if Yao Ming doesnt return to his former level.
Sadly, the amount of injuries the Rockets have faced over the past five years has destroyed any championship hopes. I can’t help but mention that since the Rockets changed the logo to the “Gothic Rocket” one of the best three players on the team has missed at least 30 games. If anyone gets hurt for significant time next season, I’m starting the petition to return to the old school uniforms and logo. Don’t make me do it HOUSTON!
Kevin Martin scored 28 points, Jared Jeffries and rookie Jordan Hill played key roles down the stretch, and Houston rallied to beat the New York Knicks 116-112 on Sunday.
There is nothing like matinée basketball at Madison Square Garden. The Houston Rockets went up against the New York Knicks in what was Tracy McGrady’s first game against his former team.
Early in the game T-Mac looked to be exacting revenge, playing the entire first quarter and finishing with eight points and five rebounds in helping New York take a 32-17 lead. McGrady finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes, but was scoreless in the fourth. He missed all three shots after asking to re-enter to play 5 minutes in the final period, even though he was already over his average of about 25 a game.
“When you play with some of those guys for five, six years, you definitely want to go out there and compete against them and show them up a little bit,” McGrady said.
Defense was non-existent in this game. Both teams shot over 50% from the floor. The Knicks held a early 17-point lead, but watched the Rockets bench close the gap by halftime.
David Lee apperaed to strike fear in every Rocket finishing with 27 points and 20 boards. Both Danilo Gallinari and Toney Douglas each scored 26, with Douglas making a franchise rookie-record six 3-pointers in the best game of his career. Unfortunatly Douglas had three turnovers in the final minutes that led to 7 straight Rockets points from Aaron Brooks who finished with 16.
Ex-Knicks Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries stole the show in place of Luis Scola(upset stomach) and Shane battier(hyperextended knee). Hill finished with a season-high 13 points, while Jeffries, who had been the Knicks’ best defensive player, stepped in to take some crucial charges in the final quarter.
On Monday Aaron Brooks hit a 3-pointer for the 38th consecutive game, a Houston Rockets franchise record. Aaron is 52 made 3-pointers away from #10th place on the Rockets All-Time made threes list. Aaron leads the NBA in both threes made with 162, and attempted with 423. Gotta love Matt Bullard in the frame.
Nuggets 97 Rockets 92: The Nuggets won for the second straight time without Carmelo Anthony, the NBA’s second-leading scorer, who sat out with a sprained left ankle. The Rockets lost for the eighth time in 12 games, despite yet another dominating start. Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith were enough to beat the sputtering Rockets who have lost a bit of the intensity they had early in the season. Not to point the finger but Trevor Ariza is shooting 13-45 over the three game skid.
Hawks 90 Spurs 105: An old dog never loses its tricks and the Spurs used everyone of those tricks on display in a trouncing of Atlanta. Tim Duncan grabbed a career-high 27 rebounds and scored 21 points, and the San Antonio Spurs ended their three-game slide with a 105-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. It was the first 20-20 game since 2005 for Duncan, who bested his previous career rebounding high of 25, set against Miami in 2003. Jamal Crawford earned his 23rd career 4-point play. Now just one behind Reggie Miller’s NBA record. Whwn the Hawks win and lose BIG!
Lakers 118 Pacers 96: Bynum scored 22 points in the first half. Kobe Bryant took over in the second half and finished with a game-high 29 points to go with nine rebounds and seven assists. Bynum finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Indiana decided to go small and it failed. Times have been rough in Indiana, for basketball at least. The Indianapolis Colts are playing in the Super Bowl next Sunday! Los Angeles doesn’t even have a football team, so…small victories.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Bulls 96 Thunder 86: Derrick Rose scored 26 points, Noah added 13 points and 11 rebounds and the Bulls held the Oklahoma City without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter on their way to a 96-86 victory on Wednesday night. The Truth Sports knew the Del Negro ship would stay afloat. It was Chicago’s fourth straight win — all on the road — after starting the season 4-15 away from the United Center. The Bulls — fresh off wins at Phoenix, Houston and San Antonio — improved to 22-22, returning to .500 for the first time since they were 6-6 on Nov. 21. A disappointing 3 game losing streak that gets tested Friday against the Nuggets….good luck
Heat 103 Raptors 111: Chris Bosh had 24 points and a season-high 18 rebounds,Andrea Bargnani scored 27 points and Raptors played another solid game after beating the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images
“We put (the Lakers game) behind us,” Bosh said. “One thing about a big win, you don’t want to beat a good team and then come back and have a poor performance. You always want to keep the momentum going and I think we’re building some good resistance at home.” Dwyane Wade had 35 points and 10 assists and former Raptors center Jermaine O’Neal scored 22 for Miami, which lost Michael Beasley to a right knee injury. The injury may keep him out of Heats next game against Detroit. Bosh is the onlyRaptors player to start all 46 games this season, and even more appealing to the Heat, and the Rockets, and the…….
Timberwolves 95 Cavaliers 109: Cavs are 9-0 at home against Western Conference teams, if you consider the Timberwolves a team. Just kidding, but this one was a no-brainer. LeBron is dancing in the highlights, and thats never a good sign.
Grizzlies 99 Pistons 93: The Pistons 11-19 (57.9%) free-throw shooting was the only negative output of the game, unfortunately the Grizzlies shot 26-28 (92.9%) from the stripe. The Grizzlies have passed all the wins they had all last season(24). Ben Gordon (groin) missed his 19th game of the season, and Will Bynum (ankle) also sat out for Detroit.
76ers 88 Bucks 91: This game was not watched, yet it was played. Brandon Jennings scored 18 points, hitting a 12-footer with 22 seconds left, and the Bucks held on for a 91-88 win on Wednesday night after the Sixers missed three shots to tie in the final 11 seconds. Iverson finished with six points, all in the first half.
Jazz 106 Trailblazers 95: Here are some mismatch numbers. The Jazz had 19 turnovers the Blazers had 9. Utah shot 60.3 percent from the field, hitting 38 of 63 shots. Portland shot 36.3 percent (33 of 91). Utah led by as many as 26 points during the first half. The Jazz won for the eighth time in nine games and took over second place in the Northwest Division. Carlos Boozer, who scored 14 points, left the game early in the third quarter with a right calf strain and did not return. Can you hear the money slipping through Boozers fingers. It sounds like when Sonic loses his rings.
Hornets 123 Warriors 110: Did you know Stephen Curry is 5th in steals per game, crazy right? Chris Paul scored 38 points to lead five New Orleans starters in double figures. Paul shot 14 for 19 from the field, made all nine of his free-throw tries, dished out nine assists and grabbed six rebounds. Paul is a lock for All-Star reserve. Monta Ellis returned for Golden State after missing the past two games with a sprained right ankle and had 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds. He had been averaging 30.7 points over his previous 16 outings. Hope this doesn’t hurt Monta’s chances of making it to the All-Star Game as a reserve. The roster is to be announced tomorrow.
The Houston Rockets defeated the Dallas Mavericks in OT. Kyle Lowry finished with a career-high 26 points and 10 assists off the bench.
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was ruled out of the remainder of Friday night’s game against Houston after Nowitzki’s elbow caught the Rockets’ Carl Landry in the mouth as he drove to the basket early in the second quarter. Five of Landry’s teeth were cracked on the play, knocking the Rockets’ forward out of the game as well. Landry was called for fouling Nowitzki as the All-Star forward drove hard to his left to set up a short jumper and caught Landry with his right elbow. The Mavericks found pieces of two teeth imbedded in Nowitzki’s right elbow and had to spend 30 minutes cleaning the gash before adminstering X-rays which were found to be negative. The Mavericks have listed him as questionable for Cleveland on Sunday with a deep laceration in his right elbow. An update to his status is expected on Saturday. Landry was immediately taken to an emergency room for treatment. Nowitzki shot two free throws left-handed immediately after the play, which occurred early in the second quarter. By taking the free throws — Nowitzki made 1 of 2 — he remained eligible to return to the game. But a return was ruled out entering the fourth quarter, with Nowitzki having already received three stitches. Carlisle and Dallas’ Erick Dampier received their second technical fouls of the night late in overtime and were ejected. Dallas finished with six technicals and Houston had one. … More than an hour after the game, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said his team was protesting the game because the referees had made “multiple misapplications of the rules” regarding the technical fouls in overtime. The cost of protesting a game is $10,ooo, which to Mark Cuban is like a dime to us mere mortals.
I really hope the Rockets have a good “dental plan” because Landry needs it. On April 24, 2008, Landry lost tooth after being hit by Carlos Boozer during a playoff game, and in that same month lost a tooth after being elowed by Dikembe Mutumbo in practice.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Four of the Celtics’ five losses this season have come on a Friday. Every other day of the week, Boston has posted a .944 win percentage while averaging 10 points more a game. Unfortunately they played the hungry Sixers on Friday, and let a 15 point lead vanish. Leading to a tip in win for the Sixers, there second win in 13 games.
The Celtics played most of the game without Rasheed Wallace, who was ejected in the second quarter after drawing two technicals and having to be restrained by assistant coach Tom Thibodeau. ”Whether he’s right or wrong doesn’t matter. You’ve got to try to control yourself to stay in the game,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “He understands his value to the team, and his teammates understand his value. At some point, they’ll talk to him.” Wallace was ejected for the 30th time in his NBA career — the most for any player since 1992. He also has 10 technicals this season; 16 is an automatic suspension. The Celtics had a pregame ceremony to recognize Ray Allen’s 20,000th point, which came Dec. 10 against Washington. Garnett presented him with the official game ball. He’s the sixth player to reach the milestone as Celtic, and the 33rd in NBA history.
The New Orleans Hornets remember the 58 point beat-down they suffered from the Denver Nuggets in last years playoffs. The first half was a dominant one by the Nuggets, but Chris Paul refused to let his team be embarrased again. Paul finished with 30 points, a season-high 19 assists and nine rebounds, most of it coming during a sensational second half that helped the Hornets overcome a deficit that reached 15 points in the second quarter. ”This is what you play for,” Paul said. “Our coach told us before the game, ‘When you lose to a team in the playoffs, it’s always a rivalry.’ And this team embarrassed us when we played here last year. We definitely wanted this one. Yes, it’s just one win. But we really wanted to beat those guys.” Paul has seven straight double-doubles since returning from his left ankle sprain.
Gilbert Arenas had season highs with 45 points and 13 assists and the Washington Wizards ended a six-game losing streak, beating the Golden State Warriors 118-109 Friday night.
After hearing earlier this week that the seven time All-Star Yao Ming was concerned about his foot, and contemplating retirement. I decided to reach out to Yao and give him some encouraging advice.
The Houston Rockets have ten games left on a grueling, injury filled season. Six of the last ten games are on the road in places like Phoenix, San Antonio, and Boston. The Rockets also sit eight games out of the playoffs. Sadly it’s time (well it could have been time weeks ago) to put up the “NEXT SEASON” signs.
Lakers 118 Pacers 96: Bynum scored 22 points in the first half. 
