James Harden scored 24 points and matched a career high with 12 assists, Patrick Patterson added 22 points and the Houston Rockets beat the Toronto Raptors 117-101 on Tuesday night.
Nov 282012
Nov 272012
HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden scored 24 points and matched a career high with 12 assists, Patrick Patterson added 22 points and the Houston Rockets beat the Toronto Raptors 117-101 on Tuesday night.
Nov 232012
It wasn’t Linsanity that got the Knicks but rather their unwillingness to defend, rebound and above all else maintain their composure. From a Knicks perspective, this was insanity and embarrassing in every way imaginable. Unless, of course, you consider Carmelo Anthony’s allowing Patrick Patterson a clear path to the basket because Anthony was too busy arguing with referee Curtis Blair.
Nov 212012
HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden scored 28 points, Patrick Patterson added 20 and the Houston Rockets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 93-89 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
Nov 212012
HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden scored 28 points, Patrick Patterson added 20 and the Houston Rockets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 93-89 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
Oct 292012
Why the Houston Rockets view James Harden as a max player … Patrick Patterson believes he has earned the right to start … Joakim Noah has faith in the Chicago Bulls …
Jul 202012
Mike Dunlap is ahead of the curve thanks to coaching his summer league team… Wilson Chandler ready to make a playoff push… Patrick Patterson talks about the Rockets situation.
Jul 132012
The Houston Rockets are making a bold move to get Orlando Magic big man Dwight Howard, but the team is taking an unnecessary amount of risk.
Marc Stein and Chad Ford reported that the team’s plans to cut power forward Luis Scola are part of a strategy to clear cap space and put together a package to land the All-NBA center.
Stein and Ford note that the Rockets would give the Magic cap relief, young players and draft picks in exchange for Howard. The article provides all the details of the complicated deal:
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is feverishly trying to construct a trade that will allow the Rockets to take back, in addition to Howard, some combination of Richardson, Davis, Duhon and Hedo Turkoglu.
Sources say the Rockets would have to send Kevin Martin, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris and Chandler Parsons to the Magic from their current roster to make the salary-cap math work, as well the draft rights to Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones, all selected in last month’s first round.
But Houston, sources say, is also offering multiple first-round picks to the Magic, including a potential lottery pick acquired this week from Toronto in the Kyle Lowry deal.
The Rockets are essentially swapping rosters with Orlando. If this deal goes down, almost no one who was in Houston last season will still be there.
Houston had 13 players appear in 25 or more games this past season. Of those players, Lowry was traded, Scola will be cut, Goran Dragic signed with the Phoenix Suns, Courtney Lee had his qualifying offer withdrawn, Jonny Flynn was traded for Marcus Camby midseason, Camby was traded to the New York Knicks, Samuel Dalembert and Chase Budinger were traded for draft picks, Jordan Hill was traded to the Lakers midseason, Terrence Williams was waived in March and the other players would be sent to Orlando if this deal goes down.
Is your head spinning yet? Daryl Morey’s must be.
The team’s building blocks would be Howard, who is coming off back surgery and refuses to commit to a long-term deal, and three players whom the Magic have been desperately trying to cut loose.
The team has made offers to Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, as noted in Stein and Ford’s article, both of whom are unrestricted free agents. But even if they land one or both of these players, they still will not have a championship-caliber roster.
Howard is an incredible player. When healthy, he is the most dominant force in basketball besides LeBron James.
His skill set allows him to dominate the paint like no other player in the NBA. He is the best center in the league, and no other player is even close.
However, he will be the only elite player on the Houston roster and will almost certainly bolt after just one season.
Houston would be bringing Howard into the exact same situation he is currently in with Orlando. The center will be in a city he does not like with a team that cannot win a championship.
Morey must feel sorry for the headache Magic general manager Rob Hennigan has to deal with over this summer. Yet he would simply be recreating the situation for himself by pulling off this deal.
Once Howard is in Houston, there may be a slight chance that he is convinced to stay long-term, but these drastic moves are not even close to being worth that risk.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Jul 132012
The Houston Rockets are offering up the world in exchange for Dwight Howard, but in return, all they’re getting is a player who can’t do everything it takes to win a title all by himself.
Howard proved as much in Orlando over the last eight years. What makes the Rockets think it’s going to be a different story in Houston?
According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and Chad Ford, the Rockets are working on a new trade proposal that would bring Howard to Houston from Orlando, accompanied by the long-term contracts of Jason Richardson, Glen Davis and Chris Duhon. In exchange, Orlando would get “multiple future first-round picks and recent draftees,” which would essentially give the Magic the opportunity to start all over once Howard’s gone.
Basically, the Rockets are attempting to bring the most expensive players on the Magic roster to Houston and hoping for a different outcome in a new city, while shipping all of their hopes of a bright future in one big package to Orlando.
According to the same report from ESPN.com, the Rockets would give the Magic:
—Kevin Martin, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris and Chandler Parsons
—Draft rights to 2012 first-round selections Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones
—Future first-round picks
The Rockets are willing to give all that up in exchange for a player who, most likely, won’t sign a contract extension with them. It’s a big sacrifice to make for what will essentially end up being one shot at winning a title.
Then, there’s the fact that the formula that included Howard, Richardson, Davis and Duhon in Orlando didn’t produce a championship.
Not even close.
That formula isn’t going to result in any different of an outcome in Houston, no matter how magical Kevin McHale’s powers might be.
As we’ve seen from moves the Heat, the Celtics and the Lakers have made over the last five or six years, you need more than one superstar in order to compete in the NBA these days. There’s no superstar waiting for Howard in Houston who will help him build a championship contender. The Rockets—even if they acquire Howard—will still be a long way off from competing for an NBA title.
Once they give away all their worthwhile young players and their future first-round picks, the Rockets will be even further off.
Except at that point, they’ll be saddled with giant, worthless veteran contracts, too.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Jul 022012
Former Chicago Bulls center Omer Asik has verbally agreed on a three-year, $25.1 million deal with the Houston Rockets, according to ESPN‘s Marc Stein. For a player who has only started two games in the NBA, Asik got a great contract. As for the Rockets, not so much.
Houston GM Daryl Morey shelled out millions for an under-performing big man, and the poor business decision will come back to bite the franchise.
Asik—a Portland Trailblazers second-round draft pick in 2008—has played in 148 regular-season games with the Bulls. That said, he has averaged a mere 13.2 minutes and 2.9 career points per game.
The Rockets became enamored with the 7-foot, 255-pound Turkish native because the team is still trying to fill the void left by Yao Ming.
Houston threw their hat into the ring in attempt to acquire disgruntled Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, cites Yahoo.com‘s Adrian Wojnarowski. Nonetheless, the Howard sweepstakes is another issue in itself.
For the time being, the Asik agreement acts as some sort of security blanket. Which is ironic because his production-to-cost ratio is actually quite risky.
Currently, the only centers on the Rockets roster are youngsters Patrick Patterson and Greg Smith. That paint presence is very thin, and consequently, Asik seemed like the only answer early on in free agency.
The organization sees a 25-year-old who hasn’t reached his prime. Although, it’s hard to argue that Asik’s abilities warranted such a lucrative pay day.
Raw offensively, Asik has shot 52 percent from the field, but just 48 percent from the charity stripe. He must establish himself as an option in the paint, otherwise defenders will cheat off of him.
Taking the bad with the good, Asik has averaged .8 blocks and 4.4 rebounds per contest. He’s capable but unspectacular doing the dirty work and that’s his strongest asset—besides height.
Asik’s new contract won’t be signed until at least July 11. Once the papers are inked, Chicago will have three days to match it. However, that wouldn’t be logical from a financial standpoint.
Yahoo.com‘s Wojnarowski assessed the dynamics of Asik’s prospective offer sheet:
The Rockets have tried to acquire Asik in a trade for over a year, but finally forced the Bulls to have to commit to more than $8 million annually to keep him. The contract is back-loaded, and Asik’s salary in the third season of the deal would hit Chicago’s books at $15 million.
Logging roughly one quarter of available minutes per game does not translate to $25 million. But apparently, the Rockets thought it did.
If Asik is going to be paid top starter money, he must be prepared to play like one. If not, this move will ricochet on the Rockets and Daryl Morey.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com