By: Dustin Chapman

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• Selected Nicolas Batum 25th overall and traded his rights to Portland for the rights to Darrell Arthur (27th overall) and Joey Dorsey (33rd overall).

• Traded the rights to forward Darrell Arthur to Memphis for the rights to Donte Greene (28th overall) and a future second round draft pick.

• Selected Maarty Leunen 54th overall.

After an interesting sequence of trades, the Rockets did a great job of getting great value with each pick. First and foremost, Donte Greene fell from projected lottery pick status, and is well-worth the risk near the end of the first round. He’s got a lot to learn and a lot of growing up to do, but his size and upside is undeniable. Houston will be able to bring him along slowly, where he’ll get outstanding tutelage on both ends of the floor from Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, and head coach Rick Adelman.

Houston has been a team that has also lacked a reliable defensive presence off the bench up front. They’ve now gotten that in Joey Dorsey, who is perhaps Ben Wallace-light. Adding Dorsey to the mix allows Dikembe Mutombo to return without much burden, on account of Yao Ming’s shaky health.

Grade: B

From The Houston Chronicle:

That one player isn’t going to fall to the Rockets when they pick 25th in the upcoming draft. Morey is confident, though, that the Rockets can land a rotation player in that spot. It just might not be next season’s rotation.

Don’t look for much help from the free-agent market, because re-signing Carl Landry won’t leave them much below the luxury tax level.

“We’re probably going to have to upgrade through trade,” Morey said, “as opposed to free agency.”

The Celtics got well in a hurry when Danny Ainge swung a seven-for-one deal to pry Kevin Garnett from Minnesota and packaged the No. 5 overall pick to Seattle for Ray Allen.

Just like that, the Celtics had two All-Stars to complement long-suffering Paul Pierce.

The Lakers, for their part, became instant contenders shortly before the trade deadline when the Memphis Grizzlies gave the gift of Pau Gasol.

Bryant can’t win a championship alone, but Gasol and Lamar Odom give him plenty of playmaking company.

“We’re really focused on being able to upgrade for next year’s playoffs,” Morey said. “Don’t judge the team on Oct. 1. We think we’ve got a lot of assets that a lot of teams want — a lot of ways to upgrade. Often the best opportunities to use those come at trade deadlines.”

It will be interesting to see what kind of players Morey and the gang will covet. Clearly, Houston needs an upgrade at the power forward position, as well as a stronger and more reliable bench.

An intriguing trade asset that they will have to dangle is Bobby Jackson’s approximate $6.1 million expiring contract, which could be packaged with young role players (such as Luther Head, Aaron Brooks, Chuck Hayes, etc.) and/or draft picks to appease opposing teams.

Outside of that, however, it’s tough to imagine many teams banging on the door for Houston’s spare parts. Morey may have to make a bold move in order to bring something of helpful value. Keep your eyes peeled.

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Posted By: Dustin Chapman

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that Rockets forward Shane Battier will forgo his chances to participate in the 2008 Olympics with Team USA.

With his rehabilitation from last week’s ankle surgery expected to extend well into July, Rockets forward Shane Battier said on Wednesday that he will no longer be a candidate for the United States Olympic team that will compete in Beijing beginning Aug. 8.

“I just got off the crutches today,” Battier said. “After talking to Dr. (Tom) Clanton, I won’t start running until after July 4. There is a (USA Basketball) minicamp the last weekend in June. If you can’t play in the minicamp, you probably can’t make the team, so that that probably means the decision has been made.

“It’s disappointing. At the same time, I was honored to be considered. I feel good about what USA Basketball has done. I think they’ll be a great team and win the gold medal.”

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Battier, 29, said he does not plan to play internationally in other events.

“I think I will move on,” Battier said. “It was a great experience for me. But with my family and my off-court commitment growing, they will get my undivided attention.”

Battier, known as one of the better defensive players in the league, was named to the NBA’s 2007-2008 All-Defensive Second Team this season. The seven-year veteran held averages of 9.3 points, 5.1 rebounds (his most since joining the Rockets in 2006), 2.1 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game to go with those defensive credentials.

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Posted By: Dustin Chapman

“It is what it is,'’ said McGrady after another first round exit, making it seven straight post-seasons where his team has failed to advance. Despite being “a one-man wrecking ball out there'’ as described by Rockets forward Shane Battier, Tracy McGrady and the Rockets were bounced out by the Utah Jazz in six games. Despite having won game 5 by 26 points forcing a game 6, the Rockets came out cold from the start and never really got themselves going. Their only run came late in the second quarter, were the Rockets, in large part due to 28 first half points by McGrady were able to erase a 16 point Utah lead, and bring it to one just before half time before Okur hit a 3 to stretch the Utah lead back to 4. However, after halftime the Rockets lost all momentum they had gained and were outplayed on both sides of the court. Despite McGrady’s 40 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists the Rockets lost by 22.

Despite the loss the Rockets were positive about their future, not a surprise considering that this team was not supposed to make the playoffs after Yao went down halfway through their historic 22 game winning streak; much less force a game 6 against one of the contenders in the West.

From here the Rockets can only move forward. With a healthy Yao next year the Rockets will have another scorer accompanying McGrady, taking some of the focus of the shooting guard star. However, the Rockets do not to address certain needs. This series showed that the Rockets still need a relievable back-up point guard, as it is obvious that Bobby Jackson is no longer the player he once was. The Rockets also need to find another shooter, as they were unable to knock down open 3 point shots this series. Luther Head struggled dramatically this series leaving his future roll up in the air, and unless Steve Novak learns how to play defense anytime soon, he will continue to play limited minutes.

-TMG

HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets signed Dikembe Mutombo to a one-year contract on Monday, extending the 41-year-old center’s NBA career into a 16th season.

Mutombo:

“I’m going to enjoy every second and every minute of my last year in the NBA,” he said. “I hope my farewell tour will be a nice memorable one.”

The 7-foot-2, 260-pound Mutombo ended up playing a pivotal role for Houston last season, when Yao Ming broke a bone in his right leg and missed 33 games. Mutombo started in his place and averaged five points, 10 rebounds and 1.45 blocks.

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Great News for the Rockets. The rockets look ready to take the next step this year as they made a few moves in the off-season to get a lil better. Keeping Mutombo allows that to happen. Would be awesome to send the bigman out of top with a ring wouldn’t it?

With the 26th pick the 2007 NBA draft, The Houston Rockets select Aaron Brooks from Oregon. I gotta tell you guys man, I was suprised, but wasn’t as pissed as last year when we traded Rudy Gay for Shane Battier. I was pissed at the fact that we didn’t pick a PF like Big Baby Glen Davis. And I’m sure most Rocket fans were suprised with this pick also. I didn’t know nothing about this guy, I thought he would be another one of those rookies that only lasts a few years in the league. But when Summer League came up I was excited to see him and Landry(our PF from the draft) play. And when I saw they’re first game against the Clippers, All I can is Wow…I was totally wrong about this guy. Brooks got to the line, got some pull up jumpers, got some 3pointers and was playmaking. He reminds me of Allen Iverson. All the games the Rockets played in the SL I was impressed by Brooks. His athleticism is crazy too, going up for an alley oop, Blocking Brandon Bass with his elbow. His play in the summer league brought him Rookie of the Month. I still think he should’ve got MVP over Nate Robinson. This upcoming season I hope he can get some minutes behind Stevie and Mike James, he probably will though since Adelman wanted speed and Brooks is very quick. We fixed our PF problem signing Luis Scola and Chuck Hayes, but I think Darryl Morrey should trade for a solid PF like Udonis Haslem or Drew Gooden. He should trade Rafer too…He needs to be gone.

On Wednesday night, the Rockets did not have Tracy McGrady or, of course, Yao Ming in their home game vs. Phoenix. This was the first time all season long the Rockets have played a game without both of their stars. Result: a 9 point home loss to one of the hottest teams in the league, the Phoenix Suns. Houston shot the ball just 39% and they only got to the free throw line 12 times. The final score was 100-91.

Two-time MVP Steve Nash filled up the stat sheet in this game with 21 points, 14 assists, and 4 rebounds on 8 of 10 shooting. He is strongly making a push for a 3rd straight MVP award. Leading the team in scoring for Phoenix was Amare Stoudemire, who score 22 big ones as well as grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 3 shots. Shawn Marion racked up another double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Raja Bell ended up nailing 5 of 10 from three point territory, as he finished the game with 15 points and 9 rebounds. The Suns played just two guys off the bench: Leandro Barbosa and James Jones. Barbosa went for 20 points off the bench as Jones nailed a couple treys, ending with 6.

No McGrady and no Yao, somebody has to take on the scoring load, right? Rafer Alston did, scoring 29 points and dishing 8 assists, but it wasn’t enough. Starting in place of McGrady was Luther Head, who nailed 4 of 9 from deep as he scored 16 and grabbed 5 boards. Shane Battier also hit 4 three’s, but he only took 5 of them, as he finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Dikembe Mutombo didn’t put up double-digit rebounding numbers in this one, but he did manage to grab 8 of them as well as score 4 points. Juwan Howard had one of his worst offensive games of the year, shooting just 2 of 10 from the floor. The Rockets bench was horrible from the field, as they shot a combined 9-26, “led” by John Lucas, who shot just 3-13 including just 1-6 from deep.
Some good news, however, is that Bonzi Wells did return to the lineup. Wells played 17 minutes in the game and came up with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and even 2 blocks.

Player of the Game: Rafer Alston

29 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists

On Tuesday night, the Rockets traveled to Dallas to face off against a top MVP candidate in Dirk Nowitzki, and the Dallas Mavericks (who have the best record in the league). Despite an amazing 45 point performance from Tracy McGrady, the Rockets fell short on the road in Dallas, ending their winning streak in a 109-96 loss. To make matters worse, McGrady left the game and headed to the locker room at the end of the game due to a sore back.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 30, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished 6 assists, and hit all 10 of his free throw attempts. Nowitzki is hands down one of the best players in the NBA. Young star Josh Howard kept up his strong play, scoring 28 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Deaven George and Jerry Stackhouse were very effective off the bench for Dallas, as George scored 14 and grabbed 6 rebounds, while Stackhouse scored 13. Jason Terry was not his normal self in this game, shooting just 3 of 10 and going for just 7 points. He did, however, hand out 8 assists and grab 4 rebounds. Erick Dampier ended the game with 9 points and 9 rebounds.

Tracy McGrady was on fire from the start, scoring 21 of his 45 points in the first quarter. Aside from the 45 points, McGrady also grabbed 5 rebounds and came up with 7 helpers. Juwan Howard was the Rockets’ second leading scorer with 16, as he shot 5 of 11 and grabbed 6 rebounds. Rafer Alston managed to nail 4 of 5 from beyond the arc to end up with 12 points and 5 assists. Dikembe Mutombo had yet another double-digit rebounding effort with 10, as he also blocked 2 shots and scored 3 points. Shane Battier and Luther Head had rough shooting nights, as they combined for 4-17 shooting.

Player of the Game: Tracy McGrady

45 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists

Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy on the matter: “It’s going to be a long time. To put a timetable on it wouldn’t be fair to him or us. You won’t see him there (in Las Vegas.) “

On Friday night, the Rockets traveled to Denver to face AI and the Nuggets. Steve Blake made his Nuggets debut in this game, as he was just traded from Milwaukee in a deal for Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge, and did a great job. Neither team in this game played as well as they usually do, but Houston ended up with the 4 point victory, 90-86, due to some clutch plays (especially from Shane Battier).

Allen Iverson started this game off on fire, but wasn’t as effective in the second half, yet he still played a solid game. Iverson ended the game with 28 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Marcus Camby hit just 3 of his 10 shot attempts, but he managed to pull down a ridiculous 24 rebounds. Steve Blake, who made his Nuggets debut in this game, played very well. He played under control and he knocked down his shots, as well as set up his teammates nicely. Blake went for 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists in his Nuggets debut, on 5-8 shooting, including 3-5 from deep. J.R. Smith and Yakhouba Diawara were ice cold from the floor tonight. Smith shot 4-17, going for 11 points, while Diawara shot 5-14. However, that 5-14 includes 3 of 12 from three point land. Diawara finished with 13 points on horrid shooting, but he did do a good job defensively on Tracy McGrady. Nene shot just 2 of 8, as he ended up with 8 points and 7 rebounds off the bench.

For Houston, Shane Battier was the hero tonight. McGrady shot poorly and Yao obviously wasn’t in action, but Battier really stepped up tonight, especially late in the game. He finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals on 7-13 shooting, including 5 of 9 from deep. McGrady shot just 5 of 17, as he really struggled shooting the ball, but he did make some excellent setup plays. He finished with just 12 points, but also 8 rebounds and 11 assists. Dikembe Mutombo had another double digit rebounding effort, as he scored 7 points, grabbed 10 boards, and blocked 4 shots. Juwan Howard had a solid offensive night, as he finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Rafer Alston had yet another horrible shooting night, shooting just 5 of 15, as he ended the game with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Luther Head hit a few deep shots as well, as he went for 15 points and 3 rebounds off the bench.

Player of the Game: Shane Battier

25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 5-9 3FG