Season Preview: Houston Rockets

You've gotten so used to this that I don't need an intro anymore.

Houston Rockets

Starting 5:
PG- Rafer Alston
SG- Tracy McGrady
SF- Shane Battier
PF- Ron Artest
C- Yao Ming

Off the bench
Guards: Brent Barry, Luther Head, Steve Francis, Aaron Brooks, DJ Strawberry
Forwards: Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, Mike Harris
Centers: Dikembe Mutumbo

This might be the year, the curse of Tracy McGrady might be broken. For those of that don't know, it's simply that every team that McGrady has been on, has never made it past the first round of the playoffs. The closest he's gotten was on Orlando, after blowing a 3-1 series lead to the eventual championship Detroit Pistons. That being said, the addition of Ron Artest was a solid acquisition, on paper at the very least. Everyone and myself have already covered this trade to death when it happened so I won't go into it too much. I see Adleman going with Artest at the 4, he has the strength and defensive tenacity to guard the big guys in the low post, of course, one issue that comes to light and may potentially be a problem is that Artest isn't really much of a rebounder, perhaps he just hasn't had much of an opportunity to, usually playing the 3, we'll see if that pans out, maybe start Shane Battier at the 4? I don't know, for some reason that prospect doesn't sit very well with me.

Regardless of that in adding Artest you add a guy who can score from pretty much anywhere on the court, so you don't have to bank on Rafer Alston getting hot, though if he does improve on last season that'll be an added bonus. It's something of a relief to have a proven scorer given Yao's fragile feet and T-Mac's chronic back. What makes Artest an even better add is that he's a true two-way player, he's mostly known for his defensive tenacity (that and knocking the lights out of fans), so for an already defensively solid team, they get defensively better, and Adleman can just continue to adapt his offense leave the Jeff Van Gundy defense in place. Of course, we always have to be leery of Ron Artest whenever he's not playing basketball, most renown for his rumble and subsequent suspension in the Palace at Detroit, Artest's off-the-court antics and locker-room presence have always been something of a warning sign for most teams. These have had a tendency to carry over into his attitude on the court as well. We'll see if he can get along well enough with Yao and T-Mac and live with playing 3rd fiddle to them. Hopefully he doesn't break the offense.

They haven't resolved the Carl Landry situation yet, but I don't know that that's that big of an issue. I think their team is fine as it is, despite the glut of guards. They're a solid unit, and this team is one of the cases where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If they can keep up that level of play that got them their record win streak, then I think they'll be a serious threat this year.

Another 50+ win season, I say likewise upwards of 57-58 wins. I'm gonna say 2nd round, just for T-Mac.