Monday, September 28, 2009

And We're Off!

I love this day. Media Day is the day before training camp starts. Everybody looks great, everybody has an excellent chance to make the team and everybody loves everybody else. The Rockets have a great nucleus, outstanding young prospects and they're going to win many games by running more this year.

I'll come down and be realistic later. Let me enjoy this euphoria. I love basketball.

One interesting note, the Rockets will be the first team in NBA history to spend some of their training camp with their minor league affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Sandwiched around their first pre-season game in San Antonio on October 6th, they'll practice in McAllen on the 4th and 5th and play a game there against the Celtics in Dodge Arena on Wednesday, the 7th. I wish I could make the trip, that would be fun!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Rockets Sign 1st Round Draft Choice

OK, it wasn't their first-round draft choice or even this year's draft. Rashad McCants, the 14th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Rockets on Thursday.

McCants was drafted by Minnesota after helping the North Carolina Tarheels to a national championship in his junior year. He suffered injuries in his first couple of seasons with the Timberwolves and following microfracture surgery, never played up to expectations. His stats have been consistently mediocre throughout his years in the league. He had a reputation coming out of college as a head case and his NBA career has yet to belie that impression. In the middle of his fourth season with Minnesota, he wore out his welcome and was traded to Sacramento. The Kings could have resigned him for a song this off-season, but elected not to even submit an offer. It might be interesting to note when the Kings show up on the Rockets schedule to see if Rashad has any hard feelings. I recommend an interesting interview with McCants by Robbi Pickeral at newsobserver.com: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/mccants-wants-to-change-perception

I'm all for giving guys second chances, but is this what the Rockets really need? I guess if they're going to sign him, now is the time to do it, while they have a full training camp to look at him and they didn't have to guarantee any money. OK, Rashad, here's your chance. Don't screw it up.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Congratulations Daryl!

Here's to the best general manager in the history of Houston sports. I have followed the Astros, Oilers, Texans and Rockets since each team came into existence and have yet to see anyone who made as many right moves as Daryl Morey. He is respected on the team and around the league.

I applaud Les Alexander's decision to extend Morey's contract, as officially announced today. As always, terms of the contract were not made public, but I hope you got a big raise, Daryl. You've earned it!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

White to Denver

Apparently trying to pare down their guard roster, the Rockets today traded high-scoring G/F James White to Denver for the rights to Axel Hervelle, a 6-9 power forward from Belgium. White did great things in the D-League with Anaheim, but the Rockets had him low in the pecking order at the big league level. Only the Rockets' brass knows why he was traded and no NBA front office people reveal things like that. Perhaps that's out of kindness to the player or perhaps they just don't want to give away a free scouting report.

Axel Hervelle was drafted in the second round by Denver in the 2005 draft and has been playing in Spain ever since. Hervelle averaged 8.3 points and 5 rebounds per game last year for Real Madrid and is likely to stay there next year as well. He is a teammate of Sergio Llull, one of Houston's three 2nd round draft choices this year.

Thank goodness the Rockets landed another power forward. They were down to their last five. This is another trade that I don't completely understand. I have to assume that the team knew that White had no chance whatsoever to make the Rockets basketball roster this season and decided to get something for him in return, something that cost them nothing. Or maybe they were just being nice guys and wanted to give James a chance to succeed somewhere else.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Leslie Wine

Yao Ming is here to stay, at least as long as he has any hope whatsoever of returning to the court for the Rockets. There's just too much money in China for Les Alexander to ignore.

Here's a small example of what I mean. Les bought property in North Fork, Long Island in 2001 and has been cultivating grapes and making wine there ever since. He brought in some high-powered wine advisers to get just the right French vines for the climate and to plant and nuture them correctly. To exemplify his love of the wine, in his divorce settlement from his wife Nanci, they split 600 bottles of the wine and he got his half in 100 bottle increments only when he made his annual divorce settlement payments. I said all that to say this: he is selling Leslie Wine exclusively in China.

Leslie Alexander is one of the 400 wealthiest people on the planet, with a net worth of $1.2 billion. He knows where money is and how to get it - and Yao Ming is the door to the mine. If not, maybe Les would be giving away a case of wine with every Rockets season ticket sold.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Stocking Up for Camp

The Rockets began to prepare for training camp by agreeing to (but not yet signing) contracts with Will Conroy and Garrett Temple. Both guards played well enough for the Rockets' summer league team to earn an extended look.

Will Conroy, an inner-city kid from Seattle, played college ball at the University of Washington and remains good friends with teammate Brandon Roy. He still holds the school record for career assists. Signed by the Lakers after going undrafted, he was released before the season began. Since then, he has played for two teams in Italy, three D-League teams, had ten-day contracts with the Clippers and Memphis and went through a training camp with the Bobcats. On paper the guy looks great, averaging 26.5 points, 8 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2 steals per game for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds last season. That sounds like all-star point guard numbers until you look a little deeper and see the 4.2 turnovers per game he commited, indicating poor decision-making skills. The other raps on Conroy are that he is only 6'2" tall, just an average outside shooter and though he plays strong one-on-one defense, his team defense is lacking. Playing with 9 teams in four years may have something to do with the latter issue. His best hope for making the cut with the Rockets is that he is a good passer, especially in transition, and the Rockets plan to run this year.

Garrett Temple played four years for LSU, but was bypassed in this year's draft. Apparently the Rockets' coaching staff saw something in him in the summer league that does not show up on the stat sheets. The numbers only show an abundance of turnovers and fouls in limited action. His college stats are not much more impressive. In his senior year, he scored 7 ppg on 36% shooting, with 4.5 rpg and 3.8 apg. If your glass is half-full, he is a well-rounded player. If you tend to pessimism, he can't do anything extremely well. What the stats don't show is that he is an outstanding defender, but that's not likely to be enough for him to make the final roster.

Of the two, Conroy is the one with a slim chance of making the team this year, but in reality, neither is likely to make it to the NBA Finals with the Rockets. Both are probably candidates for the Vipers of the NBADL. I hope they speak Spanish.

One interesting note about Temple: Thirty five years ago, his father, Collis Temple, Jr., was the first black player to take the court for LSU. The National Guard was on hand for games to prevent trouble from segregationists. Fortunately, Press Maravich (Pistol-Pete's dad) was the coach at the time and made sure that Collis was welcomed. In 2006, his son, Garrett Temple, made it to the Final Four with LSU as a starting guard in an all-black lineup. That speaks volumes about how far we have come in this country, thanks to brave pioneers like Collis Temple and Press Maravich. Anyone who believes that breaking that barrier didn't take courage was not alive in 1971 in Louisiana.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Up Tempo

Can we actually believe it this time? Every year on every team in the league, owners and coaches give lip service to grooming the team to be more "up tempo" this year. They sign a couple of young speedsters and claim they want to run the court this season. I guess it sells more tickets than saying, "Come watch us win 80-79". So why is this year any different?

For one thing, Rick Adelman has always been a running coach. He was saddled with a plodding team when he took over the Rockets, partly because that's what his predecessor espoused and partly because his best player can't run very fast. So with Yao Ming on the shelf for the next season, what better time for Adelman to finally play his game. They drafted players that can run and traded for Trevor Ariza, who they believe will thrive on the move.

More importantly, the edict has come from on top. Les Alexander stated for the record today:

"For eight years I have wanted to move to a running style of play. If you play good defense and run consistently you are tough to beat as your edge in easy baskets is difficult for the opposition to overcome. The basketball staff this year from the first day of training camp will put in place a top notch running game."

Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say.

I have never loved Les Alexander and I don't really even know why, although those pajama uniforms in the nineties are reason enough. I am, however, the first to admit that I've never heard him lie. Also, he sets goals, then gives his general manager and coaches the latitude to achieve them. I also concede that he has never failed to spend money to make moves that he believes will get the Rockets into the playoffs. What more can one ask of an owner? Maybe it's where he comes from or the accent. Or maybe I've just watched too many salsa commercials (Neeew Jer-sey????!!!!). OK, Les, you've earned some respect. I'll clean the slate and start trying to love you. Especially if the Rockets really do increase the tempo this season

Thursday, September 3, 2009

More on the NBADL

A few interesting facts about the NBA Development League:

There are 17 teams in the D-League, geographically spread pretty evenly across the country. The only area without a team is the southeast. Texas has the most teams of any state with three. These are the DL teams, their cities and their NBA affiliates:

Albuquerque Thunderbirds (Albuquerque, NM) - Mavs, Hornets
Austin Toros (Austin, TX) - Spurs
Bakersfield Jam (Bakersfield, CA) - Warriors, Clippers
Dakota Wizards (Bismark, ND) - Grizzlies, Wizards
Erie Bayhawks (Erie, PA) - Cavaliers, Raptors
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Fort Wayne, IN) - Pistons, Pacers, Bucks
Texas ??? (Frisco, TX) - Up to 3 teams TBA
Idaho Stampede (Boise, ID) - Blazers, Nuggets
Iowa Energy (De Moines, IA) - Bulls, Suns
L.A. D-Fenders (El Segundo, CA) - Lakers
Maine Red Claws (Portland, ME) - Celtics, Bobcats
Reno Bighorns (Reno, NV) - Magic, Kings
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (McAllen, TX) - Rockets
Sioux Falls Skyforce (Sioux Falls, SD) - Heat, Timberwolves
Springfield Armor (Springfield, MA) - Nets, Knicks, 76ers
Tulsa 66ers (Tulsa, OK) - Thunder
Utah Flash (Provo, UT) - Hawks, Jazz

D-League schedules are more like baseball than basketball. The teams often travel to a city and stay for several days, playing the home team two or even three times during the stay. Back-to-back games are very common.

All NBA D-League games are broadcast free on the net on NBA Futurecast.

The D-League playoff format is interesting. Eight teams make the playoffs. In the first round, the three division leaders get to choose who they want to play from among the other five playoff teams. Imagine how much fun that would be in the NBA! Who would the Lakers have chosen last year from among the Rockets, Blazers, Mavs, Jazz and Hornets?

On April 24, the Colorado 14ers defeated the Utah Flash to become the 2008-09 league champions. Former Rocket John Lucas Jr. had 17 points and 5 assists for Colorado. The champs have since been bought by Donnie Nelson (son of Don and President of Basketball Operations for the Dallas Mavericks) and moved to Frisco, TX, just north of Dallas. The team will be called Texas, but the nickname has yet to be decided.

OK, the NBADL is a long way from Toyota Center, but I find the migration of the NBA toward a serious farm system to be exciting. Bear with me.