Pre-season Progress Report

Houston has a problem. Make that several problems: inexperience, inconsistency and a general lack of star quality. Let's address these one at a time.

In the last couple of years, Houston has gone from one of the most veteran teams in the league to one of the youngest. This was out of necessity in many ways. When Yao went out for the season and Tracy's career became iffy, the team was faced with a decision. They could acquire a decent player or two through trade or free agency or rebuild with younger players with potential and hope to get lucky with a couple of them. Then when Tracy's contract expires and Yao returns healthy next season, sign a superstar to complete the picture. If Tracy comes back healthy, he could be that superstar. I agreed with the choice they made, especially since the only good players available in free agency were overpriced and any trade possibilites were for mediocre players with long-term contracts.

The inconsistency is to be expected with all the personnel changes. Adelman is not only trying to integrate important pieces into the puzzle, he's not sure yet which pieces to use. There are seven "bigs" on the roster and except for Landry and Scola, none have stood out. Without a true center, all of the big men will have to be flexible enough to play either position, at least at times. There are also six "wings" to man the small forward/shooting guard position and again, only Battier and Ariza are sure bets to make the squad. Then there's the question of how many point guards to carry. Brooks and Lowry are sure things, but since none of the wings are profficient at the point, do they keep Conroy for insurance? In six pre-season games, Brooks has started five, but no other player has started more than three. Eleven players are averaging between 7.4 and 12.3 ppg, with no one over that. With all the experimentation Rick Adelman has had to do to find his team, inconsistency in the natural result.

Analyzing the talent pool is not that hard. Only four of the Rockets were drafted in the first round and three of those were taken with the 24th pick or higher. Only Shane Battier was considered a blue-chip player at #6, and he is getting a little banged up and long in the tooth. All of the Rockets have talent, but few are well-rounded. A starting lineup of Andersen, Scola, Battier, Ariza and Brooks is not very intimidating on paper and their backups all have holes in their games. The draft is hardly infallible, but it is a good indication of overall ability and the Rockets come up way short.

With all the problems listed above, the Rockets do have a couple of advantages. Their front office and coaching staff are among the best in the league. If anyone can pull this team together, it is Rick Adelman. He has made a career of making mediocre teams good. Can he make them great? Sorry. Not this year. But let's hope he can at least make them fun to watch.