Josh Dhani is a weekly writer for NBATipoff.com.
With Yao Ming’s injury, he may stay with Houston and the injury will heal so he can start playing again…or the injury will take a huge impact on his NBA career which would force him to leave and there’ll never be a taller basketball player that’s actually pretty good like Ming himself ever again.
Is it possible that the Rockets can survive with the Great Wall of China gone for good? Possibly. With some plans I have seen from John Hollinger of ESPN and some plans I have come up with, there is a bright light of hope that can make the Rockets a hungry-playoff team coming into next season.
This is the talk, the NBA Talk that is.
The Rockets have battled with injuries many times. Mostly with their two superstars in Ming and Tracy McGrady. When T-Mac and Ming were out in the 2006-2007 season but they made the playoffs, eventually losing in the first round.
In the 2007-2008 season, the Rockets looked like an NBA Finals team even with Yao Ming out. Houston managed to jabber out 22 straight games that were victories, almost breaking a league record. As they headed into the playoffs, the 22-game winning streak was just a waste of energy as they lost in the first round of the Playoffs.
How can this be happening?
As Houston came into the 2008-2009 season, they managed to get into the second round of the Playoffs, with NBA experts believing that the Los Angeles Lakers will sweep Houston right out of their socks. It turned out to be a great match-up, even with T-Mac out and Ming out for a couple of games in that series.
All we know, the Rockets played the best against the Lakers in the Playoffs than any other NBA team. It surely better than what the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic imagined as Houston pushed the Lakers to seven games, in which nobody thought it was possible.
It was for sure that Houston would win the series after killing the Lakers when Ming was out as Aaron Brooks rised from the underworld, showing skills which led to stomping victory. It was probably the second-best series in this year’s NBA Playoffs, behind the Bulls-Celtics battle.
Even though Houston lost, it showed signs of hope that the Rockets could be a dangerous team next year. And then this happened. The Great Wall of China’s injury that broke the Rockets apart now.
But wait, the Rockets have some plans, and I think they can use them well.
With starting roster probably looking like this coming into next year with Ming out:
PG: Aaron Brooks
SG: Tracy McGrady
SF: Shane Battier
PF: Ron Artest
C: Luis Scola
(Don’t go hatin’ if my lineup is really screwed up)
It probably doesn’t look good without a tall rebounder to get every single one. But you see the power forward spot? Artest might not be here either so the PF spot is exceedingly questionable. Also with the shooting guard spot as T-Mac may have to miss some of the 2009-2010 season.
So here is one plan:
The Rockets do have some quality backups who stepped it up a HUGE notch in the NBA Playoffs, and those guys were these people after this colon symbol: Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry, Von Wafer, and Chuck Hayes.
They can consider using these fellow players a lot coming into next season as it may be a big help towards the team.
Another plan may be is wait for T-Mac to heal so he can tear it up on the court doing what he does best, and maybe having a possibly chance of doing this. But the plan above and this one may combine into one which may be a whole lot better.
McGrady is amazing all-around the court but the thing that bothers me, and probably a lot of you NBA hooligans out there, is the mind-boggling injuries which actually is mind-boggling for a some strange reason.
Another plan is to re-sign Ron Artest. The Rockets are nothing without this pantsing freak. He is just good all-around, he can shoot and get some good-quality rebounds, but he can’t do everything by himself.
That’s where free agency kicks in. With guys like Anthony Parker, Shawn Marion, and Josh Childress and much more, the Rockets can sign one of these guys and they probably look ready to go.
The Rockets can also go after Marquis Daniels, who was extremely a heavily-great contributor towards the Indiana Pacers in his three-year stint. I think the Rockets can go after a player like him, especially because of the fact that he accepts low salaries.
The Rockets can also go after Hedo Turkoglu, who declined a $35M contract from Orlando. There is also Ben Gordon. But the Rockets also may be paying very close attention to guys like Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, and Marvin Williams.
Also keep an eye out for Allen Iverson as he and Brooks can make a dangerous one-two punch at the point guard position.
With these plans of Yao out and if they are all combined into one big plan, I think the Rockets are good to go. But that’s if they follow them. And who knows, maybe Yao may come back! We’ll see.
Time will tell.
And the clock is ticking.