Rockets moving forward, Spring baseball begins

It has been an amazing change of fortunes within the last week for the Rockets. As they watched the rest of the Western Conference contenders make significant moves that the Rockets simply were not able to make, they were just winning...and winning...and winning. They were able to orchestrate the Bobby Jackson deal, which while on a much smaller scale appeared to be just what they needed to strengthen the weakest area of the team. The winning streak reached 12 to open up a 5-game homestand, but then the news that Yao Ming's season was over put a huge roadblock in the path to the top of the postseason ladder.

They made the best of a bad situation in their first game w/o the West's best center by running over the Wizards in embarassing fashion. The Rockets defense and rebounding has been their bread & butter all year and it's hard to gauge exactly how that'll change w/o Yao, but they didn't miss a beat against the Wiz. They are still a top 5 team in points allowed, field goal % allowed and in rebounding. If that doesn't change they will still beat the weaklings they play the rest of the way - the real issue has not changed - can they beat the teams' ahead of them.

They get their chance starting on March 2nd against the Nuggets. That's the team they need to beat more than any other. They've split their first two games against them (losing @ Denver in 2OT without T-Mac!!) and will play them again in the final week of the season in Denver. Basically if the Rockets win those two games they're going to make the playoffs.

Making the playoffs is well within their reach, the problem is what postseason matchup would the Rockets be favored to win? There might not have been one prior to Yao's injury, but there sure isn't one now.

Alright let's get to some good news. Carl Landry and Luis Scola both appear to be tremendous acquisitions. The Rockets have yet to lose since Scola became the starter at PF and both rank very highly among this year's rookie crop. The lastest ESPN rookie rankings were released and Scola grabs the 3rd spot - behind only Al Horford and Kevin Durant. Landry ranks 13th.

In Landry's case - there is an obvious inability to look past draft position. Joakim Noah comes in at 11. Let's compare....

Noah........16.6 min, 5.0 pts, 45% FG, 63% FT, 4.7 Reb
Landry....15.8 min, 7.6 pts, 63% FG, 60% FT, 5.1 Reb

Hmmm......Landry plays in the ultra-competitive West for a team that is 37-20. Noah plays in the embarassing pathetic East for a team going nowhere that is 22-34.
Hmmm......I've got it!! Noah was the 9th overall pick, Landry a second rounder at #31. Nice job.
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More good numbers for Landry. ESPN's P(layer) E(fficiency) R(ankings) are a fairly good indicator of a player's value to his team and naturally his overall skills.
Among players who have played at least 20 games, here's the list of the league's top players...
Lebron James, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitski, Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, Al Jefferson, Carl Landry....yes Carl Landry - 13th in league in PER. No other rookies in the top 75. Landry is 19th. WOW.
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---------almost show time, I'll post more before the night ends----WEX

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