The NBA Season is ready to start on Christmas Day, the last couple of preseason games are being played as I write this up, and it's time for me to cater to every serious NBA fans love of season previews! The 2011 Geektastic Preview is going to be way too large for one article, so I'm dividing it up into divisions (and even so, it's going to be long, so get a cup of coffee!). In this article I'm going to preview the Houston Rockets, a team that is probably going to be in the lottery.
Note that this article is using the new formula for calculating Wins Produced. If you don't understand the WP metric, see the FAQ.
The 2011-12 Houston Rockets
Lost: Goran Dragic, Chuck Hayes, Brad Miller, Yao Ming
Added: Marcus Morris, Donatas Motiejunas, Chandler Parsons, (all rookies), Jonny Flynn, Samuel Dalembert
Outlook: So much for Morey's genius. Even if the Pau Gasol trade had gone through, and the Rockets had a Gasol/Dalembert front line, I'm not sure this would have been a playoff team, but without that trade they are lottery bound. They won't be truly terrible, but they aren't good enough to make the playoffs.
| NAME | GP | MIN | WP48 | PTS | REB | AST | BLK | STL | TO | PF |
| Chase Budinger | 78 | 1742 | .089 | 21.1 | 7.7 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 3.1 |
| Jordan Hill | 72 | 1122 | .100 | 17.4 | 13.1 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 6.7 |
| Courtney Lee | 81 | 1724 | .102 | 18.7 | 5.8 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Kyle Lowry | 75 | 2563 | .174 | 18.9 | 5.8 | 9.4 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 3.9 |
| Kevin Martin | 80 | 2607 | .126 | 34.5 | 4.8 | 3.6 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 2.9 |
| Patrick Patterson | 52 | 870 | .173 | 18.1 | 11.0 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 4.2 |
| Luis Scola | 74 | 2411 | .047 | 26.9 | 12.1 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 4.5 |
| Ishmael Smith | 28 | 331 | .022 | 10.7 | 6.1 | 9.3 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Hasheem Thabeet | 2 | 4 | -.902 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36.0 |
| Goran Dragic (HOU) | 22 | 377 | .199 | 21.6 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 4.5 |
| Goran Dragic (PHO) | 48 | 859 | -.062 | 19.7 | 4.8 | 8.3 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 5.4 | 5.0 |
| Terrence Williams | 11 | 85 | -.173 | 22.0 | 8.5 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 4.5 | 2.3 |
| Jonny Flynn | 53 | 986 | -.079 | 13.6 | 3.7 | 8.9 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 5.5 | 2.8 |
| Samuel Dalembert | 80 | 1935 | .102 | 16.0 | 16.3 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 5.6 |
The Rockets didn't improve this offseason; I think Markieff is the "good" Morris, so I'm not optimistic about Marcus, and the other two rookies are real wildcards. Dalembert is a decent center, but so was Chuck Hayes, whom they let go. This team is certainly not terrible but it just about defines "average". And 33 games isn't going to make the playoffs in this year's western conference.
I don't know if McHale plans to use Jonny Flynn at all, but he was truly terrible in Minnesota, and not just after his hip injury; even as a rookie he was a turnover-prone, inefficient scorer. I understand that Miller's contract was bad but that was still a terrible trade by Morey, made worse if McHale gives Flynn any significant burn (which he should not, with Lowry and Dragic on the roster, but never underestimate McHale's ability to make poor decisions when it comes to backcourt players).
Speaking of Dragic, he's an interesting player. He was terrible in phoenix but played like a superstar in Houston. This is largely because his turnovers went way down and his rebounds went way up. Will the real Goran Dragic please stand up!? The sample size in Houston is much smaller, but 377 minutes is still enough to feel positive about a trend.