I don't think this is for practice reasons. The Vipers have a game on the 20th and 21st. The Rockets also have a game tomorrow. This might mean Patterson's injury is pretty severe .
says who? They have been bringing up and sending down Jones and D-Mo all year to get them playing time. Haven't heard anything on patterson other than they have to assess his foot. If he is out long-term, I actually think we might be better off w/o Ppat since we know what we have in him and Jones/DMo/MOrris are unknowns with huge upside. Sucks for Ppat but good for the other guys. Also, one less asset to trade
it is pretty ironic that the Rockets haven't played the rookies when they are an up and coming team and the youngest to boot. While other teams have no problem incorporating rooks into the game plan. I get it but its time to let them play!
The local broadcast during last night's game acted as if the ankle injury was a sign of bigger problems for Patterson, almost like it was a Greg Oden-like recurring injury with his ankle. Hopefully that was just random speculation, but it struck me as a bit odd.
It would be ironic if the starters were all grizzled veterans. As the facts stand, our starting lineup of Lin/ Harden/ Asik/ Patterson/ Parsons had a combined 98 NBA starts between them before game 1 this year (most of those falling to Lin/ Parsons). I fail to see the problem in giving young players a chance instead of giving young players a chance? You seem to think that the only players who are 'young' and can 'develop' are rookies. That's your issue, not the Rockets one. They realize that a guy in only his 2nd or 3rd season is still a 'young' player who can 'develop'.