2009-2010 Season Recap

Received this in an email today... Looks like it was written from a fantasy standpoint, but has a lot of interesting information and views on our team

HOUSTON ROCKETS RECAP
by Eric Jenike (RBAej)

LAST SEASON (Rockets don’t disappoint):

The 2008-2009 Rockets gave the eventual world champion Los Angeles Lakers a run for their money during a seven game series in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, despite losing franchise center Yao Ming to a broken foot and playing without injured star Tracy McGrady. Even after this impressive performance in the playoffs, few were excited about the Rockets heading into the ‘09-10 season. McGrady was still recovering from mid-season microfracture surgery and Yao had been ruled out for most likely the entire season. Given that Houston also lost their most recognizable remaining player (Ron Artest) in free agency, many pundits pegged Houston as the least likely team to replicate its ‘08-09 success.

Well, Houston surprised many people by finishing over .500 (42-40), despite not getting a single game out of Yao. The Rockets succeeded by having a very balanced roster with quality players at every position, featuring some excellent scoring options in Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola, and Carl Landry/Kevin Martin, along with some nice defensive players to complement them such as Chuck Hayes, Trevor Ariza, and team captain Shane Battier. Rounding out the rotation was veteran guard Kyle Lowry and promising rookie Chase Budinger. When you factor in the 8th overall pick from the ‘09 draft in Jordan Hill, we’re not looking at a typical .500 team; we’re talking about a team with a serious amount of young talent who will hopefully be getting one of the top centers in the NBA back for next season.

WHAT WENT RIGHT (Aaron Brooks shines):

Third year point guard Aaron Brooks made the proverbial leap. In addition to attending the NBA draft lottery dressed like Harry Potter, Brooks won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award. Brooks’ ascent was not a huge surprise, as he always had solid per minute numbers, and we caught a glimpse of what he was capable of during the ‘09 playoffs when he caused Derek Fisher and the Lakers fits with his speed and scoring ability. This past season, Brooks was able to slightly increase his per minute numbers while playing 10 minutes more than he did in his second season. Despite not having T-Mac and Yao to help spread the floor for him, Brooks upped his 3-point attempts by 2.5 per game and increased his 3-point accuracy from 36.6% to 39.8%, resulting in a LEAGUE LEADING 2.6 treys per game. Brooks also played in all 82 games, his second straight season in which he appeared in over 80.

Brooks also helps your fantasy team with 5.3 apg, which isn’t fantastic for a guard but certainly isn’t below average, either. After the mid-season trade for Kevin Martin, Brooks’ assists increased, which indicates that he’s willing to give the ball up if he’s playing with capable scorers. Brooks connected on 82% of his free throws as well (3.6 FTA), enough to give fantasy owners a modest bump in the category, to go along with 19.6 ppg, making him very effective in four fantasy categories. And since Brooks hit 86% and 87% of his freebies during his rookie and sophomore campaigns, it’s reasonable to expect that he could help out in free throw percentage even more than he did this year, although it’s unlikely that he scores over 20 ppg on a healthy Rockets team next season.

On the flipside, Brooks is not known as a good defender and does not register a lot of steals. Even at the college level he didn’t get a lot of steals, so I’m not expecting him to make any major leaps in the category, which unfortunately somewhat limits his fantasy appeal. I worry a little bit that last season might have been the year to own Brooks and not this upcoming season. For starters, he was officially recognized by the league for his improved play so I expect he’ll be overrated on draft day. Additionally, this season seems like it was the perfect storm of injuries to Houston’s main scoring options, so Brooks was surrounded by capable role players who allowed him to truly excel statistically. Expect slightly less points from him next season, with a chance of him getting his assists up, but I’m not expecting the speedster to finish any higher on the player rater than he did last season.

 

EXPECTATIONS MET (Ariza & Scola solid, but not exceptional):

Luis Scola played well enough that the Rockets were able to trade fellow power forward Carl Landry for Kevin Martin, which helped shore up the Rockets’ need for perimeter scoring from the wing positions. With Yao out of the lineup, Scola needed to shoot the ball more and he responded with 3.6 more FGA’s per game than he put up the year before, while still converting on an efficient 51.4% of his shots.

The downside with Scola in the fantasy game is that he rarely blocks shots and rarely has monster scoring games, which limits his appeal somewhat. Also consider that Luis will likely attempt fewer shots next season with Yao back in the lineup, and even though Scola has only been in the league for a few years, he’s already 30 years old (he is who he is, so don’t expect much improvement).

Another concern with Scola is that this team might benefit from having an athletic shot-blocking power forward to help cover up the defensive deficiencies of Martin and Brooks. The Chris Bosh to Houston rumors have been difficult to ignore, and it seems like Houston is at least considering bringing in a superstar power forward. If I had Scola in a keeper league, I’d be in fire-sale mode right now before the Rockets make any moves this offseason.

Swingman Trevor Ariza was a popular sleeper pick going into fantasy drafts last season after fans watched him sink 40 threes in 23 playoff games on 47.6% shooting from downtown while playing a major role for the Lakers during their ‘08-09 championship run. The Rockets were a team lacking a single player who had ever averaged over 13 ppg in their opening day starting lineup. And here was Ariza, who for years had been considered one of the most underrated players in the league stepping into his first ever starting role fresh off of a highly impressive playoff run. Many figured that Ariza, and not Aaron Brooks, would be the primary beneficiary of the increased opportunity in Houston. Well, Ariza didn’t exactly seize the moment.

Making the transition to Houston it was assumed that Ariza would become more of a slasher and transition player as opposed to the spot-up three-point shooter that he was as a Laker. For whatever reason, despite not being effective from long range and playing for a team that needed him to be much more than a long range gunner, Ariza attempted an absurd 41% of his shots from 3-point land this season, up from 31.5% while spotting up to space the floor for teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol in LA.

Of course, there was a silver lining in Ariza attempting so many threes. He was 10th in the league in 3-point field goal attempts, which means that even though he shot a n almost unacceptable 33.4% on long balls, he was still able to average 1.9 treys per game, making him a nice value pick for that category. Ariza also led ALL forwards with 1.8 steals, and as long as he continues to see major minutes that should not change for the soon to be 25-year old. He also impressed with 3.8 apg, which was 6th best in the NBA amongst forwards.

If you read Evil E’s draft prep material, you were fairly warned that any increase in scoring for Ariza would most likely come at the cost of reduced efficiency from the field, but the reality of that cost was worse than even E anticipated due to the increased volume of three-point attempts. To put it bluntly, it was catastrophically bad.Ariza attempted a whopping 6.6 more shots per game with the Rockets than he did with the Lakers, and his FG% plummeted to an unacceptable 39.4%, down 6.6% from the prior season. For fantasy purposes, only Brandon Jennings was worse in the FG% category for the ‘09-10 season. Ariza is also a terrible free-throw shooter. His year to year free throw percentages fluctuate wildly, which indicates that he does not have a consistent approach at the line and leads me to believe that he’s a long-shot to make more than 70% of his freebies. Considering that most swingmen are able to make anywhere between 75-85% of their free throws, having Ariza in your lineup in place of an average swingman really hurts you in that category.

As you can see, Ariza brings an extremely mixed bag to the table. He excels in certain categories, but he was a bottom-20 finisher in two other cats, and that is a tough pill to swallow on draft day. But he’s a young player who still has some room to improve, and he’ll be on a talented team this upcoming season, which should help to even out his peaks and valleys. I expect him to play less than the 36.5 mpg that he played this season, and to be slightly less of a positive contributor in threes with improved FG% as he sacrifices some shots for Yao and a healthy Kevin Martin.

PROMISING ROLE PLAYERS (Kyle Lowry, Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger):

A real reason why I like the Rockets is because they simply aren’t carrying a lot of dead weight on their roster. Backup point guard Kyle Lowry is one of the better reserves at his position, and if anything were to happen to Aaron Brooks, he’d be instantly ownable. If Lowry could hit threes, I’d probably draft him even as Aaron Brooks’ backup, but unfortunately he’s not much of a threat from long range. He’s an excellent rebounder for a point guard, averaging 3.6 rpg in just 24 minutes, and his 4.5 assists are just enough to not really hurt you if you were forced you start him for a week here and there. Lowry is a physical point guard who is willing to give up his body on defense, and he finished tied for 2nd in the league with 51 charges drawn. Unfortunately, drawing charges is not a roto category. I’d avoid Lowry on draft day in 12 team leagues, but the second Aaron Brooks sprains an ankle make sure you pick him up.

Jordan Hill wasn’t a good fit for Coach Mike D’Antoni in New York because he lacks a mid-range game, but he should be exactly what the Rockets need at power forward with a little more experience. Hill is not a very good offensive player at this point, but he’s athletic and is a good rebounder so he should get plenty of garbage points. He’ll be 23 at the start of next season and stands 6'10, 235 lbs with a 7'1.5 wingspan. He has the tools to be a shotblocker in the NBA and should be able to develop into a solid NBA defender with his size and athleticism, but he’ll have to cut down on the fouls. Hill will be a reserve this season if he stays in Houston, but if starter Luis Scola has to miss any time he could be worth a speculative add to see what he could do given the opportunity for major minutes. I keep seeing his name floated in rumors that involve bringing back an All-Star power forward to Houston, but as of this writing nothing is close to materializing.

Chase Budinger was a nice NBA-ready 22 year old rookie. He was once considered a possible lottery pick, but he stayed in college for three years and scouts realized that his upside was limited. He may never make an All-Star team, but he can definitely play. Chase received a similar 4-year contract to the one that fellow second round draft pick Jermaine Taylor received. Budinger’s most bankable skill is his three-point shot, and he connected on 1.2 threes on 3.4 attempts per game as a rookie (37%). He’s 6'7, so he has the size to be an effective small forward.

Although he is a nice passer, his weak ball-handling skills did not allow him to be much of a playmaker as a rookie. He is not the fastest player in the NBA and struggled defensively at times, and definitively can NOT defend shooting guards at this time. Luckily for him, teammates Shane Battier and Trevor Ariza are versatile enough to slide over to shooting guard when Budinger is in the game, allowing him to match up with forwards defensively. As a starter he averaged 17.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.5 threes per game, but that sample size is only four games. He is not worth drafting in 12 team leagues, but starter Kevin Martin is one of the more injury-prone players out there, so Budinger is worthy of an add if Martin misses significant time.

 

BETTER IN REAL LIFE: (Chuck Hayes & Shane Battier):

Rockets’ Captain Shane Battier was once quoted as saying, “We feel comfortable with Chuck (Hayes) on anybody. Three-fourths of the world is covered by water, the rest is covered by Chuck Hayes.” While it’s obvious that Battier is the biggest geek in the NBA, the point he makes about Chuck Hayes’ contributions is a good one. Chuck Hayes battles out there. He is listed at 6'6 and routinely is asked to guard players 6'10 and above. Hayes is strong, mobile, and a good rebounder, which enables him to hang around because he’s able to match up with bigger players. He started all 82 games for the Rockets at center and the Rockets were significantly better defensively with him on the floor than with him off. But Hayes is much better admired from afar. Defensive rating is great, but last time I checked it wasn’t a category in standard 9-cat roto leagues. His game simply does not translate well to the fantasy game. As a starter, he didn’t even finish ranked in the top 200, and with Yao back it will mean fewer minutes for Hayes. He’ll be in the league for several more years, but isn’t a guy you need to concern yourself with for fantasy purposes.

It’s also time to put the idea of Shane Battier being a relevant fantasy player to rest. In deep leagues, sure, I can see owning him because he helps you in threes and blocks, but his .8 steals are below average in standard sized leagues, so he’s really a two-category player at this point. His points and field goal percentage don’t help at all, so just ignore him completely if you’re playing in shallow leagues. Battier will turn 32 years old next season and is now part of a wing rotation that includes Kevin Martin and Trevor Ariza, along with two young guys who the Rockets would like to get more involved in Chase Budinger and Jermaine Taylor. Shane plays tough defense and doesn’t care about shots so he’ll continue to see minutes, but unless you play in an ultra-deep league, late in your draft you should be targeting players with upside instead of boring players like Battier.

INCOMPLETE (Kevin Martin average and injured):

The Rockets made a deadline trade that was widely lauded as a steal. Houston received Kevin Martin, Hilton Armstrong, Jared Jeffries, and Jordan Hill, along with the ability to swap 1st round draft picks with the Knicks in 2011 (top-10 protected), and the Knicks’ first round pick in 2012. Sacramento received promising power forward Carl Landry along with Joey Dorsey from Houston and Larry Hughes’ $13 million expiring contract from the Knicks. The Knicks received Tracy McGrady and Sergio Rodriguez and for their trouble, now have enough cap space to offer maximum salaries to two superstar free agents this summer.

You have to hand it to Morey, because every GM in the league knew that the Knicks wanted to shed salary and yet he was the one who was able to capitalize on it. Although Landry is a very solid player, the Rockets deemed him expendable because they already have a capable starting power forward in Luis Scola. Scola is the older of the two players, but Landry has already torn his ACL and is a below average rebounder. Basically, the Rockets were able to trade a solid backup with a surgically repaired ACL and a player who wasn’t even playing for a 27-year old 20+ point scorer, a rookie lottery pick, a first round pick, and the right to exchange first rounders with one of the most inept franchises in the league. It is perfectly logical that renowned stat-geek Daryl Morey would make a play for Kevin Martin, whose True Shooting percentage can be a thing to behold at the SG position when he’s firing on all cylinders. Considering we’ve seen him do it before, we are left with the sense that Martin could be an even more efficient scorer than he has been over the past two injury-riddled seasons. He’s reunited with the coach (Rick Adelman) that he had his finest seasons in the league with, and for the first time in his career he has several competent teammates. The hope is that having teammates who can score will remove some of the defensive focus from Martin and allow him to get his FG% back up into the 46-47% range.

Martin’s game while with the Kings featured using his quickness to get into the paint and draw contact and I’m a little worried that having Yao down low might clog up the interior for him. If this indeed ends up being the case then Martin will shoot a greater percentage of his shots from the perimeter and get to the line less than he has in years past. I’m not saying he’ll fall off the radar as an elite contributor in FT%, but it might be a bit ambitious to expect him to get to the line for 10 FTAs nightly as a member of this team.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You love and draft Martin for his FT shooting (on a per game basis, only Durant, Nowitzki, and Billups had more of an impact in the FT% category), but the punishment he takes while getting to the line with such regularity is usually his undoing as well, as he’s missed significant time with injuries in three straight seasons. Martin is rail thin at 6'7 and 185 lbs, yet he attempted the 10th most FTs per game in the NBA last year, and that was actually a down year in terms of his ability to get to the line.

Martin is 27, which is right around the age where many players achieve their statistical peaks, and as is the case every year with him, if he can stay healthy he could have a fantastic year. Unless Martin breaks his wrist again, he is a lock to improve on the 33% he shot on threes last year. The downside with Kev would be a year like Devin Harris had last season at age 27, where he played well at times but was mostly injured and disappointing. The Rockets have a lot of talent at the wing positions, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Martin play more like 30-33 mpg than the 35+ mpg that he is accustomed to playing so far in his career. So keep an eye on his status as the season nears. If you’re reading things like “Martin 100% healthy” and “Martin looks fantastic,” then consider drafting him but be aware of the risk and figure he’ll miss at least 10 games minimum. If he’s banged up during the preseason with even seemingly minor injuries, don’t walk, but RUN away from Kev-Mart on draft day.

 

THE DOWNSIDE (Yao Ming’s uncertain future):

Yao Ming’s return to form is no sure thing. In fact, we’re not even sure he’ll be ready for the start of next season. If you don’t see him play over the summer or in the preseason, I’d recommend moving him to your “do not draft” list and letting him be someone else’s headache. One thing that we can be absolutely certain of is that there will be an adjustment period where Yao will underwhelm.

The last time Yao played in ‘08-09, he lasted for 77 games and averaged 19.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks on 55% shooting from the field and 87% shooting from the line, probably helping several thousand people win their leagues as a result. But he hasn’t played in an entire season, so he’ll be rusty and is extremely unlikely to match any of those numbers in 2010-11. For a frame of reference, consider Al Jefferson’s 2009-10 season. Big Al had surgery to repair a torn ACL in February of 2009, and played in a respectable 76 games this past year. However, he was not himself and experienced a 6.0 drop in points and a 1.7 drop in rebounds. At 25 years old, Al is a young guy compared to Yao, who will turn 30 this September.

Yao just came out of a boot in April and has begun running on an Anti-Gravity treadmill, which allows him to not run on his full body weight. Obviously, you should keep a keen eye on his health as you head into your fantasy drafts. If things go great over the summer and we are hearing reports of Yao being perfectly healthy and ready for the season, then that is great. In that case, you should be willing to take a flyer on him LATE, but I can almost guarantee that he’ll be selected earlier by a more overzealous drafter in most leagues.

Ed Kupfer, who is currently employed as a consultant by the Houston Rockets, in addition to sponsoring Shane Battier’s basketball reference page, did a study in 2004 in an attempt to project how many games a player would miss in the following season based on the number of games missed in previous seasons. I’ll spare you the mathematical details of the regression analysis and summarize the findings instead. He concluded that the baseline that you should project for every player in a given season is 76 games. From there, for every 6 games missed in the previous season you should subtract one projected game played from 76. For every 20 games missed from two seasons ago, subtract another game from 76. These are the numbers that best fit the data from the ‘94-95 season up until ‘04 when Kupfer performed his analysis.

Since Yao played in 77 games two seasons ago, he isn’t penalized at all for that season, but since he missed the entire ‘09-10 season, Yao is projected to play in 76 – (82/6) = 62.3 games. In other words, avoid. Even if you’re not sold on Kupfer’s projections alone and are considering targeting Yao as a sleeper in drafts, there are additional reasons to exercise caution. Yao is a towering 7 feet, 5 inches tall, and players that big simply don’t have a track record of good health. Other notable players who are 7'3 or taller include: Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Shawn Bradley, Rik Smits, Ralph Sampson, Mark Eaton, Manute Bol, and Arvydas Sabonis. Among them, only Mark Eaton was able to consistently stay healthy.

You know the risks at this point, so I’ll just mention the things the Rockets themselves are saying about Yao. In April 2010, GM Daryl Morey said, “We hope to have Yao back to 100% a year from now.” Translation: The Rockets are hoping that they can make the playoffs with Yao on cruise control and then rely on their big man to help carry them in the playoffs when he is finally rounding into form, similar to the role that Kevin Garnett played with the Celtics this season. So before you draft Yao, keep in mind that his minutes aren’t going to be what they used to be. In ‘07-08 he played 37 mpg, and anyone expecting him to see the floor for that amount of time will be disappointed big time.

The fact is that Yao’s foot injury is potentially career threatening. He may give it a shot, get hurt again, and have to retire. That’s the risk you’re assuming if you draft Yao. What I fully expect to happen is for Yao to enter the Arvydas Sabonis stage of his career. Sabonis came over to the NBA at age 31, supremely talented but with his body devastated by injuries. For most of his NBA career, Sabonis played 20-30 mpg during the regular season (and often missed games while nursing injuries), before playing 30-35 mpg in the playoffs. Much like Yao, in his prime and with a normal workload, Sabonis would’ve easily eclipsed 20 ppg and 10 rpg. But in the interest of keeping him healthy, he was more of a 25 mpg player who would contribute somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 and 8. So forget the Yao you’re used to seeing, as you’re not going to see him in 2010-11, if ever again.

D-LEAGUE (Rockets’ D-League Affiliate Wins Championship):

Congratulations are in order as the Houston Rockets’ NBA D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Vipers, won their first ever D-League Championship this season in dramatic fashion on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Craig Winder to complete a sweep of the Tulsa 66ers. The Vipers also led the D-League with 9 NBA callups this past season.

Jermaine Taylor was a second round pick that the Rockets liked enough to give a two-year guaranteed salary, with a 3rd year non-guaranteed, and a 4th-year team option. Second rounders usually don’t get deals of that nature, so the Rockets must like him. Taylor is the Rockets’ most intriguing D-League player. He played his college ball at the University of Central Florida, where he tore opponents up to the tune of 26.2 points and 5.2 rebounds as a senior. Of additional interest to fantasy owners, Taylor averaged 2.9 three-pointers per game as a senior and shot 48% from the field and 82% at the line. He also averaged 1.3 steals and .8 blocks, and even relative to NBA players he is very athletic and has a long wingspan.

Taylor is still raw, and he was bouncing back and forth between the NBA and D-League all season, so don’t go too nuts with 2010-11 expectations. But in 4 starts for the Rockets, Taylor scored in double figures in three of the games, averaging 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and making 5-of-13 treys. It’s only four games so I’m not suggesting that anyone should read too much into those numbers, but I’m thinking that Jermaine Taylor has a solid NBA career ahead of him. Unless there is a trade to free up some minutes, he won’t be draftable this year, but he’s someone to keep an eye on down the road.

Mike Harris is the reigning D-League MVP after averaging 27.1 ppg and 10.5 rpg on 58% shooting for the champion Vipers. Harris isn’t exactly a prospect on the rise however, as he is 27 years old and has had a couple of brief stints in the NBA already. But Harris dominated the D-League, scoring in double figures in every single game this season with season highs of 48 points and 24 rebounds. I’m not sure what else he can do to show that he’s NBA ready. He is a little bit stuck in no-man’s land as far as a position goes in the NBA. If he could hit the three consistently that would be one thing, but he is 6'6 and outside shooting is not the strongest part of his game. He’s aggressive and gets a lot of rebounds, but I’m doubtful that he’ll ever really shine at the NBA level.

On April 9th, 2010, the Rockets signed Alexander Johnson, who played in the D-League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce last season. He is 6'9 and 240 lbs, and averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds on 57% shooting last season in the D-League. He is 27 years old and has had brief runs with the Grizzlies and Heat over the past few seasons, as well as a year of pro basketball in Germany. Looking at his NBDL game log, the first thing you notice is that this guy takes a lot of free throws. In fact, in 22 games with the Skyforce, he attempted 268 field goals and 264 free throws. That is just ridiculous if you think about it. It’s a little surprising to me that Johnson hasn’t caught on in the NBA yet considering his size and skill set. However, roughly 15% of all NBA players have spent time in the D-League so we shouldn’t overlook people just because they didn’t go straight to the NBA. He is very athletic, has a mid-range game, and if nothing else he should be a solid rebounder in the NBA. Prospective owners should keep in mind that he won’t be getting major minutes anytime soon, but I DO expect him to be on an NBA roster at the start of the season.

 

DON’T EXPECT ANYTHING (Jared Jeffries & Chris Andersen):

Jared Jeffries has a player option worth $6.8 million to return to the Rockets for another year. He will 100% exercise that player option and you will 100% avoid him in every league. His steals & blocks are nice, but he’s well below average in every offensive category and he’s 28 years old. He was a throw-in by the Knicks in their attempt to get further under the cap and the Rockets don’t really need him, either.

I am not sure what kind of expectations the Rockets had for David Andersen when they gave him a three-year deal prior to the start of last season, but he wasn’t able to handle the center position in the NBA. Andersen is an accomplished European player with several Euroleague championships to his credit, but he played mostly power forward in Europe. I believe the Rockets viewed Andersen as a center in the Brad Miller mold, able to face up and shoot from the high post and use his passing ability to find open teammates in Adelman’s motion offense; much like Vlade Divac and Miller did for years in Sacramento. Instead, he was unable to effectively defend the center position in the NBA and then lost most of the last month of the season to a back injury. Until the mid-season trade that brought in Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries, Andersen was the only player on the Rockets’ active roster who was over 6'9, and he was STILL unable to establish himself as a regular part of their rotation. He’ll be better suited for a reduced role with Yao Ming back in the fold, and the 29 year old is not worth considering for fantasy purposes.

NEXT SEASON:

Houston owns several draft picks over the next few seasons and are in possession of numerous assets that other teams would be interested in, plus ownership has given management the green light to go out and acquire an All-Star if a good deal presents itself. Expect Houston to use their mid-level exception and to shore up the backup center position during this off-season. I also expect that the Rockets will be looking long and hard at players with length who can help Yao patrol the paint. The Rockets have set themselves up nicely to either contend with the roster that they have assembled or to package some of these guys and some picks for a more known commodity such as Chris Bosh or Al Jefferson. With GM Darryl ‘The Wizard’ Morey at the helm, you can rest assured that most of the personnel decisions that this franchise makes will be the right ones. Although this season was mediocre by typical Rockets standards, the future looks exceedingly bright in Houston.