Houston Rockets Tickets

Houston Rockets 2008/2009 Season Preview The Houston Rockets ran off 22 straight wins at one point during the 2007-2008 season, half of which came without injured center Yao Ming, who was lost for the year with a foot injury.

The streak pushed the Rockets into first place in the Western Conference, where their stay was short-lived. Houston eventually ended up in a first round playoff battle with the Utah Jazz, and yet again Tracy McGrady was unable to win a postseason series.

It's hard to put too much blame on McGrady this time around, as he went up against a very tough Jazz without Ming's help.

With Yao back in the fold in 2008-2009, things are really looking up for the Rockets.

My favorite offseason move by Houston was grabbing forward Donte Greene in the NBA Draft. I'm still amazed at how many teams passed up on such a young, athletic and talented player.

I think Greene will be a future star in the league, just the latest top-notch player to come out of the Baltimore area and succeed. He has a tremendous outside shot for being such a tall player, as well as great ball-handling skills.

Once he gains some weight and learns to attack the basket more often, the sky is truly the limit. In his first summer league game, Greene poured in 40 points. After leaving school following just one year of college and plummeting unexpectedly down the draft board, Greene is playing with a major chip on his shoulder.

However, Greene's time in Houston was shortlived. The team traded Greene and guard Bobby Jackson to the Sacramento Kings for forward Ron Artest. I love Artest and think he can help, but I'm not sure how I feel about the Rockets giving up Greene to get him.

Also keep an eye on forward Joey Dorsey, ironically another Baltimore product that the team selected in this year's draft. Dorsey isn't much of an offensive player, but he is an impressive physical specimen who really gets after it on the glass and the defensive end. If he can stay out of foul trouble, which plauged him throughout college, he could remind many folks of Ben Wallace in his prime.

As far as the rest of the team, I really like the contributions from rookie Carl Landry. He made an immediate impact and became an even more important player once Yao went down with the foot injury.

I also think Steve Francis, who was traded to the Rockets in the middle of the season and never played because of an injury, could at least provide a great spark and some veteran leadership off of the bench.

I know we've heard it many times before, but even in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, I think Tracy McGrady gets the monkey off his back and leads the Rockets to a first round playoff win this year.