Houston Rockets:
T-Mac is ready to take off next to Yao

The Houston Rockets have had a good team throughout their history but they didn’t become a great team until after the 1984 NBA Draft. With the first pick in the 1984 draft the Houston Rockets selected University of Houston center Hakeem Olajuwon. The team went from losing 53 games in the 1983-84 season to winning 48 games the next year. In his rookie year Olajuwon averaged 20.6 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks a game and also appeared in all 82 games the Rockets played alongside 7’4” power forward Ralph Samson. The “Twin Towers” took the league by storm and in the 1985-86 season it showed in their record when they finished with a 51-31 mark and earned the number two seed in the West. In the playoffs the Rockets took their game to a whole other level. In the first round they swept the Sacramento Kings and in the second round they beat Denver 4-2. In the Western Conference Finals the Rockets matched up with the Showtime Lakers where they lost the first game and then won four games in a row to get into the Finals. There they met up with the Boston Celtics and couldn’t pull off the series and lost 4-2. This wouldn’t be the last time the Rockets would make it to the NBA Finals.

In 1994, Michael Jordan retired and opened up the NBA for almost anyone to win the championship. In Houston, only one thing remained the same since the last time they were in the Finals and that was Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon won his only regular season MVP that year leading the Rockets to a 53-29 record and the second seed in the West. The team ran over Portland in the first round 4-1 then barely got by the Suns 4-3 and mailed the Jazz back to Utah 4-1 to make it into the NBA Finals to face off against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks. Olajuwon made Ewing look dumb on a number of occasions with his “Dream Shake” low post move and the Rockets won the series 4-3. The next year the Rockets only managed sixth seed in the West and weren’t taken seriously as a Finals contender. The first two series were tough for the Rockets when they went the distance against both Utah and Phoenix and beat them both in their first tow rounds. In the Western Conference Finals they went head to head with regular season MVP David Robinson and the 62-20 San Antonio Spurs in an I-10 shootout. Olajuwon took offense to Robinson winning the MVP that year and destroyed Robinson in each game on the way to a 4-2 series win and another berth into the Finals. There they met up against the upstart Orlando Magic who were led by third year center Shaquille O’Neal and second year point guard Anfernee Hardaway. The Rockets and Olajuwon were counted out again and again they not only proved everyone wrong they made everyone look silly along the way. The Rockets won the NBA Finals in one of the more lopsided Finals in recent history by sweeping the Magic 4-0.

Last season the Rockets had a new coach in Jeff Van Gundy. He brought the grind it out offense and stonewall defense that is usually associated with his teams to the Houston. At times, he seemed to clash with the Rockets star point guard Steve Francis and both would play it down in the press and Francis started to work in Van Gundy’s system better as the year went along. 7’6” center Yao Ming was an All-star for the second straight season and made great strides in becoming one of the more feared match-ups in the NBA. The team went to the playoffs and lost in the first round in a series they should've won against the Lakers 4-1.

In the off-season the team made the second biggest move of the summer. They traded away Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato for Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Reece Gaines and Tyronn Lue. The team is trying to create a dynamic duo not unlike the one that dominated the league for the past couple of years coming out of LA. With McGrady and Yao on the court working off of each other they should be very good next year and automatically become a contender for the NBA championship. They also went out and signed point guards Charlie Ward and Bob Sura to give them some veteran leadership at the point.

The Rockets projected starting five will consist of Bob Sura at point guard, Tracy McGrady at shooting guard, Jim Jackson at small forward, Juwan Howard at power forward and Yao Ming at center. The team is a little weak at point guard, but where they lack in talent they make up for it in depth.

The Rockets will have one of the deeper benches in the West and they’ll need it playing in the newly formed Southwest Division where they will join the Spurs, Mavericks, Grizzlies and Hornets. Backing up the guards will be Tyronn Lue and Eric Piatkowksi. Backing up the big men will be Mo Taylor and Clarence Weatherspoon.

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