Watch Out for the Rockets

I'm not going to make any bold predictions and say that the Rockets are going to win the NBA title this year, but they have a chance to be a very good team. Here is what I like and dislike about the Rockets this year:

Pros:
-Yao and T-Mac appear to be healthy. If both can stay on the court the whole season, they should have the opportunity to compliment each other very well. I look for Yao to have his long-awaited break out year as the dominant center in the league. With lots of double teams forced on Yao it should also free up a lot of opportunities to score on the outside. If T-Mac stays healthy- he'll be T-Mac. (bold- I know) In order for the Rockets to do something more than just make the playoffs, he has to stop being Peyton Manning and putting up huge numbers, and start being Tom Brady and leading his team.

-Bonzi wells is the 3rd scoring option. A guy who has the talent to lead a team in scoring is the Rocket's 3rd choice. Lets not forget that last year he averaged 23.2 points and 12.0 rebounds in the playoffs, with five double doubles in six games against the Spurs. He took a much smaller deal to come play in Houston, which tells me he wants to win. If he can handle playing a role and not cause problems in the locker room, he'll help make this team very dangerous. He'll also need to really step up on off-nights for T-mac (especially if he misses time due to injury).

-Defense. I think JVG has finally got a team that can guard. With the addition of Battier (when they traded Rudy Gay for him- I thought they were crazy. Maybe not any more) they have a lot of size, and several guys who can defend very well.

Cons:
-Too many unknowns. Can these guys finally make it through a whole season healthy, and actually learn how to play together? If not, it could be bad news. Can Bonzi Wells play a role? Hope so.

-Lack of speed. They're not a slow team, but they can't run with Dallas and Phoenix. They'll really have to learn how to slow down the game and make those quicker teams play at their pace. If they can't do that, good luck catching up.

-Lots of youth. Hopefully all of these young guys are as good as people are saying. I'll be watching for Novak, Hayes, and Spanoulis to do something significant.

-Point guard. Every great team seems to have a very solid point guard. I'm pretty sure Rafer Alston is not going to be great, but we just need him to not turn the ball over. Look for some flare from Vassilis Spanoulis, who can drain from the outside. (You may have seen him help Greece to beat up on the US this summer)

Overall I have high hopes for the season. Look for my NBA predictions some time next week. Any predictions for the Rocket's season are welcome on my comments.

Also, I've had some complaints about the quality of names that I've been eliminating in my little game. In order to make up for that I'll eliminate several today. Here goes:

Yao, Tracy, Rafer, Bonzi, Juwan, Dikembe, Luther, and oh yes, Vassilis.