Jogging

Need an incentive to hit Memorial Park's running track? What about keeping pace with a 6'11 beast named Joey.

"Went out to Memorial and did the three miles this weekend." -Joey Dorsey

Video/Article from Jason Friedman @ nba.com/rockets

also when asked who impressed him he noted Chase Budinger's athleticism.

Relevant:

"...Next Phase of the Offseason"
Sean Deveney @ The Baseline

Chronicle article - “It’s early,” Hinkle said. “No player has changed hands yet. No one has even signed a contract yet. Remember two years ago at this time? The only power forward on our roster was Steve Novak.”

Let's think minutes for a second.

PG: Aaron and Kyle will split all 48

SG: Ariza will start, that much we know. James White seems to be next in line, but who knows what our draftees will play like in training camp or what Brent Barry is going to do for the team next year. I'm imagining that Ariza holds 20-25 minutes at the 2, with other minutes spent at the 3. That leaves 10-20 minutes to split between James White and our rooks.

SF: Battier will hold this spot down, possibly switching defensive roles with Ariza depending on matchups. He and Ariza should play 40+ minutes at the 3 spot. The other options are about the same as those at the backup 2 spot. Budinger is 6'7 and seems like he'd slide to the 3 if he can't keep up with the NBA's 2 guards' pace. Our bigs are stretched too thin to slide Carl over to the 3, even though he could pull it off against bigger opponents.

PF/C: Who knows. This is our deepest and weakest position. We have a lot of talent, but none of them can protect the rim. Chuck can dig people out of the post and slide in front of slashers, but, beyond that, we have no shot blocking. Carl can get up, but he hasn't got the timing or positioning polished yet. Scola is crafty and can get steals, but he can't really stop the post up -or- block shots. The scoring load will fall heavily on Luis and Landry, but what we really need is an inside presence: rebounding, changing if not blocking shots and taking up space.

Ariza and the Future

Assuming the reports are accurate, Ariza will be our starting... 2-guard? and... "Adelman promised [Ariza] the Rockets would feature him offensively." (ESPN.com) I'm not too sure what the word 'feature' portends, considering that Ariza's effectiveness has, thus far, been limited to open 3s, pump fakes and the ensuing slam or step-in jumper created by the pump fake. I can see some serious quickness with Brooks and Ariza in the backcourt, and I think that's what Adelman's getting at. Adelman's system never found itself running through a singularity, apart from Yao. And with Yao on the bench and Artest in L.A., the ball should begin flying around the perimeter this season.

King Courts Ariza

"Even so, according to sources, a flattered Ariza strongly considered reneging on his agreement with the Rockets and heading for Cleveland, which made him the same offer as Houston last week. In the end, however, he decided to keep his word to the Rockets.

"He's a very loyal person," the source said. "[Rockets coach] Rick Adelman had lunch with him for three straight days last week and that meant a lot to him."

"He wanted to be sure he'd start," the source said. "That was a big hang-up."

ESPN.com's Chris Broussard on Lebron & Ariza

Building a Narrative

Even though I'm coming to consider this year a wash, I want to address the assigned lens through which our team is perceived throughout the regular season - the regular season being the source from which I take the most pleasure. Leading up to the season, and all throughout it, the bulk of the national fan base for the league is bombarded with narratives that ESPN or whoever promotes and forces you to invest yourself in. You either side with the protagonist or antagonist of your choice... your choices being limited to the teams with their own narratives pre-established.

Take two years ago: the words "historic, dynasty, lakers and celtics" were so ubiquitous that your mind was forced to consider the two options, the Lakers or the Celtics winning, as viable, whether or not you have your own team to root for. I eventually sided with the Celtics, only to become disgusted with their pairing of this glen davis, 'ubuntu' crap with "the big three."

This last year's forced narrative was even more blatant and abrasive: Kobe vs. Lebron. The media's, and some people would say the league's, agenda came to a nauseating culmination embodied in unfunny and obnoxious puppetry.

So for this year, I can only hope for less constraining story lines that might leave room for, dare we dream, actual analysis. If the Shaq & Lebron merger or the Kobe & Ron stunt are premonitions, we're in for much of the same.

Our narrative's hopes are pinned to the fate of Yao's feet. While Aaron Brooks was building up enough hype in the playoffs to hope for some pro-Rockets spin this next season, the media seems to be content to prognosticate our inevitable deconstruction. The nation loves to doubt Yao: "He may have a better all around game than Dwight, but he can't stay on the floor!" As soon as bad winds began brewing in Houston, our team's future was promptly taken out back and shot. Who knows what narrative will be promoted for the '09-'10 season, but lets hope our team can construct its own - one based on youth and hustle and hope.

Some Stuff

T-Mac article from Bethlehem Shoals @ SportingNews.com

"World, Meet Chuck Hayes" @SportingNews.com - article from the playoffs

No prospect in this year’s draft knows this better than point guard Brandon Jennings. Last year, Mr. Jennings was one of America’s best high-school point guards and the quintessential product of AAU. Rather than doing a one-year minimum stint in college before entering the NBA draft, he played a season in Italy where, he says, things were different.

His time in Europe began with a rare stretch for an AAU product: He went weeks without touching a basketball. His team spent the preseason running across Roman parks and soccer fields.

In September, they retreated to an Italian mountain hideaway for two weeks and ran there, too. They practiced fundamentals and rarely scrimmaged. Coming from the AAU, this was new for Mr. Jennings, who averaged 5.5 points per game in limited minutes during the in Italy.

It was, he says, the most intense two weeks of his basketball life. If he’d never gone to Europe, he says, “I wouldn’t know the pick-and-roll game. I wouldn’t know how to guard, wouldn’t know how to fight through screens. I’m stronger now.”

Jo' Do'

Joey Dorsey via Jason Friedman @ rockets.com

“It hurt so bad once we lost Game 7,” recalls Dorsey. “We went into the locker room and everybody came together and I was the only one in the locker room that cried. I told coach, ‘I want to come back next year and be a defensive stopper. I want to work on defense in the perimeter and the low-post with Chuck Hayes; he’s one of the great low-post defenders on the team. It just hurt so bad that we didn’t have that size to dominate the glass against the Lakers...

...I look at [Luis] Scola,” Dorsey says, “Because he’s one of the best low-post players I’ve ever seen; his footwork and everything. I’m waiting for him to get back from Argentina so I can start working out with him. And getting with Chuck Hayes. Chuck is one of the best low-post defenders and when (opponents) go on the pick-and-roll, Chuck is like a guard when he’s out there defending, so I just need to learn from Chuck and learn from Yao and Scola – who better to learn from than from those three?”

Some of the Stuff I've Been Missing on Daryl Morey's "Twitter"

link to dm's page
"Pain in Yao's foot appears to start at 4:33 in the 4th. I am optimistic as it does not look too bad on video.

It appears foot was hurt earlier in game and aggravated around 4Q 4:33. From video, sprain seems likely and anything serious seems unlikely.

Can't sleep-adrenaline too high.Great play&coaching won gm.Leaving TC now after sending usual "feedback" to the lgue.Drft workts Fri.BeatLA!

Spoke to Ron upon landing in HOU from CHI pre-draft camp. He thinks no one else will take the LAL to 7 gms and we were the #2 team this year"


and from ericmusselman's:

"Stan and JVG are the two coaches I've allowed to say a lot of things to me. I understand the amount of work they put in." - Rafer Alston

ron?

"Bio ARTEST IS SO HOOD, VERY GHETTO AND LOVES IT. HOWEVER THERE IS SOME INTEELINCE WITH THAT , AND WITH THAT COMES PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE HIM FALL"

aaronbrooks = thirty2zero = thirty2zero.com

"We won over the city of Houston and made all of our Rocket fans world wide proud." -Shane Battier

Sam Hinkie Podcast via rockets.com:
(pretty long, good stuff is kind of later on)
more depth at the wing and at the big position in the offseason. Yao is in China, coming back - not participating in international competition for the first time in 12 years

Battier's Blog Post: "I missed the first 20 games of the season to completely heal my ankle. When I came back, our team just could not find a good rhythm. Between me, Tracy, and Ron, we could not find a consistent, healthy lineup. It was frustrating to watch and it was frustrating to play. We knew we had an unbelievably talented team, but we just could not put together a winning streak...

...Portland was a worthy adversary in the first round. Again, no one gave us a chance to win the series against them. (but did we listen to those people? NO WAY!) After winning the first game of the series in Portland, we knew we were in control. We were able to finish them off by winning all of our home games. In the process, we won over the city of Houston and made all of our Rocket fans world wide proud."

Zero Draft Picks

And so, with the Offseason upon us, we will begin to fill our days with useless yet invaluable chatter until Preseason, The Season and The Playoffs come back:

from ericmusselman's twitter
SVG on Rafer: "His mindset is key. What's made his career is he's a good defender as a point guard, he has good energy and pushes the pace."