by Bruce Bostwick

Created on: February 05, 2010

The Houston Rockets last season proved a theory about Tracy McGrady. It came with the thought of trying to make it without him and they did so by getting out of the first round. Whenever he has played on the floor, no team has been able to escape that jinx if you will. However, they did Yao Ming and came within one game of the Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. They will not be having Yao Ming for the season since he got a procedure done similar to that of Zyudrnas Ilgaukas of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Houston is probably going to try to get rid of Tracy McGrady and it could be that one he’s been injury prone and two they actually can get out of the first round without someone holding them back. They don’t have Artest but have Ariza instead.

In regards to how the Rockets will do, it is hard to say but it is possible that they could very well make the playoffs. It will come down to so much going right since the Western Conference can be a bit difficult to win in considering most teams have very strong records. They haven’t been to the finals since winning it against the Orlando Magic. Sure, there have been some good teams, but not enough to win it all.

There is a chance that they will make the playoffs and are going to attempt to trade McGrady is somebody is willing to take him and perhaps jinx another team that could be in the playoff hunt. Okay, maybe not intentionally but just get his salary off the books. At the same time, they could be the odd team out despite probably putting a record that would probably be around the .500 mark or better. It comes down to how everything falls into place.

Houston has some work to do and to adapt the team into any situation thrown at them. It would be wise to go for a playoff run rather than going for a lottery pick because you never know if you can win that for sure. Even if you have the worst record in the league, there is no guarantee that you would win that and it has to take the luck of a ping pong ball falling in your favor.

The verdict for the Rockets will probably be that they will go out of their way to try to improve the team and probably remove McGrady if somebody is willing to take him. If they are able to do that and be able to get the pieces necessary to build a winner, then no question about it when it comes to making the move that makes sense.

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