Give NBA uber-dork Daryl Morey some credit. The Houston general manager somehow took the Rockets through the final bitter months of the Tracy McGrady era, beyond the retirement of Yao Ming, and even on past the whole Dwight Howard saga. All along, the Rockets stayed competitive. No one’s talking championships in H-Town, but they’re always a solid team, and that’s more than the have-nots in Charlotte, Sacramento and New Orleans can say. Morey hasn’t always been right, but he’s still our favorite stat nerd in the NBA, and one of the better thinkers when it comes to making the most of what he has. But the jury’s still out on his move to bring in James Harden, not because we don’t think it was smart. This was incredibly shrewd by the Rockets. They now have a base of Harden on the perimeter, Omer Asik inside, who’s one of the five best defensive big men in the league and then Jeremy Lin to run the team, sell tickets and make unearned All-Star appearances (and if he ever comes close to Linsanity again, that’s only icing on the cake). This is more about can the Beard survive in Texas (literally and figuratively)? Amazingly, despite all of that salary (and it’s A LOT), Houston is in position to add more intriguing assets. They could have max cap space in each of the next two offseasons, and finally, after years of swinging and missing, they could land that kill shot. Harden should help. He’s well-liked around the league. He played on Team USA. He’s a part of this new “cool” clique in the NBA that listens to weird rappers, wears really weird clothes and says even weirder words like “schwag” (not to be confused with “swag”). We bet players will want to play with him. Everyone knows that OKC squandered a shot at a title this season with this deal. But what about Houston? They came away looking like bandits. Finally. Houston fans haven’t been this excited since “Still Tippin'” dropped … It’s hard to look gloomy when you’re ready to sign on the dotted line of a contract that’ll probably pay you around $80 million, but Harden was devastated by the trade. He didn’t believe the Thunder would actually deal him, even after Sam Presti threatened/pleaded that they would, and gave Harden one hour to make a decision on their final contract offer … After being suspended twice during the preseason for conduct detrimental to the team, Dallas finally decided to waive Delonte West, who was reportedly negatively influencing their younger players. Who knows where West goes from here. The guys in Boston still love him, and still consider him family. But he’s lost a lot of love in most other front office war rooms. It’s never a good sign when Eddy Curry replaces you on the final roster … For opening night, what’s a bigger drop-off: Jodie Meeks starting in place of Kobe Bryant (could possibly happen)? Curry starting in place of an injured Chris Kaman (probably will happen)? Or anyone on Dallas’ roster starting in place of Dirk (going to happen)? At least they don’t have the circus revolving around Lamar Odom anymore. He’s in L.A., finally practicing again, and says he plans to play in the team’s season opener. He also believes he’ll play like the “old Lamar.” Yes, old Lamar may make quite a few appearances this year … Keep reading to hear about Amare’s bad news…
Speaking again on the Rockets, Jeremy Lin won’t just have to prove his worth to skeptical fans around the country. He must prove it to Deron Williams, too. Brooklyn’s franchise star said, flat-out, that Raymond Felton is a better point guard than Lin. Why? In Williams’ words, the new Knicks point guard is proven, and had the best half-season of his career during his time in New York. Felton was spectacular that year, and (specifically), he and Amar’e Stoudemire brought the Knicks back. He was shooting the long ball at career-high marks, running pick-n-rolls like Stockton back in the day, and most importantly, New York was competitive again. Now after some time out in the wilderness stacking bricks on the court and burgers along his waistline, Felton is back and the only alternative route for New York is Jason Kidd. For the Knicks to have a good season, Felton BETTER be nicer than Lin … Williams has his own issues to worry about in Brooklyn. He’s had lingering tendonitis in his ankle that got so bad before a recent cortisone shot that D-Will says it hurt just to walk down the street. When you’re the fifth-best point guard in the NBA and rely heavily on your change of direction dribble moves and physical force off the dribble, taking injections before the season even starts is never a good thing. Neither is this: admitting you’ll probably need offseason surgery on the injury in question when, in the meantime, you still have 82 games to play (and possible more if all goes well). Not a good sign for Williams fantasy owners. When the aforementioned Felton started driving by him consistently in the preseason, Williams figured it was from old age. Now, who knows how it’ll respond to the rigors of the season … Felton isn’t the only question mark in New York City these days. Amar’e Stoudemire is out for at least the first six weeks of the season now after re-injuring his surgically repaired left knee. Originally, a ruptured cyst was only supposed to leave him sidelined for two or three weeks, but the news just gets worse and worse for STAT. We feel for him. It seems to never stop. For the duration of Hurricane Sandy, they should strap him to the wall in one of those underground safe rooms so he doesn’t catch a virus or lose a limb … And with college ball on the cusp of starting as well, the All-America team was announced yesterday, headlined by leading vote-getters Cody Zeller and Creighton junior forward Doug McDermott. The final spots were grabbed by Deshaun Thomas of Ohio State and Isaiah Canaan of Murray State while C.J. McCollum of Lehigh and sophomore Trey Burke of Michigan tied for the final spot. Zeller was actually only one vote shy of a unanimous selection, and it’s not hard to see why. Expect his name to fall no lower than No. 3 in next summer’s NBA Draft … We’re out like STAT.
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