Well, that is one way to remove a potential linep jam....

[Warhawk]

Rehab setback knocks Rockets' Battier out for bulk of preseason

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3611454

HOUSTON -- Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier will be sidelined up to four weeks and miss most of preseason because of an inflammation in his left foot.
He had surgery May 9 to remove bone spurs from his left ankle, and the team said the foot inflammation occurred during rehabilitation. The Rockets open training camp Tuesday.
The 6-foot-8 forward started 78 games last season and averaged 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds. He was one of the team's most dependable 3-point shooters, hitting 38 percent.



I think this means Ron will be getting more minutes earlier in the season.....

 

[Warhawk]

Camp position battles to watch



and then I see this:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/marty_burns/09/23/camp.battles/index.html

1. Rockets small forward

• The main candidates: Ron Artest, Shane Battier
• The skinny: Don't assume Artest will just step into the starting lineup. Battier is a valuable cog as a long-armed defender and three-point shooter. He also does a lot of other little things that complement Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Houston coach Rick Adelman might be reluctant to tinker with success, and instead opt to use Artest off the bench as a sparkplug and scorer much the way the Spurs do with Manu Ginobili. (At the end of games, Adelman can always use Artest and Battier on the floor with T-Mac as the principal ball handler). Artest, by the way, has said he would accept a reserve role.

 

[kennadog]

Artest, by the way, has said he would accept a reserve role.

Seeing, not hearing, is believing, Ron.

 

[FakeInjury]

Ron plays the four. battier and mcgrady and rafer and yao round off the starters. I truely believe they will be in the WCF.

 

[est.1999]

^^^ that's a slow *** lineup though

 

[Bricklayer]

People keep trying to make the Rockets situation difficult. It really is not. They can't score, have needed a third scorer, and got him. Very simple. He will start or play starters minutes off the bench. Still very simple. Battier becomes a versatile 6th man defender. Still very simple. How many games have we ever seen Rick play with his star players? There is really no trick here. And them losing Battier for the preseason might actually end up helping them in the end -- will speed up Ron's transition. Battier is a plug and play roleplayer. But there was always going to be an adjustment to Ron.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I think the Rockets like Carl Landry a bunch as he came into his own last season. Maybe fantasy players should take note. They just matched the Bobcats offer to keep the 6'8 SF/PF in Houston with a 3 yr extension for $9m. When the Rockets went on their long winning streak tear last season with Yao out (plus other key injuries), it was Landry more than any other single role player on the squad who opened up a lot of eyes.

 

[FakeInjury]

Landry would have been aquired by us if he wasn't so integral for their teams success. They were willing to give up BJax and 2 unknown commodities for Artest. Landry is a proven 1st round talent...greene was drafted in the first round, but that doesn't mean much. I've never heard a lineup with rafer alston called "slow". and Adelman's offense is uptempo therefor thier lineup is anything but slow. This team is going to be way better than san antonio, and if SA gets to the finals every few years, that puts HOU in contention for a ring. On paper, they are far and away the best team in the NBA. Boston has a few guys, but HOU is deep with veterans, like yao, mcgrady, artest, battier, rafer, mutumbo, landry, and hayes....theres the 8 man rotation.

 

[est.1999]

once again fake you ramble along with nonsense.

The rockets are trash because of tmac. Therefore a first round exit is coming. Ron is too selfish to make this thing work. It will backfire on them. I could already here tmac whining to the media once again.

 

[gunks]

A healthy Rockets team is a contender. But thats a lot to hope for with Ming and Mac on the team. Not to mention they're coached by Rick "6 man rotation" Adelman. More minutes for starters ups the injury risk.

I'd love to see them make a post season run with their big 3. But I bet by the time it's april its going to be a big 2, maybe just a big 1.

 

[NeedMooreMikki]

A healthy rockets team is dam scary. But it looks like it may be another long season for the boys from houston

 

[NME]

Not off to the greatest start on the health front.

McGrady says shoulder arthritic, knee slow to heal

By CHRIS DUNCAN – 21 hours ago

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Rockets, buzzing about the arrival of Ron Artest, already have injury concerns with Tracy McGrady.

Houston's leading scorer said Monday that his left shoulder is arthritic and will require surgery after this season. He also said his left knee is healing slower than expected from surgery in the spring.

.....

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3hO7vikzsgEUApIM3nzGVOdHnAwD93GMF900

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

Houston definitely has solid depth--especially considering the fact that Luther Head and Shane Battier, in their projected lineup, would be coming off the bench, and both were solid starters within the last two/three years--and they have rising players in guys like Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry. But their point guard situation should've been addressed--I just don't like Rafer Alston as a player, admittedly, because frankly he's not a super passer yet has poor shot selection combined with streaky shooting ability--when that happens, you're bound to shoot less than 40% from the field regardless; yeah, his defense is good, but considering that the Rockets had trouble scoring last year, a lot of the blame falls on the point guard because they're expected to create plays for others.

To me, the Rockets have a collection of several me-first players who have been headaches in the past (Alston to an extent, Steve Francis, Ron Artest), combined with real good guys (Scola, Yao, Battier). It's tough to see how that volatile mix would work out, but with Artest and TMac probably handling the ball most of the time it's really up to Alston to either improve his shot or to really make maximal use of his always-latent court vision.