Hello my fellow Dream Shakers and Movers, it's good to see all of your bright smiling faces. I am a big Rockets fan, however I am also a huge Texans fan so I cant come on here and contribute anything of worth to the convo as much as I wish I could when the football season has most of my tiny attention span. It isnt that I havent kept somewhat in tune with whats been happening with the organization, because I have been lurking on this site daily to catch up. However, now that the Texans have proceeded to rip my heart out right on schedule, I am excited to turn my full attention to my Houston Rockets. As I shift my sports focus to this city's basketball team I cant help but feel like we arent where I thought we would be when I made this move. I am sure most of you would agree, but I need you guys to fill me in on what you think happened.. what got us to this place at this point in the season. Here's how I saw the offseason, when my excitement for this team was SKY HIGH!

Going into this season I felt like Morey and the rest of the FO had positioned this team perfectly: Kevin Martin getting a full offseason with the team and being healthy to boot. A lot of exciting trade rumors circled the team several months ago but we all knew it was the best decision to play to the trade deadline with the team we had from last year PLUS Yao and see what level that squad could play at. We had collected a cache of quality NBA role/rotation players and draft picks that would be attractive to any franchise if it came down to a us needing to make a move. Then we make a great pickup when we scooped Brad Miller, as he fits into the system perfect and it gave us another 7fter for our 2nd unit, not to mention in the process we attained a hefty trade exemption to pair up with any trade we might take on. I felt like the plan was, best case scenario, for Yao to stay healthy and for us to continue our high level of play from last year only add the defensive presence and 4th quarter "go-to" capabilities of Yao, but if that didnt happen, whether it be because of an injury or just a lack of chemistry with the new bunch, we would be at the top of the list to pull a trade for that "star" player. It seemed we were in position to be in a win-win situation come February.

Now, of course it really sucked to lose Yao how we did and as soon as we did. However, at least he didnt go down right AFTER the trade deadline and leave us dead in the water. At the same time, now that we have gone into "Plan B" mode of searching for a trade partner, it just doesnt feel like we are in the awesome position that I had thought we would be at this point. I know that there are a few teams with a little more to give in the Nets and possibly the Knicks but why arent we willing to give up as much as they are? Also, I can recognize the market is weak as well. There arent a lot of "sexy" players on the trading block around the league plus the teams with those "star" players are still in the hunt, therefore not willing to blow it up to start over. So I know that some of this is becuase of the unpredictability of the league.

My question to you guys that have been following diligently. is "what happened?" Did Yao go down too early? Are the players we have just not as good as we thought? Therefore not worth as much as we thought? Did Morey make a wrong move? Are we still good to go? If so what is a FEASIBLE trade option for this team to compete, not just for the 8th seed but for a title? IS it possible this year?