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Joey Dorsey has been assigned to the D-League. (AP Photo/Bob Levey)

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Via Jason Friedman's twitter:

Rockets have assigned Joey Dorsey to D-League Vipers

It's a disappointing, but not surprising move.  Dorsey was rotting on the bench - at least now he'll see the floor.  You have to wonder, though, exactly how much longer the Rockets are willing to wait on a guy not so different from two other young players already on the roster.

Haven't heard anything about who will be replacing him on the roster.  Perhaps Will Conroy?  Guess we'll have to wait a little while to find out.

In the meantime, check out Sactown Royalty in anticipation of tonight's surprisingly decent matchup with the pesky Kings.

More photos » by Bob Levey - AP

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From SB Nation's Andrew Sharp:

According to reports, Tracy McGrady will be back in action for the Houston Rockets in little more than a week. November 18th, vs. the Timberwolves, to be exact. He shared his thoughts in an e-mail to Yahoo! Sports:

"Excited to get back and compete at a high level again. For a full year I had to play on one leg against the best and I couldn't compete with anybody the way I was feeling."

"It's gonna be a relief to get out there and play knowing what I went [through] last season and this summer."

We'd last heard that Tracy was out until the end of November.  We'll see if the team clears him to play - it's my understanding that they haven't yet.

If you'd told me a month ago that Tracy would be back this early, I'd be ecstatic.  But given how well this current team has played, I'm a little hesitant to throw a wrench in it.  Then again, this wrench sounds much more polished than it has been in past years.  Ah, forget it; Tracy's return can only be a good thing.

UPDATE: Rockets, McGrady aren't on same page (thanks to forshizzle for the link)

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

6 months ago: Houston Rockets' Shane Battier (31) runs up court during the third quarter of Game 4 of a second-round Western Conference NBA playoff basketball series against the Los Angeles Lakers in Houston, Sunday, May 10, 2009. Houston won 99-87. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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Few players are as interesting as Shane Battier, and thus, people just keep wanting to write about him.  Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated has dedicated a chapter of his new book, entitled The Art of a Beautiful Game, to picking Battier's brain.  I was able to obtain an advanced free copy of the book, and enjoyed reading it very much.  While it's no masterpiece of any sort, the book accomplishes its goal of educating the reader on the mundane and often overlooked aspects of professional basketball.  I found it to be as interesting as any basketball book I've read, and the Battier chapter was no different.  Here are a few of my favorite exerts:

Following the Rockets defeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers:

Battier, for once, receives his due and is credited with four blocked shots.  And, other than one unlikely play when the slow-footed Cavs forward Wally Szczerbiak drove right by him for a righthanded floater, Battier didn't get beat all night.

Afterward, he sits in his familiar spot at his locker, feet in the Rubermaid bucket.  He smiles for the cameras, reiterates that it is "just one game."  If he's excited about holding [Lebron] James to zero assists, he's not showing it.  He does become animated, however, when I bring up the Szczerbiak drive.

"He usually doesn't drive," Battier says, incredulous.  "Only 31 times all season in the half-court.  Thirty-one!"

He pauses, shakes his head.  "That's an example of the scouting report not translating to the actual game."

On defensive play-calling:

"Even if I don't know the other team's plays, I'll call it out anyway," Battier says.  "All of a sudden, if you have five guys saying, 'Oh, they know what we're running,' that puts them back on their heels a little bit."

So if a team calls, "red five," Battier will start yelling it --"RED FIVE, RED FIVE, RED FIVE" --even if he has no idea what it means (which is rare).  "It's sort of the same as yelling, 'Ball ball ball ball' or 'Help, help, help,'" he explains.  "If you hear that as an offensive player, you're much less apt to dive into the teeth of a defense.  If you're around basketball, you know that when a team's getting its butt kicked, the players are silent.  They're passive.  That's why I try to be aggressive even vocally.  I think it has a psychological effect."

On pre-game warm-ups:

What irks him more, though, is the empty time.  For a man who runs to the locker room to save 45 seconds, 10 minutes of going through the motions is an eternity.  "If I could just come to the gym, read my scouting report, and then play, I'm happy," he says.  "There's so much dead time.  We shoot layups for like three minutes, and from 15 minutes to five minutes [counting down on the clock], it's free shooting.  I'm already warm, I got my shots up, I'm ready to play."  Battier pauses.  "I calculated it.  At 90 games a year, that 10 minutes of dead time means I've wasted hours and hours of my life just waiting for the game to start.  To a person who values efficiency, it just kills me.  By the time the game tips at 7:35, it's like, 'All right, finally.'"

On responding to foul calls:

Seeing LaMarcus Aldridge spin to the middle, Battier helps off his man and pokes at the ball.  It's the kind of quick, barely there play he makes dozens of times in a game.  This time, however, he gets whistled for it. Battier turns to referee Scott Foster, amazed.

You either have great eyesight or you're lucky as hell," Battier says.  "You made an unbelievable call.  I mean, I never get called for that."

"You got him," Foster says.

"You're right, I did," Battier responds, "but I don't think many people would see that."

Of all the things I see Battier do, this is one of the more impressive.  There is a primal response men have during a basketball game when called for a foul.  We feel wronged.  We complain about it.  We are, frankly, obnoxious.  But in the heat of the moment, Battier is able to somehow push two very different agendas: voice his displeasure with the call and compliment the referee.

That's just a small tidbit of a fantastic chapter.  If you're looking for a good basketball read, definitely give this book a look.

Atlanta Hawks: Peachtree Hoops    

Charlotte Bobcats: Rufus on Fire | QueenCityHoops

Miami Heat: Peninsula Is Mightier | SportsAgentBlog.com    

Orlando Magic: Third Quarter Collapse    

Washington Wizards: Bullets Forever | Hoops Addict | Truth About It

Bonus Links: See full schedule here | Also see SBNation preview storystream

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Here's the full list of Atlantic Division Previews.

Boston Celtics

CelticsBlog | LOY's Place | Celtics17 | Red's Army | Hoops Addict | Celtics Central | Celtics Hub | Gino's Jungle

New Jersey Nets

Slippery When Nets | Barkley's Mouth

New York Knicks

Posting and Toasting | Bandwagon Knick

Philadelphia 76ers

Liberty Ballers

Toronto Raptors

RaptorsHQ.com | Hoops Addict

Bonus Links

See full schedule here | Also see SBNation preview storystream

I again apologize for the lack of posts here.  The offseason is rough enough without stories of misadventures and crazy trade proposals to get us through the day.  Please forgive me.

(That said -- blame the economy.  This blog doesn't pay my mortgage.  Even though I wish it did!)

As the South Park song goes... I don't want to be homeless on the street doing unspeakable things for smack.  For that reason, I've been distracted from all things Houston Rockets.  Again, I apologize.  With the regular season starting in a little more than a month, maybe that will spark some creativity?  At the very least, training camp is just about to begin.

James White is headed to the Denver Nuggets, soon to be his fourth NBA team.

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From Jonathan Feigen:

The Rockets reworked their collection of guards to compete for roster spots, sending James White to the Denver Nuggets and signing Will Conroy and Garrett Temple.

With White facing long odds to make the team, the Rockets traded White for the draft rights to Axel Hervelle, a 6-9 power forward from Belgium. Hervelle will likely remain with Real Madrid, where he is a teammate with guard Sergio Llull, a Rockets' second-round acquisition in June. He averaged 8.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 21 minutes per game last season, and 6.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 19 Euroleague games.

From Jon L of Ridiculous Upside:

You should know Conroy from the season he had with Albuquerque last year. In case you've forgotten, he led the D-League in scoring last year (unless you count Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who played in only eight games) while also averaging about eight and a half assists per 48 minutes. He also averaged four and a half turnovers pe4 48, which isn't great, but it's as good or better than several other point guards in the league, and Conroy also had the ball in his hands a lot.

Temple went undrafted out of LSU a few months ago, and he's a combo guard with decent size and athleticism and an aptitude for defense. Bringing the two of these guys is an interesting offense-defense combination, and while I'm a little skeptical that either of these guys will make the team given how many players the Rockets already have under contract, they each have something to offer the team if Houston's willing to give them an honest chance.

And there you have it.  The James White Experiment has come to an end, and rightfully so.  Aside from his dunk-tastic athleticism, I was skeptical that White could be of any significance to a team, given his, for lack of a better word, awkwardness when handling or shooting the ball.

If you look back to July's Summer League Recap post, I've been high on Conroy for quite some time now.  He is a quick, athletic point guard with a knack for getting to the rim a-la Kyle Lowry.  Given what he has accomplished throughout his D-League career, he certainly deserves a chance to compete for a roster spot.  And while Jermaine Taylor and Chase Budinger seem to be obvious choices to make the team, you can never be too sure with rookies.  Somehow, at some point, Conroy could become a Houston Rocket.  

Looking back at that same recap, I wasn't quite as thrilled about Garrett Temple:

Temple didn't look comfortable as a point guard.  He only had two assists in the 62 minutes that he played this week, to go along with nine turnovers.  He won't be playing for the Rockets this season - his game, at least at the point guard position, isn't ready yet.  However, I do think he will eventually find a way into The Association.  Just not sure when that's going to be.

For defensive purposes, Temple is worth a look.  The only problem with that is that our current point guards are quite good at defending as well.  Again, I don't see a place for Temple, at least not on this roster.

I don't know anything about Axel Harvelle, though he does have a badass first name.  Apparently Daryl Morey likes Real Madrid, because we've now got the rights to two of their players in Sergio Llull and Harvelle.

If anything, Morey has given the Rockets more options in the backcourt, which can't be comforting to Taylor or Budinger.  They'll have to work to prove to the Rockets that their talent can carry over to the NBA.

More photos » by LM Otero - AP

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From Mark Berman of FOX Houston:

HOUSTON - NBA sources told FOX 26 Sports Thursday guard Brent Barry will not be back with the Houston Rockets for the upcoming season.

Barry will either be traded or he will retire with the Rockets expected in that case to buy out his contract which had one year remaining.

We sort of knew this already.  However, the report hints to a specific development.  We'll keep you updated.