Thought I'd throw in my two cents on #1 before "Bash T-Mac Week" comes to an end.  It's on a more general note: the 2009 NBA All-Star game.  If the polls ended today, your very own Tracy McGrady would be starting for the Western Conference squad.  Even as a Rockets fan (or, better yet, especially as a Rockets fan), it's a travesty.  As of January 2nd, the polls read as follows:

 

Western Conference Guards

Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,534,020 votes

Tracy McGrady (HOU) 961,852 votes

Chris Paul (NO) 867,889 votes

...

Rafer Alston (HOU) 282,767 votes

Brandon Roy (POR) 210,755 votes

 

I'll let the Rafer thing speak for itself, but the fact that Tracy McGrady has more votes than both Chris Paul and Brandon Roy is ridiculous.  While Roy's snubbing may not be much of a surprise given the lack of media attention he receives outside of Oregon, the fact that Chris Paul, the MVP-runner up last season, isn't even that close to McGrady is astounding.  Does anyone watch T-Mac play anymore?

I've heard of fans siding with the stars of yesterday.  It happens in every sport - the most popular players get votes over the young rising stars who put up better numbers.  But this is more than that.  This is a beyond-obvious blunder by the fans.  It's like if Maxim were to give their "Sexiest Woman" title to Cloris Leachman.

Since when has T-Mac lived up to his title as a "star" in the NBA, at least so far this season?  He hasn't put up good numbers at all, his team still hasn't gone to the second round of the playoffs, he's missed a handful of games, and the last time he did anything exciting, aka dunk the ball with any ounce of authority or athleticism, was during the New Orleans game last season, a simple dunk that has been severely overplayed on the Rockets' scoreboard before every home game.  Probably 'cause that they really don't have much else to show.  It's been a while since 13 in 35.

Can you think of the last time you saw Tracy on SportsCenter's Top Ten Plays, or on NBA.com's Top Ten Plays?  I can't - once again, it's been a while.  The only reasons that he has received any media attention lately have been A) His failure to produce, or B) The 22-game winning streak, something that garnered more national respect for the Rockets as a whole than for Tracy McGrady.  So what is inspiring all of these fans to suddenly vote for T-Mac over Chris Paul?  In this case, it's probably due to Chinese voters.  Can we do anything about that?  Nope, except vote like crazy for Chris.  If Dwight Howard can overcome the Yaopalooza in China, then maybe CP3 can as well.  But it probably won't happen.

Despite what I said earlier, other sports' All-Star games are indeed beginning to see some improved knowledge of their voters, specifically football.  Terrell Owens got passed over for Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald this season, two receivers that have consistently put up TO-like numbers every year but never got much respect.  Running backs Thomas Jones and Chris Johnson were chosen over guys like LT and Willie Parker.  Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha made it over fan-favorite Champ Bailey.  Why doesn't this happen in basketball?

Maybe fantasy football is more popular than fantasy basketball, therefore inspiring stat geeks to vote for players that had legitimate Pro Bowl seasons.  But whatever the case, it's wrong, and something needs to change.  Like, for instance, Tracy needs to sit out.  Hopefully for health reasons, but if not, for moral reasons.

Let me make this clear: even if he is voted a starter, he'll probably sit out due to health concerns.  But what if he was healthy enough to play?  Should someone who has played this poorly so far this season accept the title that he has been given?  It would be unprecedented for Tracy to say, "Hey Chris, start over me.  You deserve it."  But what if he did it?  It would certainly improve his image, if nothing else.  But I'll keep that possibility short and sweet, because it ain't happening.

The fact of the matter is that Tracy McGrady will probably not play in the All-Star game because of his injury.  But it doesn't change the fact that fans have airballed their chance to vote the league's elite to start in the All-Star game.  And Tracy McGrady, I'm saddened to say, is no longer an elite player.

 

The Rockets are a mediocre basketball team.  That's the truth.

And the truth hurts.  Yes, I know we played hard tonight... without Artest or Battier and with Von Wafer having cramping issues.  Plus Tracy McGrady was a spectator for this game (then again, even when Tracy's been on the court this year he's been mostly a spectator.) 

Speaking of Tracy, I always thought centers were the position most likely to all of a sudden just "lose it" - but McGrady is done.  We should have done the Kobe trade a year ago.  And if that wasn't an option, we should have taken whatever the Chicago Bulls would have offered.  In fact, maybe they'll still give us Kirk Hinrich and some spare parts for McGrady (?).  Pretty please?

There are exactly two players on the team playing well right now.  Yao and Scola.  And because Scola is too nice to demand the ball, he's being ignored in the offense.  Wafer is up-and-down.  Brooks is in a shooting slump.  Rafer sucks.  Artest is visibly frustrated with his teammates and the referees.  Adelman is still asleep (seriously - Carl Landry was PERFECT tonight, and yet Adelman only let him play 18 freakin' minutes.  That is inexcusable.)

Sad to say, but the Rockets are once again on pace to limp into the playoffs and be unceremoniously shown the door 6-7 games later. 

Show some heart, men.  This time last year the team was finding itself and gaining confidence.  I see the exact opposite attitude this year.  With Rafer bitching about everything and McGrady slowly becoming a cancer... we need someone else to be a jolt of energy and right the ship.  Like... now.

Take a look at these two shot charts (courtesy of NBA.com).

Home

Away

This doesn't make sense.  We shoot better on the road than at home...much better, in fact.  And yet, we're 11-4 at home and only 10-8 on the road.  In addition to that, we score more points at home (98.2) than we do on the road (97.1).  Huh?

After some insight, I've found that we can attribute the home ppg to more FT attempts (12 more attempts at home in 3 less games), which does make sense.  We shoot the same percentage at home and away, so the makes even out.  

Maybe this helps to explain our 21-12 record compared to our 15-17 record at this point last season.  We shoot 81 percent from the free throw line this year, compared to 73 percent last year.  You can thank our improved FT percentage for that Milwaukee win.  

Our defense at home explains the better record as well, seeing as we give up only 91.5 ppg at home compared to 95.8 on the road.

I just found that to be interesting.  And to state the obvious, our road 3pt% is ridiculously good.

 

Yes, I am annoyed that the Rockets blew last night's game and are "only" 20-12 this year, which is no longer good enough for first place in the Southwest Division.

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That said... it could be worse.  For instance - remember last year?

At this time last year, the Rockets were coming off a defeat to the Celtics (no shame there), and had a robust record of 15-17.  So, yes, this year is an improvement.  It may not seem like it, but it is.  Five games better is still five games better...

And there is a bright side.  Just look at our schedule in February!  Those are 10 easily winnable games.  And the "other" game is against Cleveland, a team we normally match up well against (and Yao wants revenge now, too).  By the first of March, the Rockets should be healthy (Big 3), wealthy (big winning streak!) and wise (learn from the Washington debacle.  Please!).

Aside from health, the only "resolution" the Rockets should make is to stop taking lesser teams for granted.  We've somehow lost to Washington, Indiana, Memphis and the Clippers.  I cannot explain that.

So, I guess Lee didn't put up a preview.  Hmmmm...

probably a good thing.  The Wi**rds are kicking our collective asses.  Or maybe the Rockets are just wearing goofy golf clothes and we are kicking our own asses like Happy Gilmore would.

If that's the case... then go to your happy place, Rockets.  Just go to your happy place!

Because I can't deal with the thought of losing to Washington.  And certainly not by double digits.  The first half SUCKED.

edit:  And if you don't think I'm posting this to set up a second half "ooooh, the Rockets learned how to shoot!  Uh, oh!" entry... you're crazy.

Many Rockets fans, including myself, have found something new to bicker about this season.  In the past, it has been either about depth, coaching, or injuries.  But with the emergence of Aaron Brooks and the continual suckiness of Rafer Alston, a new topic of debate has been triggered:

Who starts:  Alston or Brooks? 

While it may be easy at first glance to choose Aaron over Rafer, the fact of the matter is that Rick Adelman hasn't seen things that way, and despite Rafer's suckage, he has maintained the starting job and we still manage to win some games with him.  So let's take a deep statistical look at how each player has impacted the Rockets thus far and try to shed some light on who is the better fit for us as a starter.  I'll try to accumulate as many statistics as I can, and then you can decide what to do with them.  Hopefully, this won't be a giant waste of time you'll be able to find some statistical information to back up any claims.  Off we go.

Team Win/Loss Impact

While the team's win/loss record cannot be solely attributed to Rafer or Aaron's performance, it does provide some insight, especially given that they both play point guard, an instrumental position.

Overall Team Won-Loss Record:

Rafer: 15 - 10,  Aaron: 5 - 1

Tough to compare the two given the difference in games started, so let's look at the opponent.

Team W-L Record vs. Opponents At or Over .500:

Rafer: 7-7,  Aaron: 3-1

Team W-L Record vs. Opponents Below .500:

Rafer: 8-3,  Aaron: 2-0

 

Individual Statistics

Now let's look at each player's individual stats:

Rafer:

G	MIN/G	FG%	FT%	3PT%	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS
25	33.60	36.5%	79.0%	36.6%	3.3	4.9	1.2	0.2	11.76

Aaron:

G	MIN/G	FG%	FT%	3PT%	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS
30	23.03	43.9%	92.4%	40.4%	2.2	2.6	0.4	0.1	11.10

Based on each's overall stats...

• It looks like Aaron has a much better scoring output while Rafer racks up more assists. 
  
• Rebounds can be discarded, as well as blocks.
• That 92.4 FT% is money at the end of games, when the starters are usually in.
• Rafer can be streaky, so you never know when he could go off, like in Cleveland.  However, he can also be miserable, i.e. the Utah and NO games.  Usually streaky shooters are reserved for the bench, and if they are hot, they'll stay in the game, such as J.R. Smith or Rudy Fernandez.  This doesn't apply to everyone, though, and Rafer is clearly a much better passer than the other two.
• Keep in mind: Rafer averages 1.8 TO, Aaron averages 1.3 TO in less minutes.

Let's look at John Hollinger's PER ratings for each player:

Rafer: 13.28, 34th best among PGs.

Aaron: 15.93, 21st among PGs.

I for one think that Hollinger's system has plenty of flaws, but to be honest, it is a pretty good indicator of scoring output.  Take Paul Milsap of the Jazz.  Everyone laughed at his high PER rating among some of the better-known names, but as soon as he started in place of Carlos Boozer, there was no drop-off in PER - he put up double/doubles in every game.

 

Defense

It would be too easy to simply look at steals and blocks and say, "Oh, well Rafer is clearly the better defender."  While Alston does have higher numbers in those categories, his high minute numbers will definitely give him an edge there.  To add to that, let's see how each starting point guard fared in the six games that Brooks has started this season:

George Hill: 36 minutes, 8-13 FG, 17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 0-0 FT

Chris Paul: 35 minutes, 2-10 FG, 12 points, 12 assists, 1 rebound, 8-8 FT

Chauncey Billups: 35 minutes, 3-10 FG, 8 points, 6 assists, 0 rebounds, 1-2 FT

*Beno Udrih: 27 minutes, 1-5 FG, 2 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 0-0 FT

Randy Foye: 33 minutes, 11-21 FG, 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 0-1 FT

Devin Harris: 18 minutes, 2-9 FG, 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 6-6 FT

*Bobby Jackson: [in place of Udrih] 20 minutes, 5-12 FG, 19 points, 0 assists, 3 rebounds, 6-6 FT

Let's discuss Aaron's performance:

• There are no legitimate conclusions we can draw from the "size factor" of opposing guards, other than that it really makes no difference.  While big guards such as Chauncey Billups, Beno Udrih, and Devin Harris only combined for 20 points, 6-4 Randy Foye had 24 points.  So it is fair to say that big or small, Aaron will play good defense, and on some nights, his defense might be a bit lax.
• Holding Chris Paul to 2-10 shooting AND getting a win over NO in that game was huge.  Those 12 assists are, on most nights, a default.
  
• Allowing George Hill to destroy us in that ugly Spurs game was bad.
• Bobby Jackson is a chucker - he'll take a lot of shots every game, guarded or unguarded, and occasionally, they will go in.  Don't look too much into that Sacramento game.

Overall, it seems that Aaron Brooks can step up on defense and cause an opposing point guard to play below average.

It's tough to statistically break down Rafer's game-by-game performance because Brooks was also playing during those games.  However, we can look at Rafer's performance against OJ Mayo, a game in which Brooks didn't play.  Mayo shot 5-20, and had 10 points.  But it was his first NBA game, so, whatever.  Traditionally, however, Rafer is a good defender, and so far in our analysis, he and Aaron cannot be differentiated in terms of defense.  Aaron's ability to defend backs this stance up.

 

Head-to-Head

This may be one of the best indicators of who plays better.  Let's look at the teams and/or point guards that both Rafer and Aaron started against.  The San Antonio game won't count because Tony Parker started versus Rafer.  I'll repeat Aaron's defensive statistics for each team:

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS

Game 1: Rockets 91, Hornets 82

Aaron: 1-6 FG, 6 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 0 steals, 3-4 FT

Chris Paul: 35 minutes, 2-10 FG, 12 points, 12 assists, 1 rebound, 8-8 FT

Game 2: Hornets 88, Rockets 79

Rafer: 1-10 FG, 3 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 0 steals, 0-0 FT

Chris Paul: 37 minutes, 8-18 FG, 26 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 8-8 FT

DENVER NUGGETS

Game 1: Nuggets 104, Rockets 94

Rafer: 3-10 FG, 16 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 7-8 FT

Chauncey Billups: 40 minutes, 9-18 FG, 28 points, 10 assists, 6-7 FT

Game 2: Rockets 108, Nuggets 96

Aaron: 6-13 FG, 16 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 4-4 FT

Chauncey Billups: 35 minutes, 3-10 FG, 8 points, 6 assists, 0 rebounds, 1-2 FT

So what can we take from that?

• Uh, maybe not a whole lot
• They each performed pretty much the same offensively and put up identical stats.
• But...
• Rafer got killed defensively.  This happening while Aaron shut his man down.
• The Rockets won each game that Aaron started and lost each game that Rafer started.

Final Assessment

Well, we've seen a lot today.  But if you had to ask me to choose a player that I would rather have start for me, it would be...

Aaron Brooks.  Why?

Normally I hate to defer to the young gun in a decision as close as this, but it's obvious that we win with Aaron in the lineup.  He's a much better scorer, is more consistent as far as shooting goes, and while he may not put up the same kind of assist numbers that Rafer does, the Rockets have still put up 20+ combined assists in all but one of the games that Aaron has played in, and our stretch of four straight 100 point games began and ended with Aaron in the lineup.  Defensively, I still think it's a coin toss, but Aaron definitely defended the opposing player better in the head-to-head assessment.  Finally, I think that Rafer would make a great backup point guard.  Someone that could come in off the bench and know how to run an offense, but also someone that you could yank out of a game with good reason the minute he started to screw things up.  You don't normally do that to starters, unless you are the Dallas Mavericks.

My suggestion is to try out Aaron for a few games even while Skip is healthy.  See what happens.  And it would be smart to do it now when the season is nearing the half-way point and not late in the year when we need big wins.

Lastly, even with a look at all of these stats, I could have had Dave (or anyone, for that matter) simply state the obvious by writing a four word article reading: "Rafer sucks.  Start Aaron."

But that would be too easy.  Now you have some actual proof.  Feel free to add to what I've said in the comments section.

Today is the day.  The game I have had on my calendar since May 2, 2008.

The evil Utah Jazz are again arriving in Houston today.

Dear Santa -- all I want for the day after the day after Christmas is a victory over the Utah Jazz.  And maybe a pony, too??

Jazz fans are already making excuses in that their back-stabbing PF is injured.  And so is their C with the bad hair cut.  No, the other one.  Paul Millsap is out, too.

But Deron is playing.  So, that alone gives Utah a chance.

Take it right at 'em, Rockets!

Oh how I hate the Utah Jazz.

Celtics strolled into Los Angeles tonight with a 19 game winning streak and all sorts of media attention the Rockets lacked last year until we got to 20 wins in a row.  So yeah, it's safe to say I wasn't exactly rooting for the Celtics tonight...

and the Lakers gave me a surprise Christmas gift.  Thank you, Kobes!

 

The Celtics' streak over.
The Rockets' Streak still remains the tops of our era and 2nd all time.
(The Rockets' Streak gets capitalized as a proper noun.  The Celtics' version does not.  For obvious reasons.)

22 > 19

Now the Rockets can focus on destroying the Utah Jazz on Saturday:

"My name is Tracy McGrady.  You killed my 2008 season.  And my 2007 season.  Prepare to die."

 

Just speculation on my part, but with Francis traded allowing the Rockets to clear cap space, does that pave the way for Mutombo to come back "after Christmas" like he said he would? There is a general rule of thumb for GMs during Christmas that you do not trade players, so this tells me that they did it for a specific purpose, and Deke has to be that purpose in my opinion.

I think this is clearly the move that allows that to happen.  It's a shame Stevie couldn't finish his career here, but it's obvious his knee wasn't ready. That brings up an interesting point, if he's hurt, how does he pass the physical in Memphis?

If Mutombo doesn't come back, this is still a wise financial move by the Rockets.  yes we lose a second rounder, but getting under the cap in this economy is a shrewd move by Morey for Alexander. 

Did anyone keep track of the picks the Rockets

So... a midget walks onto the court last night.

Said midget gets double-digits in rebounds.

Sounds crazy... but it is true!

Not bad for a midget.  The T-Wolves must really suck.  And since the Rockets only won by 7, I have no idea what that says about Houston.