Some in my position might take the cowardly, convenient route and never admit my preseason prediction -- with my previous employer -- that the Rockets would win the NBA title this season. Go ahead, Lakers-Celtics-Cavs loyalists, let me have it.
But I'm sticking with my prediction; that's what predictions are for, to expose the foolishness of the pundit making them. I'm sticking with my prediction A) because I have to, due to journalistic integrity and all, and B) despite Tracy McGrady once again morphing into paper mache. To no one's surprise, McGrady is spending more time with Dr. James Andrews than Yao Ming, and will miss at least a week due to soreness in his surgically repaired left knee. So be it. I still like the team, and I trust that GM Daryl Morey knew what he was doing when he acquired Ron Artest -- just as he knew what he was doing when he drafted Carl Landry and traded for Luis Scola.
UPDATED 3:23 p.m. The basketball gods are angry -- very angry -- that I could be so clueless as to pick a team that hasn't been past the first round of the playoffs in seven years to win the NBA title. Thus, the latest is that McGrady says he'll miss three weeks with "general soreness" in his knee.
Houston is in the bottom third of the NBA in scoring average (94.3), but is second only to Boston in points allowed (90.9). At 11-7, the Rockets are hovering around in a three-way tie with Utah and Phoenix for fourth in the West despite Shane Battier playing only two games and McGrady and now Brent Barry being on the shelf. Rick Adelman should consider himself lucky that the Hornets, Jazz, Spurs and Mavs have all stumbled out of the gate, too.
Artest will begin to pay off for Morey because he is still capable of carrying the offense with McGrady out. The challenge will be getting Artest to slip back into a complementary role once McGrady returns. That's Adelman's problem, one that he never had to deal with to this degree when he coached Artest in Sacramento. If anyone can handle Artest, it's Adelman. But clearly, finding the right way to incorporate Artest into the Rockets' offensive hierarchy has been a failure as the Rockets approach the quarter-pole of the regular season.
Artest is shooting only 34.4 percent, and as he has done throughout his career, he's taking the bulk of the shots and putting the ball on the floor way too much. That was OK in Sacramento when he played with Kevin Martin, but not OK when he's playing with Yao.
The Rockets catch a scheduling break now, facing the Clippers and Warriors twice in the next 11 days along with Memphis and Atlanta. After that, with McGrady back, Artest needs to find the role he's going to occupy the rest of the way. If not, then this columnist -- and 7.7 percent of NBA general managers who predicted the Rockets would win it all -- will have to admit they were wrong.
Here's the rest of the Morning Shoot:
* You have to give Warriors fans credit. Despite the fact that their team is winless since acquiring Jamal Crawford from the Knicks, and despite their coach, Don Nelson, candidly admitting he doesn't have a playoff team this year, they packed Oracle Arena and rocked the place Monday night. Their reward? Golden State threw the game away at the end, losing 130-129 to the Heat in overtime. The crushing blow was Michael Beasley stealing an inbounds pass in the final seconds of OT. Oh, Crawford scored 40 in his G-State debut, but alas he is headed for yet another losing season. No current player has been in the NBA longer without making the playoffs.
* Boy, things don't look good for Mo Cheeks. Sixers president Ed Stefanski wouldn't answer questions about the team Monday, saying he'll address the situation on Wednesday. The Sixers, expected to compete for a high playoff seed after acquiring Elton Brand, have lost four straight and are 7-10 heading into Tuesday night's back end of a home-and-home with the Bulls. Frustration is building. Long after most reporters and teammates were gone Sunday night following a 103-92 loss to Chicago, Brand sat at his locker for a long heart-to-heart with assistant coach Jim Lynam.
* The Celtics won the Stephon Marbury Bowl rather decisively, 107-88 over the Magic. Orlando is desperately in need of a point guard who can get to the basket and put the defense on its heels. That is one thing Marbury can do, in addition to putting his teammates and bosses on their heels. Having won nine straight, Boston obviously doesn't need Marbury. At some point, though, Doc Rivers may need more production out of Sam Cassell's roster spot than two technical fouls, which Sam I Am managed to tally up despite not playing a minute Monday night. Cassell has a non-guaranteed contract and isn't playing at all, so it'd be easy math to sign Marbury for the $1.2 million veterans minimum and hire Cassell as an assistant coach.
* The Trail Blazers bring a four-game winning streak into Madison Square Garden to play the Knicks Tuesday night, showcasing Greg Oden for the first time at MSG. The story behind the story, though, is Portland G.M. Kevin Pritchard. Few executives with a team this talented have been as active as Pritchard in trade discussions. Although the Mike Conley-for-Travis Outlaw deal discussed during the summer isn't going to happen, Outlaw, Channing Frye, and Sergio Rodriguez could be on the move before the trade deadline. The Blazers have shown the ability to compete with the Western Conference elite, but Pritchard also has cap flexibility going forward to be a factor in the free-agent frenzy of 2010. In other words, get used to the Blazers being in the discussion for a long time.
* Veteran Chicago basketball writer Sam Smith has brought his irreverance to Bulls.com, and apparently he's allowed to write whatever he wants. Smith pointed out a reader comment he spotted on a competing Web site that shall remain nameless. It was from a reader in St. Louis who wondered if, upon seeing the headline, "Wizards fire Jordan," last week, Charlotte Bobcats part-owner MIchael Jordan worried -- just for a moment -- if it was referring to him. "I thought we were with some team in Charlotte ... the Bearcats or something like that?'" the reader thought MJ might have mused.
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