For the fourth time in 32-year old power forward Luis Scola’s five year NBA career, he played in every game for the Rockets in 2011-12. Scola played in 66 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 31.3 minutes, 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He has now played in 386 games (343 starts) in his first five years with the Rockets and he is averaging 30.2 minutes, 14.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. Scola is now #9 in rebounds in Rockets’ franchise history with 2,984 of them.

The Houston Rockets were right in the playoff mix until the last week of the 2011-12 season. They made a deal to add veteran center Marcus Camby at the trade deadline in an effort to make a legit playoff run, which they did until falling just a tad short. The Rockets finished up with a 34-32 (51.5%) record in 2011-12. Here is the players who made the biggest impacts in my opinion for the Rockets in 2011-12:

Team MVP: Luis Scola - 32-year old power forward Luis Scola wins this award by default, due to his staying healthy the whole year. Scola played in 66 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 31.3 minutes, 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

Biggest Surprise: Goran Dragic - When starting point guard Kyle Lowry went down to injury, 26-year old Goran Dragic really stepped up to replace him in the starting lineup and he was excellent. Dragic played in 66 games (28 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 11.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He kept the starting job even when Lowry returned to action late in the year.

Biggest Disappointment: Samuel Dalembert - 30-year old center Samuel Dalembert played in 65 games (45 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 22.2 minutes, 7.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game. Dalembert’s inability to handle a full time workload spurred the Rockets to deal for Marcus Camby at the trade deadline.

The Rockets expected a little more than they got out of their rookie class in 2011-12. 22-year old forward Marcus Moore played in only 17 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged only 7.4 minutes, 2.4 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He only shot 29.6% from the floor for the Rockets in 2011-12. Moore was a bust as a 1st round pick for the Rockets as a rookie, but they hope he starts showing improvement next year. 23-year old small forward Chandler Parsons bumped Chase Budinger out of the starting lineup pretty early in the season and he played pretty decent basketball. Parsons played in 63 games (57 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 28.6 minutes, 9.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Parsons was a steal in the 2nd round for the Rockets. 21-year old center Greg Smith played in only 8 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 8.6 minutes, 1.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.

The Rockets finished up with a 34-32 record (51.5%) in 54-year old Kevin McHale’s first year as the head coach. He seemed kind of strange in how he used players as he has constantly stiffing leader scorer Kevin Martin out of P.T. McHale is now 73-87 (45.6%) in his first three years as an NBA head coach. The Rockets hope that McHale is the right guy to get them back to the playoffs, starting in 2012-13.