The Rockets have waived 24-year old point guard Courtney Fortson. Fortson played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 8.2 minutes, 3.0 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He played in 10 games overall last year (0 starts) as a rookie for he Rockets and Clippers in which he averaged 9.5 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. The Rockets won’t miss Fortson too much as they have a lot of depth at point guard set up for the 2012-13 season.

29-year old Kevin Martin is going to have to hold off 20-year old, first round pick Jeremy Lamb for P.T. in 2012-13. Martin was in Kevin McHale’s Dog House quite a bit last season and that didn’t make much sense. Martin played in 40 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 31.6 minutes, 17.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He has now played in 475 games (387 starts) in his first 8 years in the NBA and he is averaging 31.3 minutes, 18.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Jeremy Lamb played in 75 games in his two years at Connecticut and he averaged 32.1 minutes, 14.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Lamb has a high upside and he is going to push Martin for his starting job in training camp and during the season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE SHOOTING GUARDS IN 2012-13: B

The Rockets have signed 22-year old undrafted rookie point guard Scott Machado to a partially guaranteed 3-year contract. Machado played in 33 games at Iona last year and he averaged 35.5 minutes, 13.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He played in 132 games in his four years at Iona and he averaged 31.4 minutes, 12.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Machado will have a decent shot of winning a roster spot for the Rockets in 2012-13.