The Rockets have gotten next to nothing out of their rookies so far this year. 20-year old forward Terrence Jones has played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 8.3 minutes, 3.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. He is only shooting 38.2% from the floor and that just isn’t going to get the job done. 22-year old point guard Scott Machado has played in only 3 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 3.0 minutes, 1.3 points, 0.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. 22-year old center Donatas Motiejunas has played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 3.6 minutes, 1.7 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game so far this year. Rookie forward Royce White is about to be sent to the D-League. He has yet to play in the NBA due to mental problems. I don’t see any of these guys playing much for the Rockets unless they suffer a lot of injuries.

55-year old head coach Kevin McHale has his Rockets playing pretty well so far this year. The Rockets are 16-13 (55.2%) on the season, which has them in 3rd place in the Southwest Division, 6 games behind the Spurs. The Rockets are now 50-45 (52.6%) during the regular season in McHale’s first two years on the job. The Rockets need McHale to keep up the good work as they want to end their playoff drought this season.

The point guards are holding the Rockets’ offense back a little bit so far this year. 24-year old Jeremy Lin is proving to be a very average basketball player. He has played in 26 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 32.7 minutes, 11.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He is only shooting 41.9% from the floor, 29.7% from the three point line and 81.8% from the free throw line so far this year. He needs to start shooting better or passing the ball more. 26-year old Toney Douglas comes off the bench shooting the rock. He has played in 25 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 19.5 minutes, 8.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Douglas is only shooting 38% from the floor overall, but he is also hitting 43.4% from three point range and 94.9% from the free throw line so far this year. 22-year old Scott Machado was recently called up from the D-League. Machado has played in 2 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 3.5 minutes, 2.0 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

23-year old power forward Patrick Patterson is out indefinitely due to a right foot injury. Patterson has played in 21 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 29.5 minutes, 13.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He has now played in 137 games (28 starts) in his first three years with the Rockets and he is averaging 21.7 minutes, 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. This is a bad break for Patterson as he was getting his first real shot to show what he can do in the NBA.

The Houston Rockets wanted to rebuild quickly last summer so they signed 26-year old center Omer Asik and 24-year old point guard Jeremy Lin to nice free agent deals. Then they made a huge trade with the Thunder for 23-year old shooting guard James Harden. Harden has been electric so far this year for the Rockets. He has played in 20 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 39.0 minutes, 25.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game so far this year. He has been the Rockets’ go-to man offensively and I don’t look for that to change any time soon. Omer Asik has been a beast around the glass, just like the Rockets thought he would be when they signed him up. Asik has played in 21 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 31.7 minutes, 10.6 points, 11.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. He is shooting 48.2% from the floor (which is decent), but only 58.6% from the free throw line (which he needs to work on). Jeremy Lin has been a disappointment so far this year. He has played in 21 games (all starts) so far this year for the Rockets and he is averaging 32.7 minutes, 11.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. But, he is only shooting 39.9% from the floor and 30.9% from three point range so far this year, and that is just not good enough to get the job done.

The Houston Rockets signed small forward Carlos Delfino over the summer thinking that he would give them an offensive jolt off the bench. It hasn’t worked that way so far this year. Delfino is averaging 25.2 minutes, 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game so far this year. He is only shooting 34.7% from the floor and 32.9% from the three point line so far this year, which is pretty awful. Forward Marcus Moore is really stepping up this year after showing next to nothing as a rookie last year. He is averaging 20.4 minutes, 8.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game so far this year. Toney Douglas is backing up Jeremy Lin at the point so far this year and he is averaging 18.9 minutes, 7.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He is only shooting 36.8% from the floor so far this year, but an impressive 41.7% from three point range so far this year. Center Greg Smith has been stepping up lately. He is averaging 12.7 minutes, 6.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game so far this year. He is shooting a rock solid 58.9% from the floor so far this year, which is impressive. SG/SF Daequan Cook has been pretty awful so far this year as he is only shooting 35.8% from the floor. He is averaging 12.7 minutes, 5.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game so far this year. Center Cole Aldrich hasn’t got to play too much so far this year. He is averaging 8.3 minutes, 2.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game so far this year. The Rockets need a little more from these guys moving forward.

24-year old small forward Chandler Parsons is taking his game to a new, higher level in 2012-13. Parsons has played in 15 games (all starts) so far this year for the Rockets and he is averaging 38.2 minutes, 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He is shooting 48.4% from the floor, 42.9% from three point range and 77.1% from three point range so far this year as he has been really efficient offensively. Parsons has now played in 78 games (72 starts) in his first two years with the Rockets and he is averaging 30.5 minutes, 10.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Parsons looks like a player on the rise for the Rockets.

Center Hakeem Olajuwon was the best player on the best teams in Houston Rockets’ history. He played in 1,177 games in his 17 years with the Rockets and he averaged 36.4 minutes, 22.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.8 steals and 3.2 blocked shots per game. Olajuwon is the Rockets’ all-time leader in games played (1,177), points (26,511), rebounds (13,382), steals (2,088) and blocked shots (3,740). He is also #3 in Rockets’ history in assists with 2,992 of them. Olajuwon was elected into Basketball’s Hall of Fame in 2008. Back when Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson played together, they were nicknamed the Twin Towers!