The Houston Rockets will decline 30-year old SG/SF Carlos Delfino’s option for the 2013-14 season valued at $3.0 million bucks before June 30th.  Delfino played in 67 games (5 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 25.2 minutes, 10.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Delfino has now played in 507 games (170 starts) in his first 8 years in the NBA and he is averaging 22.8 minutes, 8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds an 1.7 assists per game.  Delfino was one of the Rockets’ better bench players, so this could leave a mark.

The Houston Rockets won’t pick up 28-year old point guard Aaron Brooks’ option for the 2013-14 season before June 30th.  His team option was valued at $2.5 million bucks.  Brooks played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 5.4 minutes, 1.4 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  Brooks played in 53 games (20 starts) overall last year for the Kings and Rockets in which he averaged 18.8 minutes, 7.1 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.  Brooks has played in 325 games (149 starts) in his first five years in the NBA and he is averaging 24.0 minutes, 11.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.  This is no loss for the Rockets and it will create more salary cap space for them this summer.

The Rockets are not going to pick up 31-year old SG/SF Francisco Garcia’s option for the 2013-14 season valued at $6.4 million bucks.  Garcia played in 18 games (5 starts) for the Rockets last year after coming over in a deal with the Kings and he averaged 17.7 minutes, 6.4 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  He played in 58 games (20 starts) overall last year for the Kings and Rockets in which he averaged 17.7 minutes, 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  Garcia has now played in 480 games (133 starts) in his first 8 years in the NBA and he is averaging 22.0 minutes, 8.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.  This is not much of a loss for the Rockets as they want to create more salary cap space for a possible spending spree this summer.

As good as Hakeem Olajuwon was for the Rockets, Moses Malone was better.  Malone’s career really started to take off with the Rockets early on in his career.  Malone dominated the paint and he was an incredible offensive player for the Rockets.  In 1978-79, Malone played in 82 games in which he averaged 41.3 minutes, 24.8 points, 17.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.5 blocked shots per game.  He was also awesome in 1981-82, when he played in 81 games for the Rockets in which he averaged 42.0 minutes, 31.1 points, 14.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game.  Malone played in 464 games in his six years with the Rockets and he averaged 38.3 minutes, 24.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game.  Malone is still #2 in offensive rebounds (3,009) in Rockets’ history.  He is also #2 in defensive rebounds (3,950), #3 in total rebounds (6,959), #3 in blocked shots (758) and #5 in points scored (11,119) in Rockets’ history.  Malone was elected into Basketball’s Hall of Fame in 2011.

23-year old shooting guard James Harden is a star that the Rockets can build around and they have not had one of them in a long time.  Harden played in 78 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 38.3 minutes, 25.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game.  Harden has now played in 298 games (85 starts) in his first four years in the NBA and he is averaging 29.7 minutes, 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  The Rockets rescued Harden, as he would have never gotten the chance to be the kind of player he is right now if he still played with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

The rookies on the Rockets didn’t get to play a lot in 2012-13, but they showed a lot of potential for the future.  23-year old point guard Patrick Beverly replaced Jeremy Lin in the playoffs and he played well for the Rockets.  Beverly played in 41 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 17.4 minutes, 5.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.  He is going to see a spike in P.T. next year.  22-year old power forward Donatas Motiejunas played quite a bit in the middle of his rookie year for the Rockets.  He played in 44 games (14 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 12.2 minutes, 5.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  He had 11 games with at least 10 points and 6 games with at least 5 rebounds last year for the Rockets.  The Rockets dealt for 22-year old power forward Thomas Robinson at the trade deadline, but they didn’t play him that much.  Robinson played in 19 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 13.0 minutes, 4.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  He played in 70 games (0 starts) overall last year for the Kings and Rockets in which he averaged 15.1 minutes, 4.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  21-year old power forward Terrence Jones was buried on the depth chart for the Rockets in 2012-13.  He played in 19 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 14.5 minutes, 5.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  24-year old center Tim Ohlbrecht played in 3 games (0 starts) for the Rockets last year and he only averaged 4.0 minutes, 1.0 point, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.  You have to wonder if 22-year old power forward Royce White will ever play in a game with the Rockets.  He played in 16 games (8 starts) in the D-League for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and he averaged 25.6 minutes, 11.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.  White only shot 44.4% from the floor and 65.9% from the free throw line in the D-League and that’s not good.  He is afraid to fly, so it’s hard to see him ever playing in the NBA if that doesn’t change in the near future.

55-year old head coach Kevin McHale had a solid 2012-13 for the Rockets.  He led them to a 45-37 (54.9%) record during the regular season and he got the Rockets to win a couple of playoff games in the first round against the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder.  McHale is now 79-69 (53.4%) during the regular season and 2-4 (33.3%) in the playoffs in his first two years on the job for the Rockets.  McHale is now 118-124 (48.8%) during the regular season in his first four years as an NBA head coach and he is 2-4 (33.3%) in the playoffs.  McHale had a rough time with issues of the court (the death of his daughter), so he might want to retire in the off-season….but the Rockets want him back.  Stay tuned.

The Houston Rockets finally got back to the playoffs in 2012-13.  They finished in 3rd place in the Southwest Division with a 45-37 record, 13 games behind the Spurs.  The Rockets then took the Thunder to six games, playing very tough against them before bowing out.  Here is a look at the players that made the biggest impacts for the Rockets in 2012-13, in my opinion:

TEAM MVP:  James Harden:  23-year old shooting guard James Harden turned into a full fledged superstar for the Rockets in 2012-13.  He played in 78 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 38.3 minutes, 25.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game.  Harden had 9 double-doubles and 1 triple-double for the Rockets in 2012-13.  Harden had 65 games in which he scored at least 20 points, 5 games with 10 or more rebounds, 5 games with 10 or more assists and 21 games with 3 or more steals last year.  Harden gives the Rockets a young superstar to build their team around for the future.

BIGGEST SURPRISE:  Chandler Parsons:  24-year old small forward Chandler Parsons got a shot to play full-time with the Rockets in 2012-13 and he ran with it.  Parsons played in 76 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 36.3 minutes, 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  He had 8 double-doubles for the Rockets last year.  He scored at least 20 points in a game 22 times last year, he had at least 5 rebounds in 44 games, 17 games with 5 or more assists and 7 games with 3 or more steals last year.  The Rockets have to be excited about Parsons’ future.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:  Jeremy Lin:  24-year old point guard Jeremy Lin wasn’t the player the Rockets thought he would be when they signed him last summer.  He played in 82 games (all starts) for the Rockets last year and he averaged 32.2 minutes, 13.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  Lin had 9 double-doubles for the Rockets last year.  He also had 16 games with at least 20 points, 19 games with 5 or more rebounds, 56 games with 5 or more assists and 20 games with 3 or more steals in 2012-13.

The Rockets couldn’t keep up with the Thunder last night, plain and simple.  James Harden only shot 7 of 22 from the floor last night, but he still led the way for the Rockets with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.  Chandler Parsons also had a rock solid game with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.  Omer Asik (13 points, 13 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots) and Francisco Garcia (11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal in 37 minutes) also pitched in for the Rockets last night.  The Rockets are now done for the 2012-13 season as they Thunder beat them 4-2 in this series.

30-year old backup SF/SF Carlos Delfino is going to miss the rest of the playoffs due to a bone fracture in his right foot which will require surgery to repair.  Delfino played in 5 games (0 starts) in the playoffs for the Rockets and he averaged 24.0 minutes, 9.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  Delfino also played in 67 games (5 starts) during the regular season for the Rockets in which he averaged 25.2 minutes, 10.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  This is a big loss for the Rockets’ bench moving forward.