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All but Yao expendable to dealIf you listen to Houston Chronicle writer Richard Justice then the Houston Rockets have only one piece which should not be up for offer this offseason, and he is not American. Yao Ming, the Rockets gentle giant, should be the only untouchable Rocket. While the team has made strides in this season, they are a team heavy on talent but shallow on cohesiveness and if they want to become a championship contender rather than a playoff filler then this will need to change. The first step Justice says he'd do is offer All-Star guard Steve Francis for All-Star forward Elton Brand of the Clippers straight up. Brand was taken with the first overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft by the Bulls and Francis second by Vancouver, but this isn't important, nor is the Clippers response. Even if Los Angeles says no, writes Justice, the tone will have been set for the summer and the Rockets would be proactive rather than timid. The plan is to make the Rockets a better team, not more talented. This begins with a defensive oriented power forward. With no first-round draft choice and little available cap space, Rockets GM Carroll Dawson won't have an easy summer. To improve the Rockets must sacrafice, and to sacrafice something important must be given up for the betterment of the team. The team's biggest tradeable asset outside of Yao is Francis, and exchanging Francis for a power forward is a price the Rockets may have to pay. 'Perhaps more than any other position, point guards can be found in unlikely places. Some of the best have bounced around or been cut before finding a place they fit.' The Rockets may be able to live without Francis, but will they be successful with him? This is a decision that Dawson will have to make. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Payton: `We ain't coming back to Houston'If you listen to Gary Payton you'll hear that the Lakers are confident that this time next week they'll be in battle with the San Antonio Spurs, but at the same time they are cautious not to under-estimate the Rockets. "The thing is, we've got to take care of business on Wednesday night (against the Rockets)," Payton said. "The game is at our place, so we should be able to do it. You don't want to have to go back to Houston, because you never know what could happen in that situation. If they get hot, have one of those kinds of games shooting, then you've got to come back here for Game 7, and that's a situation you'd like to avoid. "I'm sure the Rockets would like to get us into that kind of situation and take their chances. What they don't know is we ain't coming back to Houston." Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets OT loss to Lakers shakes RocketsUp by four late in the game the Houston Rockets were sure they had this game won. They were close to completing a sensational comeback overtime win, and soon the series would be tied two games a piece. "Everybody was really happy," center Yao Ming said. "The victory was right in front of our face." Outscored 9-1 in the final two minutes, the Rockets committed two turnovers in the final 77 seconds, then failed to secure the rebound that let the Lakers clinch the win 92-88, giving the Lakers a 3-1 lead as the series now heads back to Los Angeles. One more Rockets loss and their season is over. "It's the most painful (loss), especially at home, when you have the game right there in your hand and somebody takes it right away from you," Rockets guard Steve Francis said. "If a couple things go a different way, if we just make a couple different plays, we hold on to the lead, and we've got it," Rockets forward Jim Jackson said. "It's a 2-2 series." Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Rockets Apr 2004 Archive
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