Please welcome Jacob Mustafa, our new Rockets Daily news editor. I think you all will be very pleased with this new addition. Thanks again to all who expressed interest in the role.
A little about Jacob:
At a very early point in my life, trying to recapture the brand new Houston Rockets logo in my second-grade notebook was the singular goal of my life, despite the fact I was supposed to be improving my penmanship. It could be said (I’m not sure by whom) that I have been aimlessly preparing for this job since that time. All of the yelling at complete strangers who happened to point out that the Rockets had not actually exited the first round since my age could be counted on one person’s fingers, the utter disregard for family members’, girls’ and most loved ones’ well-being during games, and even the tears shed by a child who had just seen a Utah Jazz in very short shorts crush his dream in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals- yes, all of those things probably led me to be able to write the very dramatic bio on the fantastic blog of which I am now, I am pleased to say, a part. Yes, my degree in print journalism probably also played into my ability to do all of these things, but that wouldn’t haven’t established nearly as much cred as what I did write. While I currently bide my time professionally as an SAT tutor, writing about the Houston Rockets, and writing for Red94, is something which I hope to continue to do for a very long time.
Jacob will be providing a more editorial zest to the Daily than to what you have been accustomed. What ensues is his first edition:
- The big fella has been cleared to play basketball, mostly. This is the kind of news Rockets fans have received so frequently for the last few years that it will be taken with the obligatory sigh of relief and a Sodom-and-Gomorrah-sized grain of salt. Tentative comebacks from major surgeries have sadly become the norm, and no matter what doctors say, fans will probably need to see Yao back in action before any real trust can be placed back in that giant foot.
- In the wake of this lukewarm non-news story, this interview with Yao taken after a low-intensity 1-on-1 practice leaves much fuzzier feelings for Rockets fans; after the retirement debacle and his out-of-context quotes that still didn’t seem so optimistic in context, Yao’s patent charm and gigantic smirk are just about the most reassuring images a Rocket fan could see. He may seem wary and concerned about the road ahead, but his self-deprecation (he cringes at his own “cheeseburger” line) clearly reminds us that he’s still cognizant that he is something that could use disparagement, as he is, simply put, still very good at playing basketball. We should all be glad to see that Yao Ming can return to being the Houston Rockets’ endlessly affable international superstar after haunting the sidelines as an enormous specter of the coming uncertainty.
- People who saw Yao Ming practice yesterday were impressed, including the Houston Chronicle’s Jerome Solomon and Yao’s woefully undersized sparring partner, Chuck Hayes. Hayes praises Yao for his movement and footwork (two things Rockets fans will be elated to hear are improving): “I did not think he would be able to move. I figured, that long of a layoff in this game? I thought he’d be rusty. But two weeks working with him, I’m impressed. The big fella can move. He’s working hard. He’s trying. He’s getting himself back together. I’m inspired and impressed by his work ethic.”
- Kelly Dwyer thinks that Luis Scola may not have been so bad during last March. While few saw what was definitely a showcase of the myriad skills of the sort-of-big-man, it is important to note that a man who posted the vaunted 20 & 10 for a month of NBA games (one of which having absurdly and awesomely augmented the overall totals) may well come into this year as the fourth option on his team, even barring a team-altering deal for a certain Baltimore native. I knew these two guys were on to something.
- Vassilis Spannoulis was “disgusted” by the direction the Houston Rockets were moving toward, so he left. Spannoulis acquired more nicknames than minutes in his time as a Rocket, and Jeff Van Gundy outwardly despised his playing style and attitude. None of this matters because he was so ineffective and unused in his short time in the NBA that his decision to go back overseas immediately following his one season with the team neither surprised nor interested any NBA or Rockets fan. His story will be filed alongside that of Bonzi Wells in the “Big Splash Signing Disaster That Ultimately Led to and Changed Nothing” drawer. It’s not a very full drawer.
- Any report linking Carmelo Anthony to the Houston Rockets in recent days seems to be packaged with a Los Angeles Clippers caveat, which could pose a truly formidable threat to the Rockets’ position as the team best equipped to get the Nuggets the kind of pieces that could be deemed acceptable when dealing a demigod (though calling the Clippers a truly formidable threat to anything seems wrong. It’s a truly formidable threat to crush Billy Crystal’s fragile heart?). The Clippers are young, deep and prepared to win now with a roster full of reliable veterans, but if our newfound respect for Carmelo and his trust in Daryl Morey are founded in any kind of reality, it seems highly unlikely that he would be willing to extend with the worst team in sports history.
- If enjoying other’s pain lead to glory is your kind of thing, the Nuggets, desperately striving for stability while trying to convince its franchise player that he should not demand to leave, saw its latest target for its vacant general manager position, former Phoenix Suns assistant general manager David Griffin, turn Denver down in favor of a global scouting gig in Toronto. While New Orleans GM Dell Demps may have had the luxury of another year on his superstar’s contract to convince him of the team’s worthiness, the Nuggets’ leverage in the trade market seems to continue to erode. The names being mentioned (Devin Harris, Kevin Martin, Blake Griffin) as headed to Denver in exchange for Anthony are unsurprisingly big, but I’m not sure Anthony’s the only one unsure of exactly what the Nuggets want to do. Until the organization shows that it either is willing to hold on to Anthony because it thinks it can make a legitimate title run this year or demands a certain level of talent publicly, the Anthony bounty could start to look more Gasol-like and less Garnett-like.
