The Houston Rockets selected Maarty Leunen in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft on Thursday Night. Leunen isn’t the most athletic player on the court but he does have nice size at 6′9″, 220 pounds. Leunen played in 127 games (91 starts) at Oregon and he averaged 9.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He’s an unselfish player as he did hit 50.3% of his career shots from the floor. Look for minutes to be hard to get for Leunen as a rookie.

The Rockets acquired power forward Joey Dorsey in the same trade that they acquired Donte’ Greene in from the Grizzlies. Dorsey is the prototype power forward as his game never ventures far from the paint. He is 6′9″, 265 pounds and he gives an all out effort on both ends of the basketball court. Dorsey played in 149 games (112 starts) at Memphis State and he averaged 6.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.8 blocked shots per game. Dorsey also shot 61.4% from the floor in college but most of his shots came on putbacks and dunks. Dorsey will likely be able to give the Rockets some quality minutes off of the bench.

The Houston Rockets acquired forward Donte’ Greene in a trade with the Grizzlies. Greene can handle either forward position and he had a great year as a freshman at Syracuse. Greene is 6′11″, 226 pounds and he’s a player. The Rockets were fortunate to get their hands on him as he could be a starter in the NBA as soon as this year. Greene played in 35 games (all starts) at Syracuse and he averaged 17.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocked shots per game. He plays hard on both ends of the basketball court and a lot of teams will be upset that they passed on him down the road.

The Rockets got three players before this season started who will all play big parts in the teams’ very near future. It all started when the Rockets stole forward Luis Scola in a trade with the enemy Spurs. Scola moved into the starting lineup at mid-season and he was great for them. He will be the starting power forward for a long time in Houston. Scola played in all 82 games (39 starts) for the Rockets this season and he averaged 24.7 minutes, 10.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Look for Scola’s numbers to improve with added playing time next season.

Carl Landry was the 2nd round pick of the Rockets and he really played well as a rookie. He played in 42 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this season and he averaged 16.9 minutes, 8.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. Landry shot an amazing 61.6% from the floor and that is because most of his shots were from close range. Landry only shot 66.1% from the free throw line and that will need to improve in the future…but that’s nitpicking.

Guard Aaron Brooks didn’t get a lot of playing time but he looked good when he did make it out to the court. He played in 51 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this season and he averaged 11.9 minutes, 5.2 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. This was quite a haul for the Rockets both for last season and in the future.

The Rockets were outscored 27-11 in the third quarter last night and they only shot 39% from the floor and those factors doomed the Rockets in their last game of the season. You can’t blame this loss on Tracy McGrady as he finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Luis Scola was the only other Rockets players that showed up last night as he finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds. The Rockets didn’t have any other players who scored more than 8 points last night. The Jazz won this series 4-2.