The Houston Rockets are a part of a three-team deal that also involves the New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings.  In this deal, the Rockets have finally rid themselves of the injury prone, prima donna that is Tracy McGrady.  T-Mac is going to the Knicks, while the Rockets get Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries in return.  The Rockets also are getting a great player from the Kings in Kevin Martin, along with Hilton Armstrong.  The Rockets had to give up Joey Dorsey and, unfortunately, Carl Landry to the Kings.  The Kings also got Larry Hughes from the Knicks.  Landry was Houston’s top young player and is one of the best 6th men in the league.  This season he is shooting 55% from the field and is averaging 16.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.9 blocks in just 27.2 minutes per game.

Although Landry will be missed, this was a good deal overall for the Rockets.  Kevin Martin is a star in this league, averaging 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.1 steal.  He has been struggling a little from the field this season (40% FG), but I expect that to improve since the Rockets are a much better team than the Kings and he is just staring to get into the flow of things since he was also injured for a much of the season with a broken wrist, playing in only 22 games thus far.  Another reason this was a good deal for the Rockets is that they also get the option of swapping draft picks with the Knicks in 2011 (unless it’s the #1 pick), and will get their 2012 first-round pick (unless it’s a top-5 pick).  So, that means the Rockets have gotten a great guard in Kevin Martin, more depth in the front court with Hilton Armstrong, Jared Jeffries, and Jordan Hill, all while having some young talent to look forward to in the 2011 and 2012 NBA drafts.

The Rockets have waived back-up forward Mike Harris. Harris played in only 2 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this season and he averaged 6.0 minutes, 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. The Rockets shouldn’t miss Harris too much as he was buried on the bench this year.

The Rockets have waived C/F Pops Mensah Bonsu. Bonsu played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this season and he averaged 3.3 minutes, 1.3 points, 1.0 rebound andd 0.3 assists per game. The Rockets appear to like other big men on the roster than Bonsu so they don’t feel too bad about letting him go.

The Rockets have released veteran shooting guard Brent Barry in what was a surprise move. He already has a T.V. gig so he probably knew that this time was coming. Still, with the absolute lack of depth that the Rockets have at shooting guard Barry’s release was a surprise. They are probably banking on rookie sharpshooter Chase Budinger replacing as a long range threat from behind the three point line.

The Rockets have signed 25-year old shooting guard Rashad McCants to a non-guaranteed contract. McCants played in 58 games (3 starts) for the Kings and T-Wolves last season in which he averaged 19.0 minutes, 9.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He has now played in 249 games (39 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 20.2 minutes, 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. This was a good low risk gamble for the Rockets and McCants is a good player when healthy.

UPDATE: The Rockets have changed their mind about McCants and have not signed him. With T-Mac likely out until December I think this was a mistake by the Rockets.