The Rockets would have definitely been a playoff team if they had 29-year old center Yao Ming last season. They hope that the 7′6″, 310 pound Yao is ready to go in 2010-2011 after missing all of last year with a foot injury. Yao has played in 481 games (471 starts) in his career with the Rockets in which he has averaged 32.7 minutes, 19.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game. He also is a good shooter from both the floor (52.5%) and the free throw line (83.2%) in his career. Yao is a force in the middle because of his size and that’s something the Rockets sorely missed last season.

UPDATE: (6/29/2010) - Yao Ming has opted in for $17.69 million bucks for the 2010-11 season for the Rockets taking him off the free agent market.

The Rockets felt that Trevor Ariza could handle the extra minutes and excel as a starter, but, in the end they were wrong because he just couldn’t shoot. Ariza only shot 38.4% from the floor, 32.2% from three point range and 65% from the free throw line and that is just not acceptable for a starter in the NBA. Ariza has played in 68 games (67 starts) for the Rockets this season and he is averaging 36.5 minutes, 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Hopefully Ariza won’t play as much next season as he did this year.

Kevin Martin is off to a slow start for the Rockets who have him coming off the bench. I believe that Martin will pick his game up when the Rockets move him into the starting lineup. Martin has played in 2 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far and he is averaging 30.0 minutes, 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game despite only shooting 28.6% from the floor for them. Jared Jeffries was sharp in his debut for the Rockets as he played 28 minutes off the bench in which he scored 11 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 2 assists and he had 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. He brings solid effort and defense to the Rockets bench. Hilton Armstrong and Jordan Hill have been watching the games from the bench so far for the Rockets. If the Rockets are going to snag one of those last playoff spots in the Western Conference they need these guys to step up.

With Kevin Martin on board that likely means that Shane Battier will be the new sixth man off the bench for the Rockets. He has played in 53 games (all starts) for the Rockets this season and he is averaging 33.0 minutes, 8.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Battier’s shot has been off this season as he is only hitting 39.8% from the floor this season. Still, his veteran leadership and defense should play well off the bench for the Rockets the rest of the year.

29-year old power forward Brian Cook has done almost nothing to help the Rockets this season. He has played in 14 games (0 starts) for the Rockets this season and he is averaging 2.7 minutes, 1.2 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Cook is also shooting a lot of bricks whenever he comes into the game as he is only hitting 33.3% of his shots from the floor. Don’t expect Cook to help the Rockets at all the rest of the season.