32-year old starting small forward Shane Battier needs to give the Rockets more if he’s going to keep his job in the starting lineup. Battier has played in 22 games (all starts) so far this year and he is averaging 30.6 minutes, 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. His shooting has been way off so far this year as he is hitting only 41% from the floor, 35.3% from the three point line and 68% from the free throw line. It doesn’t matter how much defense Battier plays if he’s going to hamstring the offense.

With Aaron Brooks out of action the Rockets need 24-year old point guard Kyle Lowry to step up his game. Lowry has played in 12 games (8 starts) so far this year for the Rockets and he is averaging 32.3 minutes, 8.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He is only shooting 36.8% from the floor and he is 6 of 25 (24%) from three point range so far this year. The Rockets need Lowry to start shooting better and they need him to score more points while Brooks is out of action.

Brad Miller, Jordan Hill and Chuck Hayes all share the minutes at center when Yao’s not playing so look for them to have expanded roles for the next week. Miller has played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 13.7 minutes, 4.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Jordan Hill has the highest upside of this bunch. He has played in 8 games (1 start) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 18.0 minutes, 5.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. Chuck Hayes is a undersized fighter under the basket. He has played in 7 games (1 start) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 21.0 minutes, 5.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. I have a feeling that Miller, Hill & Hayes will do a decent job of filling in until Yao is ready to return to action.

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.