Seeing that the celtics just won it all after assembling the “Boston 3 party”, Houston has made a very big step on their way to win it big as well. It seems that having an elite top 3 gets you at least somewhere in the playoffs. Yao, McGrady, and Artest each appear to bring a unique playing style to the court. The balance of offense and defense between these 3 is phenomenal. Great move for Houston.

The Lakers had Shaq-Kobe and were winning because that was the #1 SG and #1 C in the league. As long as the supporting cast was just good, they were gonna win championships. McGrady, Yao and Artest are each among the best at their respective positions. I think this immediately makes them the number one team in the West. Kobe is definitely better than McGrady, but McGrady is up there. Yao is better than Gasol and Artest is better than Odom in my opinion. Bynum is a wildcard, if he comes back healthy and continues to improve, and shows he can play alongside Gasol, the Lakers will still be the team to beat. But If the chemistry of this Rockets team works, they have all the pieces to win it all.

It makes them a formidable team- if they can stay health

Houston’s bench grew alot from last season when Yao went down. If you look at their role players; Scola, Landry, Rafer, et al. that Houston team with Rick Adelman is much better and deeper than the Lakers supporting cast. Phil gets alot out of very little though; as the likes of Luke and Sasha wouldn’t get much minutes on another team. Kupchak on the other hand, tends to get sentimental attachments to guys he drafted, even if they are stiffs. The only good move the Lakers made this off season was letting Turiaf go and not matching Golden State’s offer. Turiaf = second coming of Mark Madsen.

He’s way ahead of the curve. He’s essentially the Billy Beane of the NBA. The Rockets team on name recognition last year was crap after Yao went down and they still had that huge winning steak and played the Jazz pretty tough in the playoffs. Why? Because they get the extra possession players. The guys who dive for loose balls, create turnovers, take charges, make the extra pass, shoot the open shots. They had 2 guys who could create for others last year (Tmac and Yao), now they have 3 and that makes a huge difference.

They essentially lose 2 first rounders and one of their combo guards (BJax is solid, but they have Francis, Luther Head and Aaron Brooks on the bench already) for an all-nba defender in his prime, playing for his last big contract.

A team of Rafer Alston, Tmac, a ancient Mutombo, Scola and Battier won 22 games in a row (some with Yao), imagine what happens when they have Alston, Tmac, Yao, Scola and Artest starting with Battier backing up the wing positions. Teams are going to have a hard time cracking 85 points against that lineup.

Case in point. Lets compare them to the 2008 Champion Celtics.

Tmac/Pierce – Pretty even. Both guys set the table for their teams. Their H2H stats have been pretty comparable. Pierce wins the intangibles based off his past, but I think Tmac is in a similar situation as Pierce was coming into last season and that balances it out.
Alston/Rondo – Celtics have the edge as Rondo has alot of upsize. Still Alston does alot of things right, is a better shooter and is a serviceable PG.
Yao/Perkins – Huge victory for the Rockets here. Would get Perkins into foul trouble quickly and is simply too tall for him. Perkins isn’t quick enough to cause Yao any trouble.
Scola/KG – Big victory for the Celtics but not as big of a disparity as the aforementioned Yao-Perkins mismatch. Scola does alot of the little things. Still KG is a top 3 NBA player with the tone he sets on D.
Artest/Allen – I take Artest at this point in their careers. Allen came up big in spots (after disappearing in spots too) but he’s definitely not that player he was just a couple of years ago. Allen is more dependable and a better leader but I think Artest can shut him down while Allen couldn’t handle Artest’s brute strength.
Houston Bench – Zeke, Head, Battier, Brent Barry, Carl Landry
Boston Bench – Cassell, House, Posey, Powe, PJ Brown
Battier is a better version of Posey, Head is a younger, better version of House, Zeke is still as good as Brown, Landry and Powe are eerily similar, Barry is a vet like Cassell and a far superior shooter.

I think the similarities between the teams is pretty stark. The biggest difference is intangibles. The Celtics have KG’s fire and Pierce’s heart. If Artest can bring the fire I think we will finally find out if Tmac has heart or were all his naysayers right.

Congratulations Rockets, you’ve just joined the Spurs, Lakers and Celtics as legitimate title contenders.

Yao didn’t kill his foot by participating in the Olympics when he could have been healing. We will see how this goes.

They can play him less this year to avoid the wear and year. The Rockets can go small with Tmac, Alston, Scola, Artest and Battier and get away with it against almost every team in the league. They should treat Yao like how the Spurs do with Duncan and sneak some extra rest for him whenever possible.