Key players lost \u2013 Trevor Ariza<\/strong><\/p>\nWe haven\u2019t seen much of Yao Ming since he torn up an ankle in the latter stages of the 2008-09 season, but early reports indicate that Yao is moving around pretty well in the preseason and perhaps more importantly he is still 7-foot-6. Much of what the Rockets do (or don\u2019t) accomplish this season centers around the big center. <\/p>\n
They did ok (42-40) last season without him, but if the big guy can\u2019t play most of this season \u2013 always difficult, considering his injury history \u2013 Houston will trudge back to the lottery.<\/p>\n
Forty times the Rockets were beaten last season, but they hardly ever were outworked. <\/p>\n
And the hustle was symbolized by point guard Aaron Brooks, who was voted the league\u2019s most improved player last year, partly because he led the league in 3-pointers made, with 209.<\/p>\n
If Yao is back and the Rockets have a post game again, Brooks\u2019s numbers should only go up.![\"Online](\"http:\/\/affiliates.commissionaccount.com\/processing\/impressions.asp?btag=a_3953b_41\")
<\/p>\n
Houston got high-scoring 2-guard Kevin Martin from Sacramento late in the season, and he put up numbers similar to those posted in Sacramento \u2013 19.7 ppg, and not a lot of rebounds or assists or steals.<\/p>\n
Courtney Lee, who can play both guard spots, came over from New Jersey is a trade for Trevor Ariza. <\/p>\n
Energizer bunny Luis Scola will start at one forward, opposite Shane Battier at the 4. Brad Miller, a 3-point-shooting big, should help stretch the floor and give Yao some room to operate in the post.<\/p>\n
Surprising stat: <\/strong> Without Yao in the lineup, Houston\u2019s defense fell from 7th in the league in 2008-90 (94.4 points allowed per game) to 22nd last season (102.7 allowed)
\nStrengths: <\/strong> Yao, assuming he can remain healthy for most of the season. He\u2019s the ticket to the playoffs and there is really no Plan B.
\nWeaknesses:<\/strong> Depth, especially along the front line, is a concern. Ariza was limited, but they\u2019ll miss his belly-to-belly defense. Judging from exhibition video, Yao is not spending a lot of time with his back to the basket.
\nPlayoffs?<\/strong> Tough to envision any scenario that gets these guys to a 7th or 8th seed. Who would they supplant? Phoenix? Dallas? San Antonio?
\nWin total projection for 2010-11: <\/strong> 46<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO JOIN SPORTSBOOK.COM – ONE OF OUR TOP RATED ONLINE SPORTSBOOKS – 50% SIGN UP BONUS FOR NBA BETTING ONLINE<\/h3>\n
<\/strong>
\nLawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel writer from Massachusetts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quick article by Lawrence Paul detailing the Houston Rockets 2010 Season win total odds for over under nba betting futures and a season wins prediction\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":28047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[36131,36816,28378,8267,36819,36820,3936,6908,17906,3925,12419,36817,19010,19011,19012,19013,19014,36818,14495,36135],"class_list":["post-28046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-2010-nba-basketball-future-lines","tag-2010-rockets-season-win-total-odds","tag-28378","tag-gambling-picks","tag-houston-rockets-betting-odds","tag-houston-rockets-predictions-2010","tag-nba-basketball-futures","tag-nba-future-odds","tag-nba-over-under-betting","tag-nba-predictions","tag-overunder-season-win-totals","tag-rockets-2010-prediction","tag-rockets-odds","tag-rockets-odds-to-win-nba-title","tag-rockets-picks","tag-rockets-predictions","tag-rockets-win-total-lines","tag-rockets-wins-2010","tag-season-win-total-odds","tag-win-total-projection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28046"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107299,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28046\/revisions\/107299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}