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There is no scenario in which a lock-out is good for the NBA from a marketing point of view. It might be better for the long-term viability of the league, it might even level the playing field a bit from a competitiveness point of view, but the league’s image would definitely take a major hit.

Generally speaking, what’s bad for the league is also bad for the teams, but in at least one case a lock-out might be just what the doctor – literally – ordered. That case would be the Houston Rockets.

The single biggest decision the Rockets have to make this offseason is whether or not to extend oft-injured All-Star center Yao Ming. The implications are obvious, as a healthy Yao Ming likely makes the Rockets contenders, whereas an injured Yao has consistently put the Rockets in the draft lottery.

So what are the Rockets to do, now that Yao is set to be a free agent on July 1st? Do they go ahead and sign him to a long-term deal, or do they let him walk away and risk that he will get healthy for some other team?

In this case, the lock-out will give the Rockets some much-needed breathing room as they prepare to make what could easily be the most significant decision they will make for decade. The Rockets lost a lot of games and needed a lot of luck to get the top pick which yielded Yao Ming in the first place, so a decision to part ways with him would not come easily, injured or not. A lock-out, of course, would prevent free agents from signing with teams, giving Houston some time to evaluate Yao as he continues his rehab from foot injury that has cost him more than a season and a half of his career.

Even if Yao isn’t 100% healthy, there is a reason for Houston to think carefully about re-signing him. He virtually pays for himself with the Chinese advertising dollars that flow into Houston a result of Yao’s presence within the organization. There is also the insurance factor, which allows Houston to recover much of his salary should he miss a bulk of the season. Still, revenue is great and a salary safety net is fine, but neither of those things help the Rockets in their quest to return to the playoffs.

And the Rockets are very much aware of that.

As the Rockets eagerly watch Yao Ming’s progress they are also preparing a contingency plan. The top two centers available this summer are expected to be the Dallas Mavericks’ Tyson Chandler and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol, and while there is some question as to how effective Chandler can be when he’s not playing with an elite playmaker (i.e. Jason Kidd or Chris Paul), the Rockets have long had their sites set on Gasol, and believe they could swing a deal to create the cap space needed to land him.

Of course, they also know there will be stiff competition for Gasol’s services.

The best case scenario for Houston is for Yao Ming to finally get healthy and put the Rockets back on the track they were on before he got hurt . . .back into the playoffs and possibly into contention. They will absolutely use the extra time created by the almost-certain lock-out to make the best decision they can possibly make.

In the mean time . . .there are other options to explore.

Haslem The Championship X-Factor?

When the Miami HEAT signed LeBron James and Chris Bosh last summer Udonis Haslem was sure he was the odd man out. He had resigned himself to the fact that there just wouldn’t be room for him in Miami, a place he had called home for all seven years of his NBA career, including the year he helped Miami win the championship in 2006. Then, just as he was starting to feel like he was going to have to go job hunting, he got a phone call. The HEAT had found a way to keep him, partially by working a sign-and-trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and partially by way of James, Bosh and Dwyane Wade all agreeing to take a little less than max to create room for support players. Haslem was back in business.

Unfortunately, a foot injury that was initially supposed to cost him four weeks of playing time wound up costing the all but 13 games of the regular season. The HEAT struggled without him early on, particularly since Mike Miller was also dealing with an injury, but they eventually caught their second wind and made Haslem all but a forgotten factor as they claimed the East’s second seed and progressed to the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, after the Chicago Bulls opened the series with a blow-put win, HEAT head coach Erik Spoelstra decided to give Haslem a shot, and that decision paid off handsomely. Haslem because a real x-factor for the team in helping them take the next four games and advance to the NBA Finals.

Now they’re hoping he will continue to be an x-factor as they complete their goal of winning a championship in the first year of the new Big Three.

“It hasn’t been the easiest thing, but I knew I was going to be in a little pain when I decided to come back and I’m willing to deal with that to get this ring,” said Haslem of his return to the lineup. “There were times this year when I didn’t really feel like myself, and I just have to thank my teammates for keeping me involved and keeping me encouraged. When I was able to get back and be a part of this, physically, then I was able to be myself again as far as being vocal and being an inspirational leader to these guys.”

Haslem scored seven points in Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks, but an even bigger contribution was his six-rebound performance. The HEAT won Game 1 on the strength of their rebounding, in particular, and given the Mavs’ size up front it’s quite a task winning the battle of the boards.

“They’ve got lots of size to deal with, with Tyson Chandler, Brendan Haywood, those guys mix it up a little bit, and obviously Dirk’s a little bit of a different case,” Haslem explained. “Then you’ve got Shawn Marion at the small forward who can rebound with the best of them. We’ve got to continue to try to keep those guys off the boards.”

Miami did a good job in Game 1, especially on the offensive glass. Dallas was able to use their zone defense to stop the HEAT on quite a few possessions, but their zone also took their big men out of rebounding position, and Miami was able to grab 16 offensive rebounds . . .10 more than their opponents . . .and that was the difference in the game.

“I think all of rebounding is a mentality,” said Haslem. “You’ve got guys in this league who can’t jump at all but rebound at a very, very high level. I think everything with rebounding is just a mentality that you’ve got to chase every rebound.”

The Mavericks will no doubt make some adjustments to make sure they don’t lose the battle of the boards as easily in tonight’s Game 2, so the HEAT will continue to rely heavily on the defense that made them the stingiest team in the league this season. They held Dallas to a playoff-low 84 points in Game 1, and it will take that kind of effort to make sure they hold serve in Game 2.

“We can still play a lot better,” admitted Haslem. “We had a couple of mental lapses, a couple of defensive let-downs that we don’t want. There were some pick-and-rolls we have to guard better, we’ve got to keep them out of the paint, and we’ve got to rotate better. They missed some open shots that they usually make, so we’ve got to take away the penetration and not give up those open shots. 84 points is pretty good, but that wasn’t all us. We can’t take all the credit for that. They got open shots and just missed them and we can’t count on them missing those next game.

“We’ve been building our defense for six months to get ready for this point. We started in training camp at the base, when LeBron and D-Wade manned up and when me and Chris manned up and it’s just gone from there. We’ve been building our defense for this time right now and our defense has been reliable for us to this point. It’s a mentality. We have so much confidence in our defense that if things are going well with our shots we know we can still get stops and still give ourselves a chance to win the game.”

That’s exactly what the HEAT are counting on as they look to take what would be a fairly insurmountable 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals tonight.

Flynn And The Raptors?

Now that Ricky Rubio is going to officially join the Minnesota Timberwolves, it’s time for Minnesota to make a couple of decisions. First of all, they have to go ahead and move Jonny Flynn, who they have been shopping for some time, and it’s time to go ahead and move the second overall pick in this year’s draft.

The Timberwolves have had a number of conversations with teams interested in Flynn, and more recently it seems he might wind up in Toronto. Flynn is a native of Niagara and Toronto is practically home for him. The Raptors have been looking to change up their point guard rotation and Flynn would be part of that solution.

{AUTHOR_BOX}As has been widely reported in this space and others, the Timberwolves are not sold on keeping the second overall pick at all, and would love to trade it for two lower picks. What they really need is a shooting guard, and sources close to the situation say they covet Alec Burks. The Colorado sophomore is regarded as the best shooting guard in the 2011 draft class, but the Timberwolves wouldn’t need a top ten pick to land him. They also really like Enes Kanter, so don’t be surprised if they deal the number two pick to drop down a bit. Ideally, they’d like to acquire two lower picks and possibly grab both Kanter and Burks.

No matter who they wind up drafting, reaching an agreement to bring Rubio over is a huge step forward for the Timberwolves . . .but it’s just the first step. They need to take several more steps before the anticipated lock-out begins on July 1st. There has been internal discussion about trading for Phoenix Suns All-Star guard Steve Nash to mentor Rubio, but at this point that seems a bit far-fetched. If the Suns do decide to trade their star guard it seems more likely that he would land with a contender. Still, if the Timberwolves were willing to offer up Kevin Love, who isn’t particularly happy there, and the #2 overall pick, you have to believe the Suns would listen. Then again, is that too much to give up for an aging point guard, even one as brilliant as Nash?

Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and we can debate it while we’re waiting for Game 2 to start.

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